June 18, 2009 10:00 AM PDT
Willy Wonka meets Silicon Valley at the Tcho chocolate factory on Pier 17 in San Francisco. Wired with virtual and remote technology, this factory is more than just an epicurean experiment.
Founded by former space shuttle technologist-cum-chocolate guru Timothy Childs and led by CEO Louis Rossetto, co-founder of Wired magazine, Tcho mixes state-of-the-art technology with artisan chocolate making to produce pure dark chocolate.
The 20,000 square-foot factory went into operation earlier this month and can produce up to 4,000 metric tons of chocolate per year (enough to fill 200 20-foot shipping containers). It is one of only a few chocolate factories in the U.S. that controls every step in the manufacturing process, from cacao pod to consumer's mouth.
Photo by James Martin/CNET
Caption by Dara Kerr
