Our Story

Nearly a century making
Venezuelan chocolate.

A family company founded in 1929, dedicated exclusively to making the finest chocolate from the world’s finest cacao.

Chocolates El Rey, historical image
Our company

Venezuela for the world.

Chocolates El Rey is a Venezuelan agro-industrial company devoted to transforming the world’s finest cacao into chocolate of the highest quality. We have done so since 1929 and, in essence, we still do it the same way: combining and calibrating aromas, textures and flavors until we reach a chocolate that is enjoyed slowly and remembered long after.

Our raw material has its origin in our land and has been cultivated with tradition and dedication by generations of small farmers to whom we owe our reason for being. Today we are on dessert menus, in chocolatiers’ bars and in hotel kitchens around the world. A Venezuelan brand for the global market.

The regions

Four regions, four characters

Every El Rey chocolate originates in a clearly identified region: soil, climate and the bean’s genetic variety define the final profile.

Region
Carenero Superior
Trinitario
Source of one of the planet’s finest cacaos, with an identity and character born of a unique sum of genetics, forest and sea. An aromatic, spiced Trinitario — the foundation of our premium family: Apamate, Gran Samán, Mijao, Bucare, Caoba and Icoa.
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Río Caribe
Trinitario
At the easternmost edge of the Venezuelan coast, on the Paria Peninsula, a Trinitario cacao is grown that has been described as the result of genetics meeting an exceptional transition between forest, sea and wind. Notes of oak, floral, honey and dried fruit.
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Sur del Lago
Sur del Lago Hybrids
One of the rarest and most coveted varieties on the planet: the Sur del Lago hybrid cacao is the result of countless spontaneous crosses with Criollo genetics, a descendant of the finest and most ancestral cacaos on Earth. Sweet, with notes of nuts, honey, flowers and panela.
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San Joaquín
Modern Trinitario-Criollo
On Venezuela’s western plains, right at the foot of the Andes, a fine cacao like no other is cultivated. A cross of a Criollo and a Forastero developed in a humid lowland terroir that brings out unmatched characteristics: red fruits, fruity-citrus acidity and sweet spices. The first member of our Les Grands Crus line.
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Timeline

Moments that have defined us

1929

Founding

Carmelo Tuozzo and José Rafael Zozaya found Tuozzo, Zozaya y Cía in Caracas, the second chocolate company to establish itself in Venezuela. Their flagship product is named El Rey — the country’s finest chocolate.

1973

The Redmond family

José Rafael Zozaya partners with the Redmond family. The company adopts its current name: Chocolates El Rey, C.A.

1974

First transformation

Process technology is upgraded and exports of cacao derivatives — liquor, butter and cacao powder — increase. El Rey begins to look beyond Venezuela.

1989

Opening to international trade

A second transformation, built on the comparative advantages of Venezuelan cacao, opens up a clear international market opportunity for El Rey.

1995

New plant in Barquisimeto

The modern Chocolates El Rey plant is inaugurated in Barquisimeto, Lara State, bringing the entire industrial operation under one roof. That same year, The Cacao Route takes place for the first time: chefs and food writers visit the farms where Venezuelan cacao is grown.

1999

Entering the consumer market

Launch of a new confectionery line for the Venezuelan market, without sacrificing the quality standards of the professional portfolio.

2001

ISO 9001 certification

El Rey is awarded ISO 9002 certification by Fondonorma — renewed every year since. Today, more than fifteen years of uninterrupted certification.

2011

The Fifty Best

Chocolates El Rey is the sole Latin American name on TheFiftyBest.com’s list of The 50 Best Chocolates in the World. That same year, the first edition of San Joaquín Reserva Privada is released.

2012–2016

Icoa, the world’s best white chocolate

For five consecutive years, Icoa receives the Gold Medal as Best White Chocolate at the International Chocolate Awards. In 2015, Caoba wins gold as the world’s best milk chocolate. Venezuela, once again, at the forefront.

2014

85 years

Chocolates El Rey marks 85 years of uninterrupted industrial life. San Joaquín Reserva Privada is named the first chocolate in the Les Grands Crus line, with a new presentation in 80 g bars.

Today

Three generations

We remain a family company, led by the third generation. We export around the world and supply chocolatiers, pastry chefs and chefs who demand the finest cacao. Nearly a century on, the project remains the same: to make the best chocolate possible.

Fine Venezuelan cacao, single-origin
Single-origin

Pioneers of a new frontier

For centuries, chocolate makers have blended cacao beans from various parts of the world to achieve a particular flavor and aroma profile. The best European manufacturers use fine cacaos — such as Venezuelan Criollos and Trinitarios — in small quantities to correct bland Forastero bases.

We set out to do the opposite: to explore the use of a single type of cacao. In 1995 we launched the world’s first fine chocolate line where each product expresses the character of a single Venezuelan region. That is single-origin chocolate. And we were the first to do it at scale.

Today, our six Carenero Superior chocolates — Apamate, Gran Samán, Mijao, Bucare, Caoba and Icoa — bear the names of the trees that have traditionally shaded cacao plantations since the 17th century. The unmistakable flavor comes from the soil.

Our values

What our formula is

01

Generational knowledge

Our people are the guardians of Venezuelan cacao culture. We bridge ancestral agricultural wisdom and modern industrial standards, passing from one generation to the next the craft that makes our country’s fine cacao unique.

02

Technology in the service of cacao

Our heart is artisanal, but our operations are powered by world-class engineering. Proprietary roasting and conching profiles remove acidity and preserve the volatile aromatic compounds that give Venezuelan cacao its unmistakable signature.

03

An exceptional raw material

Venezuela is the genetic cradle of the world’s finest cacao. We work with origin cacao — select Criollo and Trinitario varieties such as Ocumare 61 and Chaguaramas — whose aromatic profile is far more complex and nuanced than the mass-market Forastero cacao.

We are an agro-industrial company devoted to turning the world’s finest cacao into chocolate of exceptional quality, preserving our family tradition and honoring the Venezuelan land that makes it possible.

— Our mission

Want to get to know us better?

If you are a chef, chocolatier or distributor, we would love to talk with you about projects, samples and possible collaborations.

Contact the team