A 70% dark chocolate with lion’s mane mushroom powder from Dunk’s Mushroom Products & Foraging LLC out of Brentwood is one of the new products for Loon Chocolate.
ON A RECENT afternoon, the smell of cacao beans being ground in Loon Chocolate‘s new kitchen wafted through much of the Mill West complex in Manchester.
“You can smell it upstairs on the third floor,” one woman said as she perused the new shop at 195 McGregor St. The bean-to-bar chocolate producer opened in Unit 121 this summer after moving from The Factory on Willow.
Loon Chocolate not only has a new production area and showroom, the brand has new owners: David and Rachel Mack and Sara Steffensmeier, who also own Laurel Hill Jams & Jellies in Bedford. Rachel and Sara, who are sisters, became the owners of Laurel Hill in February after founder Sue Stretch retired.
The addition of Loon Chocolate came in June after they found out the business was for sale. The Macks now run the businesses full time.
The 1,000-square-foot space still features old flywheels, which were used by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. to make textiles, on the ceiling. The kitchen space was left behind from a Subway that closed years ago.
Dennis Roux of Bedford shops at Loon Chocolate's new location at Mill West in Manchester.
Jonathan Phelps/Union Leader
“We were just looking for a kitchen and we needed a kitchen fast,” Mack said. “We only had a couple of options. We wanted a place where we could sell our products, but we didn’t really envision anything this grand.”
The new space also has better foot traffic, with apartments and businesses in the building and Catholic Medical Center across the street.
The cacao beans are ethically sourced from Belize, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Uganda, and the finished products are GMO-free. The beans are ground for 72 hours.
Interest in bean-to-bar products has taken off nationally, Mack said, and one of Loon’s goals is to make the products accessible to those unfamiliar.
The company has chocolate makers on the staff.
“There has been no disruption in the quality of the product since taking it over,” Mack said.
Loon was started by Scott Watson out of commercial kitchen space in Derry in 2018.
Two new products include dark chocolate-covered organic espresso beans from Two Dogs Coffee Co. and a 70% dark chocolate with lion’s mane mushroom powder from Dunk’s Mushroom Products & Foraging LLC out of Brentwood.
A 70% dark chocolate with lion’s mane mushroom powder from Dunk’s Mushroom Products & Foraging LLC out of Brentwood is one of the new products for Loon Chocolate.
Jonathan Phelps/Union Leader
Besides Laurel Hill Jams and Jellies and Loon Chocolate, the showroom also offers CandleTree Soy Candles, Cooper & Sophie’s Kitchen dog treats and Clayton’s Way Farm soaps. Loon Chocolate is also sold wholesale to 75 active stores, which include many general stores and farm stands in Southern New Hampshire.
The showroom will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday for Christmas shopping.
Shipyard reopens at MHT
Traveling this holiday season out of Manchester-Boston Regional Airport?
Shipyard Pub reopened in its pre-security location on the second floor and now features an all-day breakfast menu and Costa Coffee, a U.K. brand that is growing in popularity here in the states.
Some of the offerings include the avocado BLT panini, western omelet wrap and smoked turkey cobb salad, according to the menu. The restaurant is open every day from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The restaurant is open to the general public, but customers must pay for parking.
“This restaurant is also convenient for someone arriving at the airport and waiting to be picked up,” the airport wrote on Facebook.
Art at the mall
A new mural at The Mall at Rockingham Park will give holiday shoppers something new to take in. The mural created by Positive Street Art, based in Nashua, is a nod to the Rockingham Park racetrack, including the old grandstand and five horses racing.
The Southern New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting on Dec. 8. The mural is located between Macy’s and Starbucks, where the mall has indoor cornhole (bean bag) boards.
New Aroma Joe’s
Also on Dec. 8, Aroma Joe’s opened at 527 Hooksett Road in Manchester. This is one of two drive-thrus coming to the North End Shops at Livingston Park. The other will be Taco Bell.
The new 807-square-foot drive-thru-only location is part of significant growth for the company. Robert and Tracy Hanson also own four other New Hampshire Aroma Joes locations, including a walk-up counter inside the Manchester VA Medical Center.
Manchester also has an Aroma Joe’s on Beech Street.
Aroma Joe’s was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in South Portland, Maine. It now has 111 locations across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
If you have an interesting business or commercial real estate story idea email reporter Jonathan Phelps at jphelps@unionleader.com.
