The 2,400-sq.-ft. store, located at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, now features an open floor plan and simple, elegant décor meant to draw new and repeat customers to the iconic Chicago brand, owned by 1-800-Flowers.

Clasen Quality Coatings, Inc., has changed its name to Clasen Quality Chocolate, Inc. to reflect the Madison, Wis.-based company’s push into the chocolate sector.

Edible Arrangements, known for creating fresh-cut fruit arrangements for order, has expanded into the boxed chocolate market with its newest brand, Edible Chocolate.

Published in the journal Appetite, research by Felipe Reinoso Carvalho, Janice Wang, Raymond van Ee, Dominique Persoone and Charles Spence suggests music may affect the way listeners taste chocolate, particularly its perceived “creaminess.”

Lake Champlain Chocolates, a Vermont-based artisan chocolatier, has earned a Safe Quality Food (SQF) Level 2 Certification, meaning it has met requirements for one of the food industry’s leading food safety and quality designations.

Recent findings from the Nutritional Physiology Research Center at the University of South Australia, the University of Maine and LIH Luxembourg Institute of Health suggest that chocolate improves cognitive function.

The Good Food Awards, which recognizes authentic and delicious food throughout the United States, announced 291 finalists for 2017. There were 2,059 entries from 38 states and 14 categories, including chocolate, confections, honey, oils and more.

Mars Chocolate North America has announced the launch of several new chocolate products that premiered at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show held in Atlanta Oct. 18-21. The products will be available in the coming months.

As one would expect, with the popularity of this year’s team, both products have been top performing items in-store and online, says Dave Taiclet, president of the Gourmet Food Group, 1-800-Flowers. As he points out, Fannie May and the Chicago Cubs are two iconic Chicago brands.