Dude, Sweet Chocolate traces its roots to a dive bar just south of downtown Dallas, Lee Harvey’s, where co-founders Chef Katherine Clapner and Redding May were regulars. Heading towards the holidays in 2008, he partnered with her to send unique artisan chocolates as client gifts while working with Merrill Lynch. After that, she ran with the idea – pushing her chocolate creations in summer heat at farmers markets and the like. Mid-year 2009, she brought up the idea of opening a store, and the first small kitchen/store was built-out and opened in early December that year.

At Dude, Sweet Chocolate we strive to differentiate ourselves by maintaining intense focus on the quality of the culinary product itself, and not getting lost in the rest of the product design process. You will not find a single bow, ribbon, or shiny box in our stores. Kraft paper packaging, brown labeling, and simple, clean design shift attention to the chocolate, which stands on its own.

Another differentiating factor is the spectrum of unique flavor profiles we cover – savory to sweet, and everything in between. As an example, a couple of our best sellers are our Albatross blue cheese and sea salt fudge, and our Fungus Amongus porcini and pumpkin seed toffee. These kinds of collaborations, done well, are the products of incredible culinary experience and vision – Katherine somehow makes it look easy.