I know that you like to get some insider information here on this blog, and I thought I'd introduce you to the two visionary chocri founders, Micha(el) and Franz. You can read my interviews with them here (Micha) and here (Franz), but here's my quick roundup about them.

Micha and Franz actually met in High School, and discovered soon that they shared something: the entrepreneurial bug. They both grew up not far from Berlin, Germany, and were young kids when the wall fell. Many others in their generation actually left that region of Germany - but not the two of them. Even before graduating from high school, they started their first venture together, and soon they were in the business of chocolate. Well, chocolate fountains and chocolate supplies for those fountains. One day Franz was desperately trying to come up for a great birthday gift for his girlfriend, and faced with lack of alternatives and time, he melted some of the chocolate fountain chocolate and decorated it with his girlfriends favorite toppings - the first chocri was born.

Word got around of this gift, and soon Franz's first buddy asked if he could have such a bar for his mom. Franz and Micha, gifted with lots of entrepreneurial spirit, saw a business opportunity. Personalized chocolate bars might sound like a wonderful, obviously great idea to us now, but keep in mind that back then, in 2008, nothing like this existed! Without any market research on a big scale, Micha and Franz bet on their idea to catch on - and boy, did they hit the nerve of time.

Franz and Micha are currently still in university, but that doesn't keep them from pressing on with chocri - as you all well know, chocri recently expanded to the US, and the UK is next. Germans are known for being quite risk averse, but the two chocri founders have a refreshingly healthy mix of daring new things, but also the amazing ability of constantly coming up with things that people might not have thought about yet themselves, but are enthusiastic about once they exist. Thanks to them, you can always expect chocri to keep innovating, to constantly improve, and to grow.

If you'd like to see Franz and Micha, check out our Youtube Channel for a video with the two.

*What would you like to know about the chocri founders? Comment, and I'll forward the question!

in Germany, people celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December, hence today was the last day for chocri to make customized chocolate bars for the holidays. Yes, that's right - chocri is hard at work until the last day before Christmas!

The very last bar with the wonderful destination of becoming a christmas gift was "Santa's Favorite", a creation recommended by chocri. Here a picture of the last bar being packaged:

An amazing chocolate bar with cinnamon, roasted almonds and toffee, heavily preferred by Santa over the common choice of cookies underneath the Christmas tree. Not only Santa loves it, the whole family does! With it's golden sparkles, it makes for an extra happy Christmas Eve.

Joy, peace and chocolate for everyone!

p.s. If you want to gift someone a customized chocolate bar for the holidays, try out our Facebook application and gift a virtual chocri bar :)

Today, don't stay here on the blog (although we love to have you) - go to Facebook and vote on your favorite fan picture!

We've asked our German fans to take their chocri bars and take pictures of them. We have everything from a chocri mosaic to a little chocri personality... so get your eyecandy on Facebook today:

Vote on the picture you love most by using the "like" button - that's it. The best photo artist takes home a chocri clothing article (t-shirt, apron...) and a big, fat package of chocri bars (albeit, that's only for the Germans).

Have fun! Now go :)

Big news from the other side of the Atlantic: chocri was so popular as a gift for the holidays, that chocri actually sold out this weekend! Despite a good number of full-time and temporary employees, 24/7 production and lots of hard work put in by everyone - chocri can't keep up with the orders! What love from our fans!

One of the last bars* that was ordered: Dark chocolate with walnuts. The creator called it: "Chocolate makes happy!". True words!

Luckily, there are still alternatives in Germany: Gift Coupons and something new: a Chocolate Club, with two "bars of the month" for subscribers. More about that later.

So much from Germany!

• the very last bar was "Santa's Favorite", which is one of our recommendations.