Lydgate Farms – premier chocolate grower of Kaua‘i – opens first store in Kapa‘a

Lydgate Farms has come to town: Those with a sweet tooth on Kaua‘i no longer must navigate the back roads of Wailuā to satisfy their cravings for high-quality chocolate.

Last week the award-winning company opened its first-ever brick-and-mortar store – right in the heart of downtown Kapa‘a on the East Side of Kaua‘i.

“It’s a big step out for us onto the main drag,” said owner Will Lydgate at the store’s “soft launch” on July 15. “Here we are with our display windows from the old Shido Building fabric store, and now we’re filling those windows with the story of where we’re coming from and where it’s all going.”

Lydgate – whose family has resided on Kaua‘i for five generations – harvested his first chocolate crop in 2008. Since then, locals and visitors have had to visit his 46-acre farm high in Wailuā to purchase its premium chocolate products or take a tour of the property’s 3,000 cacao trees.

“We’re trying to change the way the world tastes chocolate, one person at a time,” Lydgate said. “… We really don’t have to push sales very hard because chocolate sells itself. People like it and it’s different.”

The open-air tasting room and store located at the chocolate farm are now closed in favor of the Kapa‘a location. But Lydgate Farms still offers tours, and Lydgate hopes the new store will encourage customers to book a trip to the farm located 10 minutes away.

“Our goal is definitely for this to be Phase One, where people come down here and they get interested and they want to take it to the next level,” he said.

Agritourism, or agrotourism, is a crucial component of Lydgate Farms’ business model, its lead farmer explained last year.

Visitors to the Kapa‘a store, located in the historic Shido Building on Kūhiō Highway across the street from Fish Bar Deli, will be treated to a variety of free samples – and then, as Lydgate noted, the chocolate sells itself. Products include chocolate-covered coffee beans and macadamia nuts, bars, cacao nibs, honey and more.

“It’s pretty spectacular to give them that eye-opening experience that chocolate doesn’t need to be bitter, dry and chalky,” said Lydgate Farms tour guide Maddie Roberts.

Lydgate wants chocolate to become synonymous with Hawai‘i – just as pineapple, sugarcane and canoe crops like taro are today. To do so, he is focusing on the quality of his products, rather than quantity.

“Look at Napa Valley as a model: You’ve got really high land values and they’re supported by wines that are very valuable,” he said. “It’s hard to come [to Kaua‘i] in 2024 and make a wholesale commodity crop work anymore. The last sugarcane plantation closed in 2016. That model was selling tons wholesale … I think now we need to sell pounds directly to the customer.”

Customers are certainly willing to pay more for Lydgate Farms chocolate, which won gold at the Cacao of Excellence Awards in Europe this spring.

“I like to describe it as bagged wine vs. fine quality wine,” said Roberts. “You’re going to want to upgrade for the really good things, especially when you’ve tasted it.”

Even as he wraps up work on the Kapa‘a store, Lydgate has already turned an eye to the future: He hopes to one day build a chocolate factory on Kaua‘i. (His farm’s products are currently produced on O‘ahu.)

A grand opening celebration at Lydgate Farms’ Kapa‘a store is forthcoming. Although details of the event have yet to be announced, the store is now open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, to buy online or to book a farm tour, visit the Lydgate Farms website here. The company is also on Facebook and Instagram.