Tour an active bean-to-bar chocolate factory, taste cacao and discover single-origin chocolate in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Dandelion Chocolate’s 16th Street Factory offers visitors a close look at contemporary American bean-to-bar chocolate making. Opened in 2019 inside a century-old former printing building, the factory is now the heart of Dandelion’s chocolate production.

Visitors can tour the working factory, follow cacao through production and taste chocolate at several stages along the way. A café, chocolate salon, retail shop and hands-on classes make it easy to turn a factory visit into a longer chocolate experience.

Discover Dandelion Chocolate

Founded in San Francisco in 2010, Dandelion specialises in single-origin chocolate made with just two ingredients: cocoa beans and sugar. Different origins and harvests are used to showcase the natural flavours found in cacao.

Tour the Working Factory

Guided factory tours take visitors through the production line with a Chocolate Educator. The experience explores Dandelion’s sourcing and chocolate-making process while introducing the machinery and techniques used to transform cacao into finished bars.

Because this is an active factory, machinery may or may not be operating during every tour.

Taste Cacao Along the Way

Tasting is an important part of the tour.

Visitors can experience cacao in several forms, progressing from fresh cacao pulp and roasted cocoa beans to molten chocolate and finished single-origin bars. It provides a particularly effective demonstration of how dramatically cacao changes during production.

Try Chocolate Making

Visitors wanting a more hands-on experience can book one of Dandelion’s chocolate classes.

The Chocolate Making class introduces participants to the science and mechanics behind two-ingredient chocolate using cocoa nibs and sugar. Other experiences include truffle making and specialised tasting programmes, with schedules changing throughout the year.

Stop at Bloom

Bloom, Dandelion’s chocolate salon, sits inside the 16th Street Factory between the café and factory floor.

The menu showcases chocolate through pastries, desserts and drinks, providing a relaxed way to continue exploring Dandelion’s single-origin chocolate after a tour.

Explore the Café and Shop

Visitors do not need to take a factory tour to stop by.

The factory includes an indoor café serving house-made pastries and chocolate drinks, along with a retail shop offering Dandelion chocolate and gifts.

Tips for Planning Your Visit

Factory tours should be reserved ahead, particularly during busy travel periods. Tours generally run for approximately one to one-and-a-half hours.

The factory can become noisy while production equipment is operating, and earplugs are available upon request. Classes require separate reservations and considerably more time than the standard tour.

Find Dandelion Chocolate

Why It’s Worth the Stop

Dandelion offers something different from a traditional chocolate museum. Visitors step inside an active urban factory and see how a modern American bean-to-bar maker approaches cacao sourcing, flavour and small-batch production.

Its combination of factory tours, tastings, classes and chocolate-focused dining also makes it easy to tailor the visit from a quick café stop to a much deeper chocolate experience.