The Zotter chocolate factory, or in that case, the Zotter Experience World, is located in Riegersburg. Riegersburg is a small town in the southeast of Austria, near to the city of Graz. Also close to the border of Hungary and Slovenia. What makes it so unique? Find out!
What is the company like, why is it special?
Zotter was founded 1999 in Austria and made them self a good alternative to the big players in the chocolate business. The Family business really wants to make their products fair trade and with good conditions. They are doing their best to do so.
They are bringing new types of chocolate to the market, to this point, they have created more than 500 different types of chocolate. For example creations like cola and popcorn, even creations with blood were created, which are not anymore sold. A lot of things are created and new crazy things are coming to it.
Everything is happening from them, which makes them a bean-to-bar producer. After having the cacao beans, the roasting, milling and conching, everything is happening in the factory in Riegersburg.
The Zotter family is traveling regularly to the cacao regions, to find the best place to buy them. Depending on how they live, how the working conditions are and where the quality is the best.
With having the contact to the partners and also paying more than the world market price, it is possible to support the farmers and have great quality as well. With being in the region in Austria the best working place over several years. It is possible to see that they want the workers in all stages to like working for them.
Quality of the chocolate
After explaining in the section before, you are able to see that there is everything on good conditions and quality rather than quantity.
The ingredients which are used are the best or at least one of the best to use for chocolate productions. Also it is tried to use sustainable products. This all comes to a higher cost, then big players from chocolate productions. The chocolate from Zotter costs way higher than a normal producer.
It tastes better, when trying it, when comparing it to other companies. To be honest, I personally would not buy it. It is because I prefer spending less on everything and chocolate is one of them. Even though I don’t eat much. It is good for presents though.
What to expect?
When visiting the chocolate factory you can expect that you are learning about the process from the bean to the final chocolate bar. First, see a movie, where you are learning about the company and a bit about chocolate making. After that, the real adventure starts.
While learning about the process of the chocolate, you are able to try out in every stage the products.
Many chocolates are available to try out and it is a lot of chocolate! As well, there are fancy robots and machines, from which you are getting the chocolate. It makes some parts of it way more fancy and fun to play with.
There will be everything in German and English, so even for international people it is decent.
After being done with the eating of all the chocolate and being actually full, it brings you to the shop. Probably better to have it earlier.
Before or after there is also the chance of visiting the edible zoo, which is found there as well. Over there it is possible to find different types of animals, fruits and vegetables growing and more.
What is included in the price?
The price for adults is 2022 18,90 EUR, which is the same in Dollar. In a group of 20, you are able to save 50 cents and for children under 18 it is also cheaper.
Including that is basically everything mentioned earlier. You are able to do the tour through the factory while trying out many varieties of chocolate. After or before that, you are able to visit the edible zoo, which is also included in the price.
When wanting to buy extras, that is of course not included, but the rest is, which is a lot. You are probably not able to try every chocolate, because it is too much. Probably the first time, you are actually full from chocolate.
How to get there?
At the company’s website, you can find it in more detail, but it is possible to arrive by train. The best connections would be Vienna or Graz. From the station Feldbach / Raab, you are able to take public transportation. It is not coming regularly, like usually in countryside Europe.
Even when driving with an electric bike, you are able to charge it in front of the factory. Even though obviously that is not a common way to get there for tourists.
When you don’t want to arrive by public transportation basically hitchhiking would be an option. It is just, that it is not guaranteed, when to arrive and you need some time.
Also possible, that there are people on Blablacar who are offering a ride there. Blablacar is a shared ride application, which is usually a really fair price.
My experience in the factory
I was invited by a friend from Couchsurfing, to join her and her mother & friend of her mother, to join them on a trip to this factory. I didn’t even know the company before, but I was excited to go. The chocolate factory sounds interesting and trying out chocolate is also great.
We left from Wiener Neustadt and drove quite a bit, because of a distance of 115km. It is for Europeans a little bit of a trip, not like for bigger countries of course.
When arriving there, I was not sure what to expect, which changed after the movie, which was created really well. It was a big building, but for a factory it seemed small. It is clear when realizing that 200 people are working there and not a few thousand.
You can tell how family business orientated it still is and with how much passion the company is led.
When trying the first chocolates, it didn’t taste good, because it was not the finished product yet. You are having a little spoon, with which you are able to try the chocolate and not needing to touch something with your hands. After you are finished they are cleaning it at the end of the day.
