Zotter Chocolate Theatre

Josef Zotter began as a confectioner in Graz, went bankrupt, and rebuilt as a chocolate maker at Bergl in eastern Styria on a bean-to-bar model - buying beans direct from growers on organic and fair-trade terms, roasting, conching and moulding on site - which was unusual in Europe when he started and is now the basis of a business with several hundred products, including flavour combinations that are deliberately strange. The Schoko-Laden-Theater is the visitor route: a walkway through the production floor with tasting stations at every stage, and the arrangement is that you can eat as much as you like of everything, which is either the appeal or a warning. There is a farm with rare breeds and a restaurant serving the animals it raises, which the operation is explicit about.

What you actually see

• Bean-to-bar production - roasting, conching and moulding on one floor.
• Unlimited tasting - stations at every stage of the route through the factory.
• Several hundred products - including deliberately odd flavour combinations.
• A rare-breed farm - animals raised and served in the restaurant, openly.

When to go

All year; booking is advised in season. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Tastings are genuinely unlimited and most people overdo it - pace yourself. Booking is needed at busy times. The farm-to-restaurant arrangement is not for everyone. Eastern Styria needs a car.

Nearby

Riegersburg castle is five kilometres away; Bad Blumau is north.