Omnom sets the bar higher

Despite growing neither cocoa beans or sugar Icelanders are mad for chocolate and make quite a lot of it. One of the youngest producers in Iceland is Omnom, a small batch, artisan chocolate maker based in Reykjavik, whose delicious chocolate and great design have taken sweet-toothed Icelanders and visitors by a storm.

Founded by chef Kjartan Gíslason and his childhood friend Óskar Þórðarson, the Omnom adventure began with sheer curiosity on Kjartan’s behalf; He wanted to know how chocolate was made. “I talked it over with Óskar and, both being food lovers, we started to really think about this. We tried finding tools and equipment for producing chocolate and after several attempts fin ally had something in our hands that you could call chocolate,” says Kjartan. Then they got designer André to design the look and feel of the Omnom label and packaging. “When we had that we saw that we were on to something special,” Kjartan adds.

FROM BEAN TO BAR

From the start, Kjartan and Óskar knew they wanted to make their chocolate from scratch, or from bean-to-bar as the industry calls it. Omnom is actually the only bean-to-bar chocolate producer in Iceland. “When we start ed this journey we tried beans from all over, from Papua, New Guinea to Tanzania. Today we use beans from Tanzania, Nicaragua and Madagascar. The Madagascar beans are actually the reason we fell in love with chocolate. They are fruit-forward and packed with the right punch of acidity. The flavor is so exciting that we just had to try adding Icelandic milk to it and to this day our Milk of Madagascar bar is our most awarded chocolate.”

After starting small, Omnom has grown and so has the production, introducing new technology. “We were using old equipment and technology to make our chocolate and have switched to a more modern one but our focus is always on the key ingredients being of the highest quality,” Kjartan explains.

COCOA-CONSCIOUS

From experimental roasting and grinding beans at Kjartan’s house to finding an abandoned gas station in Seltjarnarnes where they made their first finished product, Omnom has now grown to employ over 20 people, having their own factory store and offering a daily factory tour. But their core values have never faltered and both Kjartan and Óskar are proud by the standards they have set and kept through out the build-up of their company.

“How we source and buy our raw materials really matters, and not just to us. We have done extensive research into the producers of our cacao and sugar. We buy from responsible farmers and distributors and love supporting social change through buying power,” says Kjartan. You can read about all of Omnom’s raw materials and how they’re sourced on Omnom’s webpage, www.omnomchocolate.com.

SWEET DREAMS

Icelanders have a serious sweet tooth and we already had a few big chocolate and candy manufacturers on the island fulfilling our penchant for sweets. How did it feel to produce for a market that seemed so well catered for already? “To tell you the truth, we never thought about the size of the market when we were starting out. We simply wanted to make high-quality chocolate with the best available raw materials. On the other hand, we did have dreams and aspirations about our chocolate someday being sold in specialty gourmet stores like Dean and Deluca in New York and I’m proud to say that this dream has become a reality. We have a distributor in the US and Canada and Omnom Chocolate can now be found all over the world.”

AWARD-WINNING GOODNESS

The reception of Omnom chocolate has exceeded Kjartan’s most optimistic expectations. Since selling the very first chocolate bar, Omnom has produced 11 different types of chocolate as well as their crunchy, chocolate-covered malt balls. “Our chocolate bars have won over 50 awards at the European Bean-To- Bar Competition and the International Chocolate Awards. Our latest chocolate bar, Black n’ Burnt Barley won the gold medal at the European Bean-To-Bar this August. This is a tremendous achievement and encourages us to keep on making high-quality chocolate,” says Kjartan.

In addition to Omnom’s core production, they also make seasonal bars and the next one will be out in November. To date, their most popular chocolate in Iceland is Liqorice + Sea Salt, but if you are not a liqorice lover try the Caramel + Milk bar. You can buy them on board any WOW air flight. Indulge!

Go to www.omnomchocolate.com for more info and delicious chocolate and follow Omnom on Facebook and Twitter so you won’t miss out on their latest bars.