BOOTH FOR BARS

BRING YOUR CHOCOLATE. WE’LL PROVIDE THE BOOTH.

The Southwest Chocolate & Coffee Fest is committed to supporting craft chocolate makers, cacao farmers, and the people and businesses working to build a more sustainable and diverse chocolate industry.

Our Booth for Bars program invites select international bean-to-bar chocolate makers to participate in the festival with complimentary booth space in exchange for providing chocolate and participating in one of our small-group guided chocolate tasting sessions.

Only a limited number of booths can be provided under the program. 

HELPING INTERNATIONAL MAKERS REACH A NEW MARKET

Traveling internationally to introduce your chocolate to a new market is expensive. Booth for Bars was created to help offset those costs and make participation in the Southwest Chocolate & Coffee Fest more accessible to craft chocolate makers from around the world.

By eliminating the booth fee, we hope to give more makers—and the cacao farmers and communities behind their chocolate—an opportunity to reach thousands of consumers, build brand recognition, develop new customers, and introduce their products to the growing craft chocolate market in the American Southwest.

This isn’t simply free booth space. It’s an opportunity to tell your story, share your chocolate, and personally introduce your brand to a new audience.

WHAT WE PROVIDE

Selected Booth for Bars participants receive:

• Complimentary booth space at the Southwest Chocolate & Coffee Fest to showcase, promote, and sell your chocolate throughout the event.

• One scheduled 45-minute small-group chocolate tasting session, limited to 40-48 attendees, giving you the opportunity to personally introduce high value consumers to your chocolate, your company, and your story.

• All tasting and sampling supplies needed for your scheduled session.

• Festival support staff to assist with portioning, setting up, distributing samples, and managing the tasting so you can focus on presenting your chocolate and engaging with attendees.

Sessions will be scheduled throughout the festival.

WHAT YOU PROVIDE

In exchange for complimentary booth space, participating chocolate makers agree to:

• Participate in and personally present one 40-minute chocolate tasting session.

• Provide a minimum of six (6) different chocolates or styles for the tasting.

• Provide at least eight full-size bars of each of the 6 bars selected—a minimum of 48 bars total.

Our goal is to put your chocolate in the hands, and mouths, of people who can help discover, appreciate, and champion your brand—both during the scheduled tasting and throughout the festival.

Participants are responsible for all travel, lodging, transportation, shipping, customs, product inventory, and other expenses associated with attending the festival. We will be working to arrange discount hotel rooms for vendors. 

RESERVATION & CANCELLATION DEPOSIT

• Because Booth for Bars space is complimentary and limited, accepted participants are required to provide a $200 fully refundable participation deposit to reserve their booth.

• The $200 deposit is refunded in full when you arrive for festival load-in on April 2.

• If your plans change, you may cancel on or before February 1 and receive a full refund.

• Cancellations after February 1 and participants who do not arrive for load-in on April 2 will forfeit the $250 deposit.

• This policy allows us to offer valuable booth space at no cost while protecting the festival from last-minute cancellations that prevent another international chocolate maker from participating.

WHY WE’RE DOING IT

• By helping offset the cost of participating in a major U.S. consumer festival, we hope to introduce exceptional international chocolate makers to the Southwest, create new opportunities for emerging brands, educate consumers about where chocolate comes from, and ultimately support a stronger global craft chocolate community.