As soon as you step one foot into Dorothy’s Factory Outlet Store, whether for a short visit, or for a full tour of our spotless facility, (in either case, you’ll get a free taste of our scrumptuous hand-dipped chocolates!), you’ll immediately see what all the talk is about, and you’ll be able to smell the difference!

We think you’ll be captivated by our gourmet chocolates, as they reflect the care that each of our candymakers puts into making them. Each hand-dipped chocolate is one of a kind — which makes every piece and every box a tiny bit different from every other. The difference in looking at machine made chocolate and looking at hand-dipped chocolate is like the difference between artificial and real flowers. Both are good, but one is definitely better!

Come meet our artisans. All of the people who hand-dip Dorothy’s chocolates were trained at Dorothy’s — with the most senior people, having been trained by Dorothy’s herself. Dorothy was a perfectionist, who loved to decorate and adorn her life and everyone else’s with ribbons, bows, rainbows, sweets, and all things good and beautiful. She was also a stickler for cleanliness. Today, we strive to maintain a store and premises that Dorothy would be proud of — and we make a product good enough to bear her name.

Each of our chocolate dippers works at her own piece of marble — the marble being the only good surface for making hand dipped gourmet chocolates. She keeps a well of chocolate warm at her place by swirling the chocolate to keep it moving, and dips the centers — caramels — cherries — fudge nut — and all the others, swiriling it just so in the chocolate and expertly topping it off with a curly cue that signals what is inside.

We make our fine gourmet chocolates right behind the store in White Oak, Pa. If you come to visit, you won’t see a lot of machines or hear a lot of mechanical noise — just the happy chatter of our wonderful employees who work hard to make award winning, mouth watering chocolate. We can’t help but think that this relaxed atmosphere makes for a much better way to make confections.

We believe it takes about three years to learn how to dip chocolate very well. That is one reason we are so pleased that our employees tend to stay at Dorothy’s Candies for many years.

We make nearly all of our own centers as well, using recipes devised by Dorothy, or Barb Popowitz, our candy chef — who was trained by Dorothy. Our centers are truly superb — and are just the right match for our very special chocolate coating.

About Miss Cocoa and Beanie

Miss Cocoa and Beanie love to tell boys and girls of all ages about the fascinating history of chocolate and how cocoa is grown, and the many phases involved in turning cocoa in to delicious chocolates like Dorothy’s.

If your classroom, troop, or club would like to have a tour with Miss Cocoa and Beanie, just call Dorothy’s. If your group would like a tour for adults, that can be arranged too! Sometimes Miss Cocoa and Beanie go to classrooms when they are invited. Miss Cocoa also gives lectures on chocolate to groups and organizations, such as Rotary Clubs and Women’s Clubs. Call for an appointment, and entertain your club with Miss Cocoa’s tales of chocolate.

To Arrange a Tour or Speaker

To arrange a tour or speaker, use our contact form or call 412-678-3728 to request a group tour for your school, company or organization.

Don’t forget to ask to meet Miss Cocoa and Beanie!