The further we went, the more full we got and the better the products got as well. Many different chocolates were there, types you never heard of before and my favorite was drinking chocolate. The drinking chocolate was with many different varieties. Most of them were exactly what I like, when it comes to chocolate. It was also my time to be full and I can eat a lot.
I wanted to try every chocolate available, which was not possible. If you can make it, then you gain my highest respect for that!
At the end of the course, you make it to a section, where you are able to try chocolate, which is not available to buy anymore, because they didn’t make it on the market. Some really bad ones and some which were actually quite decent.
Edible Zoo
Many animals like ostriches, water buffalos and many more are located with a big space of moving around. Also a small petting section is there for donkeys for example.
It is also possible to eat some of the animals, when paying extra of course. Breeds which are usually not able to be found on the market are there. It is because they are not profitable then other species for the world market. The animals are staying for a year there and are having a good life. This is a project from the company, which seems to work out well.
In the edible zoo, you are also able to visit their restaurant. In the restaurant you are able to eat the meat from the zoo and also can have a live cooking experience.
You can find sculptures in the zoo as well, some of them weird, but all really unique and interesting.
Some open nature games are installed, which you are able to try out, it is quite fun to do. It is a big open space with some visitors also there. With a yearly visiting of around 200.000 it is not that highly visited. Especially not when you are coming during the week.
Also a cemetery of ideas, where old creations are laying.
My experience in the Edible Zoo
We visited the edible zoo after the chocolate tour. It was probably a good decision, to get the body moving a bit after eating all the chocolate.
It was great walking around there and watching all the animals, same as touching them in the petting section. We spend a long time in the garden in general, but a quite decent amount.
I personally liked playing the games, which are found at the end of the zoo, near the forest. It was good to play around a bit, without looking like a weird person, which could happen when you go to a playground somewhere.
From throwing rubber boots and having a little parkour. It was all quite fun, but not the most amazing thing of course. It is just nice to try out and learn new things.
My favorite part was probably the cemetery. There you were can really see that this place is different from chocolate factories in your mind. To this a different article will come, to explain it a bit better.
Is a visit worth it?
When being in the region, you should for sure take a day to visit it. I can understand, when the distance is too long, to visit a chocolate factory, this is understandable.
I was visiting friends in Vienna and I got invited, that’s why I went there. It was fun and great to visit, but if it’s worth going. That depends on you and the distance you need to travel and the time you have.
I can recommend it, so it is not a bad thing to do and experience. In the end it is your decision to make..
But when being there, the entry fee is fair, when really doing everything.
What did I like and didn’t like?
When mentioning everything I liked and I didn’t like about the chocolate factory, this is going to get like a long section, so I will just do five each.
Things I like:
- The graveyard was really fun to see.
- Having all the different varieties.
- Being able to look inside of a chocolate factory and watch behind the scenes a bit.
- Having a whole day spent with just one activity.
- Ostriches & Alpakas
Things I didn’t like:
- Having the bad bitter chocolate at the beginning (I prefer not bitter ones). Even though it kind of makes sense, because of the process.
- Would be good having a sign what categories come up to know where to invest more stomach availability in.
- It is possible to be surrounded by school classes.
- The location is not the best to arrive at.
- The prices of the chocolate in the store are a lot.
Summary
Before writing this article, I didn’t expect it to become any near to this length. It is indeed a really interesting place to visit. It is unique, without a question. I have been to a few chocolate museums, but this is for sure more impressive.
It is a fair price, for everything you are getting in return, just the location is not the greatest, because of the public transport situation in the countryside. Still it is of course possible to reach, just more complicated compared to big cities.
For all kinds of chocolate fans there are some things there, from really dark chocolate, to white chocolate, chocolate with fruits, nuts or just normal milk chocolate. You are able to find everything and more.
When being in the shop, you would need to spend a lot of money for their products, which is of course not good, when you want to save money. At least you know what kind of quality you are purchasing.
I personally enjoyed the edible zoo a lot, because it is a zoo, where you are not feeling as bad as other zoos, for example the one visit in a zoo in Iraq. The animals are getting treated well, but some also eaten. Basically it is not just a zoo, it is also a farm.
Seeing a company so behind their product in such a proud way, to openly show you everything and also talking about things which went wrong, it is great seeing it.
To be able to say it is the most unique chocolate factory in the world, I would need to visit more, but it is probably one of them! Find it out for yourself.
I would love to hear your experiences about this chocolate factory, or questions. Share it with me in the comments.
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