Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, when you order $500.00 or more. The discounts are as follows: $500 to $1,000 . . . . . . . .5% total discount $1,000 to $2,500 . . . . . .10% total discount $2,500 or more . . . . . . .15% total discount Discounts are calculated on the total product, excluding tax and shipping charges.

We limit our shipments to the 50 United States. Our experiences with international gift taxes and customs delays as well as refused and returned packages have forced us to institute this policy. Chocolate can also melt in transit, and this is more likely when shipped outside the United States.

Absolutely! Place your order online, or call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-465-5909 and we will be happy to help you!

For large volume orders, we can tie a customer-supplied ribbon or sticker, or include a customer-supplied item within one of our baskets. Lead time runs 3-6 weeks from time of approval. Contact our corporate sales department at corpsales@lakechamplainchocolates.com for more information.

Yes, we offer virtual gift cards!

Our chocolates are sold at over 2,000 specialty stores across the U.S. Use our store locator to find Lake Champlain Chocolates near you. Product selection varies by store — so if you have a particular item in mind, it’s a good idea to call ahead and ask if they carry it. And remember, you can always order your chocolate online right here, for shipment to all 50 states!

For optimal enjoyment, we recommend eating your chocolates within 2 weeks of receiving them.

A "best by" date on each package let's know you when to enjoy the chocolates by. This is printed near the nutritional information (its exact location will vary by product). Note: for hot chocolate products, it’s printed on the bottom of the canister.

Lake Champlain Chocolates is a third-tier chocolate maker, which means we purchase chocolate as a finished ingredient from various suppliers. The cacao beans used to make our chocolate are grown primarily in Latin America. Our chocolatiers melt and temper the finished chocolate, then add Vermont butter, cream, honey, and maple syrup to create our irresistible line of chocolates, confections, and gifts. 

Please read our other FAQs in this section to learn more about LCC’s position on transparency and fair trade. And we also invite you to learn all about how chocolate is made.

Our standard milk chocolate has 38% cocoa, while our dark chocolates range from 54% to 80% cocoa. Read our What is Cacao page to learn more about cocoa percentage and what it all means.

Our dark chocolate is both kosher and milk-free, containing only cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter (which is not a milk derivative), and vanilla. We do not add milk to our dark chocolate. All dark chocolate, dark chocolate mint, dark chocolate & raspberries, and dark chocolate & almonds items (bars, hearts, squares, and coins) are dairy-free. *Please note: these items are manufactured in the same factory, and with the same equipment, as our products which contain milk products. Equipment is thoroughly cleaned between products, but we cannot guarantee that any product is entirely free of minute traces of dairy. This prevents our products from being pareve. 

All of our products are certified Star-D Kosher by the National Council of Young Israel in affiliation with Star-K Kosher Certification, with the exception of our hot chocolate and unsweetened cocoa (which are certified by the Orthodox Union), and our marshmallows, Milk Chocolate Apple Cider Caramels 7pc and Milk Chocolate Apple Cider Caramels 20pc (which are not kosher certified). You may check the full listing of our Kosher products on the Star-K website.

Our dark chocolate contains cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter (which is vegan), and vanilla. Learn more about what vegan chocolate is and shop our complete list of vegan chocolates. *Please note that these items are all manufactured in the same factory, and with the same equipment, as our products which contain milk. As a result, they may contain milk. Our hot chocolate is made in a separate facility that processes milk, soy, and sulphitess, posing the risk of allergen cross-contact. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are also employed at this facility to minimize any potential allergen cross-contact between products.

Unsweetened Cocoa is our only sugar-free product. Our chocolates are produced with only the best ingredients, never with artificial sweeteners or preservatives. If you are looking for chocolates with a lower sugar content, shop our extra-dark chocolates. As a general rule, the higher the cocoa content in chocolate, the lower the sugar content. Therefore, dark chocolate contains far less sugar than milk chocolate. We currently offer dark chocolate bars containing anywhere from 57% to 80% cocoa content.

The alkali process, or Dutch Process, is used to neutralize the acidity normally found in chocolate. The process produces a powder with no cocoa butter by pressing the pure cacao paste at very high pressure to produce a fat free powder. Our dark chocolate and hot chocolates are made using alkalized cocoa. For more on chocolate terminology, visit our Chocolate Terms page.

Discover the delicious contents of your chocolate gift box by visiting our chocolate flavors guide. Here you can explore our full collection of gourmet treats, from hand-decorated truffles to caramel clusters and sea salt caramels!

Most of our chocolates contain non-GMO soy lecithin. Our hot chocolates and organic chocolate bars have no soy added, with the exception of the following bars: Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.

