Askinosie Chocolate boutique opens in Singapore

The first Askinosie Chocolate shop outside of the company's Springfield factory is opening in Singapore this week.

Trendspot, an Askinosie Chocolate distributor, will open a boutique in the Great World City shopping center, carrying all of the chocolate-maker's products and some authentic items from the original Askinosie storefront at 514 E. Commercial St. The boutique will use the Askinosie brand but won't be a franchise, according to an Askinosie Chocolate news release.

Trendspot had been distributing Askinosie products in Singapore for more than a year when the owner, Benny Low, approached Askinosie Chocolate owner Shawn Askinosie about opening a boutique. Low said he wanted to introduce Singaporeans to single-origin, quality chocolate.

"Very few people know the difference between traceable single origin and cocoa mass; very few people know there are poor cocoa farmers out there who are being exploited," Low said in the release. "But this chocolate is different - it's the way dark chocolate should be. This is what I hope to share with chocolate lovers here: something of value and something meaningful."

Askinosie Chocolate sources cocoa beans directly from farmers in Mexico, Ecuador and the Philippines, and the company shares profits with them.