Gansett Craft Chocolate Has the Golden Ticket
A father-daughter duo turns a love for chocolate into a business that would make Willy Wonka proud.
Gansett Craft Chocolate has earned fourteen major awards since starting in 2021. Photo courtesy of Gansett Craft Chocolate
For father-daughter duo Steve and Ella Schneider, life truly is like a box of chocolates: Neither could have predicted their pandemic hobby would someday yield Gansett Craft Chocolate, an award-winning chocolate-making business on Robinson Street in Wakefield.
Gansett Craft Chocolate is ed by Ella Schneider and her dad, Steve. Photo courtesy of Gansett Craft Chocolate
Steve’s chocolate curiosity first piqued when he sampled products from Askinosie Chocolate, while Ella caught the bug in 2013 during a tour of the Taza chocolate factory in Massachusetts. After five years of sampling cacao beans from across the globe, Steve purchased a small refiner to craft his own confections while still working full-time as an ob-gyn.
When COVID-19 forced Ella to complete her sophomore year at Narragansett High School from home, she joined in his endeavors. Steve took their creations to work, and when Ella eventually returned to in-
person learning, she shared them with teachers and classmates. Everyone’s enthusiastic feedback instilled confidence to take the craft more seriously, and they eventually settled on high-quality Peruvian cacao beans for the bars’ base.
They established Gansett Craft Chocolate in 2021, making them the first beans-to-bar chocolate makers in the state.
They turned to Lindsay Fair of WOMA Design to design the sleek packaging highlighting the iconic Narragansett Towers. But to truly build the business, the Schneiders needed to move operations out of the family’s basement. Fortunately, during Ella’s senior year, the old Green Line Apothecary on Wakefield’s Main Street had been revamped into a shared commercial space. They moved in around the same time Ella graduated high school — in 2022.
Then their milk chocolate earned a gold designation from the Northwest Chocolate Festival. Not too shabby for a University of Rhode Island freshman.
“We were getting busier, and I debated dropping out,” Ella says. “But my parents wanted me to get a degree, so I met in the middle and went part-time. I’m still set to graduate on time this spring.”
An impressive feat considering Steve was (and still is) a full-time doctor with limited time to assist. Yet, the two ramped things up further with farmers market appearances and collaborations with local companies like Seaworthy Coffee Roasters and Newport Sea Salt.
Soon it was time to expand. A professor tipped Ella off about a vacant space on Robinson Street, and a local architect helped transform it into one that suits both the business’ flow of operations and its chic aesthetic. The shop officially opened in December 2024.
Today, visitors can stop by to sample and purchase Gansett Craft Chocolate’s eight main flavors, spanning milk, dark and white along with unique variations like brown butter sage and lavender. They also release limited batches, like a dark chocolate using Sons of Liberty’s Battle Cry Whiskey, and seasonal flavors like peppermint crunch. Their homemade European-style hot chocolate is a huge hit among regulars, and Ella promises more treats (think chocolate-covered fruits) are on the way this summer. It’s not the only thing she’s looking forward to.
“Graduating will make my life so much easier!” she says. “I can just focus on this.” 227 Robinson St., Wakefield, gansettcraftchocolate.com
