Bitzel’s Chocolate, the brainchild of chocolatier Ray Bitzel, has taken metro Atlanta by storm with its 7,000-square-foot chocolate factory in Suwanee. This delectable destination offers a mouth-watering array of chef-crafted chocolate delicacies that have captivated the local sweet tooth community. Visitors are invited to explore the chocolate-making process in a Willy Wonka-style setting, where chocolate bark, truffles, and chocolate-covered fruits and nuts are freshly made on-site. Now, Bitzel’s Chocolate is set to delight Atlantans even further with the addition of fresh, creamy gelato—a slow-churned Italian dessert.
“Producing and serving gelato in-house has been part of the plan from the very beginning,” says Bitzel. “I wanted to offer something unique, something you can’t find anywhere else. Our gelato is made right at the counter in eight continuously churning barrels. It hasn’t been sitting in a freezer for who knows how long—it’s freshly poured that morning. And we serve it as soft serve, the way gelato was meant to be enjoyed.”
While gelato shares some similarities with ice cream—it’s made with milk, cream, and sugar—it’s considered a far superior dessert by Bitzel.
“Our gelato is naturally aerated, not injected,” he explains. “It has about 30% less fat, one-third less sugar, and one-third fewer calories than ice cream. It’s a more flavourful product because you don’t have all that fat coating your tongue and diluting the flavour—you can actually taste it. And gelato has less air than ice cream, so you’re getting more for your money.”
Ordering Bitzel’s gelato is a simple pleasure: Guests can choose from flavours such as Sierra Negra chocolate, salted caramel, orange creamsicle, strawberry, Tahitian vanilla, or Key lime pie. (Flavours change frequently, so guests can call ahead, check the website, or simply show up and be surprised.) After selecting a flavour, guests can add a sauce or crumble like coconut or lemon crunch, caramel biscotto cookie crumble, or chocolate cookie crumble. Finally, they can top it all off with a delicious topping or syrup including caramel, chocolate, strawberry, or passion fruit.
“Our goal isn’t just to offer an alternative to ice cream but to serve our guests an authentic Old World dessert and let them see it being made so they know exactly what’s in it,” Bitzel says. “I can’t think of anywhere you can get it like this outside of Italy.”
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Hannah Larvin
Editor, International Confectionery
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