Peace By Chocolate, a well known chocolate company in Canada, has opened its second store in Nova Scotia, has expanded its factory, and is looking to continually expand throughout Canada.
The company started in 2016 when the founder, Tareq Hadhad, fled Syria because of the war leaving everything behind including his family’s chocolate company which started in 1986. When Hadhad arrived in Canada, he successfully restarted the company again in Antigonish Nova Scotia and has since been able to open two stores and expand its factory. Products from Peace By Chocolate are also available throughout Canada.
“The company was the second largest chocolate manufacturer in the region in Syria, so when the war started we lost the factory, our house, we lost everything and we became refugees. After three years of living as refugees in Lebanon, our family was invited to come to Canada to a small town in Antigonish in Nova Scotia and we got the opportunity to restart the game and this time we wanted to infuse a value that connects to peace because you cannot do anything without peace,” says Hadhad.
New Storefront
The new location on Main Street in Antigonish and finally opened after working on the store since May 2022. Before this location, Peace By Chocolate had a location on Bay Street; however, it moved to a more commercial area.
“We started building our new store in May of 2022, and it took really long to finish the construction, but we are so happy to see the final product and we are happy about how the design turned out. We wanted the location to be a storytelling destination. We wanted to tell our customers who we are, what we stand for, our values, our story, our family tree, and there are so many incredible milestones and awards that we have won that we wanted to tell the story off to our customers.”
Milestones Hadhad mentioned included the moment his product ended up in space at the International Space Station, to where the factory opened, and the moment his family got their Canadian citizenship in 2021.
New Products
All products are the same at both locations and consist of its Peace bars, Welcome to Canada, and more. Peace By Chocolate has also introduced new items, all being handmade, including desserts, a new line of drinks such as its signature hot chocolate with different flavours for the holiday, and gluten free options – and will be adding more in 2023. New items don’t just stop at chocolates – Peace By Chocolate has also added merchandise to its stores including clothing, touques, water bottles, and peace pins people can wear proudly.
“Customers can expect the absolute highest quality of chocolate product they will probably taste than anywhere else. Both of our stores translate the overall feeling of peace into an opportunity for people to come together and celebrate. Customers can expect their purchase to go to a cause that is near to our hearts from fighting climate change, supporting Indigenous communities, peace building projects, and to help refugees that are just arriving to the country, such as Afganistan, Ukrainian, and Syrian refugees. We want to help them find another chance, help them settle, and to give them the same opportunity for success that we got.”
Peace By Chocolate has expanded its product offerings from five products by the end of 2018 to 250 products by the end of 2022. With these new products, will also come new labels as Hadhad said they are creating a massive change in their labels. Right now they have offerings for celebrations such as Mothers Day and Easter and are looking to bring in more products for Halloween and introduce different concepts for holidays in 2023.
People can find Peace By Chocolates not only in stores and online, but also at Loblaws, Sobeys, Atlantic Superstore, Hudson Bay, and more. It is also in major Canadian airports and Hadhad said he is looking to expand further into the major tourism areas such as the CN Tower.
“A lot of the locations across the country that carry our products are very community oriented and hold the same values as we do. They just want to spread a good Canadian story, and I think our product does exactly that.”
“Expanding Our Footprint Across the Country”
Hadhad said the goal would be to expand across the country and listen to customers to see where they are wanted. But for now, the Peace By Chocolate factory was just recently reconstructed to double its size which allows the company to make more chocolate and to experiment with new ideas.
“The plan for expansion right now is to have more stores across the country. We do not have a timeline yet for each expansion, but we are finalizing our strategy plans within the company. The new factory is really allowing us to produce millions of chocolate pieces and bars a year and gives us the opportunity to expand our business in our wholesale network, e-commerce, and within the supply of our own retail stores.”
In addition to expanding the business, Hadhad makes sure to contribute to organizations such as the Red Cross, mental health associations, refugee hubs, and many others. So far, Hadhad said the company has raised over $200,000 for those causes and has just launched its new Peace for Ukraine campaign, which raised over $100,000 in support of the relief efforts and there will be many more in the future.
“We want to make sure our connection with people is through human values that everyone appreciates – like kindness. Kindness is the reason why we ended up on the East Coast in Canada, is the reason why we had a second chance to restart our company, and is the reason why our company believes in giving back and paying it forward.”