Some of our products contain peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, soy, and/or wheat (gluten); it varies by product and we do not guarantee that any are entirely free of trace amounts of these allergenic ingredients. All of our chocolates are manufactured in the same factory with shared equipment and utensils, posing the risk of allergen cross-contact. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are employed to minimize any potential allergen cross-contact between products.

Our hot chocolate is made in a separate facility that processes milk, soy, and sulphitess, posing the risk of allergen cross-contact. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are also employed at this facility to minimize any potential allergen cross-contact between products.

We are happy to assist you with any questions concerning the ingredients or nutritional information for any of our chocolates. Please email info@lakechamplainchocolates.com for assistance.

Our hot cocoa contains 5 milligrams of caffeine in each 8-ounce serving. For comparison, a 5-ounce cup of coffee has about 47-164 milligrams of caffeine. Our Mocha Hot Chocolate contains slightly more with 8.65 milligrams of caffeine in each 8-ounce serving.

One ounce of our dark chocolate bar contains 20 milligrams of caffeine, while one ounce of our milk chocolate bar contains 6 milligrams of caffeine.

We believe in the right of every customer to know what’s in their food, and how it’s produced. Since 1983, Lake Champlain Chocolates has been committed to sustainable agriculture, pursuing direct relationships with farmer-producers for our cream, butter, honey, and maple syrup.  

And for 35 years, our mission has also been rooted in caring for our communities. Staying true to that mission means providing our customers with the enhanced transparency they seek, which is why Lake Champlain Chocolates is taking concrete steps toward that goal. As a Certified B Corporation® we believe that our chocolates should be not only the best in the world, but the best for the world. That is why 100% of the chocolate we use is fair trade certified. Learn more about us, our sourcing practices, and why fair trade chocolate is so important.

We believe that every hard-working individual should be compensated fairly. That's why 100% of the chocolate we use is fair trade certified.

To further increase our social impact, we've certified our best-selling products with Fair Trade USA, like our hot chocolates, Five Star Bars®, Snack Bites, and more.

Look for this icon on the package:

We’re proud to offer a wide array of premium organic chocolates, all of them certified USDA organic by Quality Assurance International (QAI).

At Lake Champlain Chocolates, the quality of ingredients has always been paramount. We produce a wide selection of certified organic chocolates and confections, which are by definition GMO-free. The use of genetic engineering, or genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is prohibited in organic products. No matter where it was grown, if a product has the USDA Organic label on it, then it was not produced with GMOs.

Soy and corn comprise the highest percentage of genetically modified crops in the U.S., but our customers can be confident that the soy lecithin in our chocolates is non-GMO — even for those products which are not organic certified. In addition, our best-selling milk and dark chocolate sea salt caramels are made with organic rice syrup.

The safety and quality of ingredients are paramount to Lake Champlain Chocolates. All Lake Champlain Chocolates are compliant with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. The fact is, many common foods, including chocolate, contain trace levels of lead and cadmium. These include dairy, meats, grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and canned or prepared foods. Lead and cadmium are naturally occurring minerals present in soil around the globe to varying degrees and as such can be absorbed by plants grown in that soil.

We use internally approved, reputable ingredient suppliers who provide us with chocolate from a variety of origins, in compliance with FDA safety standards. LCC reviews the heavy metal testing protocols of our ingredient suppliers, which test individual lots of cacao beans and chocolate liquor before being made into chocolate couverture (at which point it is blended with sugar and/or other ingredients). These protocols conform to both the FDA and EU Commission maximum allowable levels for heavy metals. LCC has been working with its bulk chocolate couverture suppliers on this issue since 2018 and will continue to work with them to monitor heavy metal levels and continue to improve sourcing practices.

• All Flavors - 3 months

• Solid Dark Chocolate - 20 months
• Solid Milk Chocolate - 16 months
• Solid White Chocolate - 6 months
• Spicy Aztec - 12 months
• With Quinoa - 12 months
• With Mint - 12 months
• With Nuts, Dried Fruit, or Toffee - 9 months
• With Peanut Butter Filling - 12 months
• With Caramel or Cream Filling - 6 months

• All Flavors - 6 months

• Honey Caramel - 4 months
• Evergreen Mint - 12 months
• Maple Crunch - 4 months
• Green Mountain - 6 months

• All Flavors - 18 months

• All Flavors - 12 months

• All Flavors - 6 months

• Almond Butter Crunch - 2 months
• Sea Salt Caramels - 5 months
• Apple Cider Caramels - 6 months
• Caramel Clusters - 4 months
• Peanut Butter Chocolates - 6 months
• Bark - 2 months

• Dark Chocolate - 24 months
• Milk Chocolate - 18 months

• Strawberries - 1 day
• Orange Peels - 2 months
• Ginger - 2 months
• Apricots - 2 months

• Chocolate Sauce - 6 months
• Salted Caramel Sauce - 6 months

• All flavors - 6 weeks