Our Story
William Dean Chocolates was founded in 2007. The company is named in honor of its founder’s father (William) and grandfather (Dean). William Dean Chocolates follows the artisan tradition of creating everything we make by hand, in small batches and without preservatives.
At William Dean Chocolates, we excite the eye and intrigue the palate with works of art made from only the finest ingredients. Every piece is made by hand in our shop in Belleair Bluffs, Florida.
William Dean Brown, founder and Chief Chocolate Officer (CCO) at William Dean Chocolates, began exploring his artistic talents at an early age. In elementary school, his artistic passion was so great that teachers had to remove all paper from his desk as he would constantly draw. At one point, he was caught sketching on hand towels from the restroom and sent to the principals office to be reprimanded. He stopped drawing at this point, and it would be years before he found a new medium.
Although trained as an educator, William became involved in the dot.com world. He co-founded a software company and later joined an emerging technology company. After the dot.com bubble burst, he reinvented himself by moving to Tampa Bay, Florida. He joined a large, mature company and worked his way into upper management. After watching an episode on “The Food Network,” he made truffles for his employees as a staff support activity. He later saw the work of “artisan” chocolatiers and knew he had found the perfect medium to express his creativity.
As William learned to airbrush and paint chocolates, the artistic passion from his youth returned. Artisan chocolates offered a multi-dimensional palette: the opportunity to create a beautiful, outward appearance for the shell with amazing flavor combinations hidden within. He began his journey of learning by reading every book he could get his hands on about chocolate. He then began to take classes and spend time with other chocolatiers to learn even more. Within two years, he learned firsthand from some of the top chocolatiers in the world including Jean-Pierre Wybauw, Stephane Glacier, Andrew Shotts, Vincent Pilon, and Ewald Notter.
Staff Favorites
Best Sellers
15 Piece Mother's Day Box
We have been busy working on our 2024 Mother's Day collection. This is a 15 piece box with many ways to tell mom how much she means. We will begin shipping on April 30th.
Best Sellers
15 Piece Macaron Box
William Dean’s Signature Macaron Collection includes a variety of their Vanilla, Chocolate, Key Lime, Passion Fruit, Red Velvet, PB&J, Lemon, Raspberry, Maple Pecan, Coffee, Port with Fig, Pistachio and Salted Caramel macarons. William Dean Chocolates chocolates and macarons even appeared in the movie, “The Hunger Games”. They come in a beautiful blue gift box that will be sure to the perfect gift.
PB&J Bar
Our PB&J Bar is one of our customers favorites. First, we make a layer of pate de fruit with Black Currant and Raspberry puree. Next we top it with a layer of Peanut butter ganache with crispy rice, puffed rice and feuilletine (crisp pastry flakes) then enrobe in dark chocolate. A PB&J lovers dream!
Best Sellers
Mendiants
Our mendiants are a combination of dark, milk and white chocolate studded with a variety of dried fruits, candied flowers and nuts. Mendiants are a traditional French confection composed of a chocolate disk studded with nuts and dried fruits representing the four mendicant or monastic orders.
Best Sellers
Macadamia & Coconut Caramel Corn with White Chocolate
Our artisan caramel corn is made by hand and includes honey and vanilla bean. The Macadamia and Coconut caramel corn is also loaded with toasted coconut and roasted macadamia nuts then generously drizzled with Valrhona white chocolate. This is our staff’s favorite product we make!
Fruit & Filberts Dark Bar
Our custom 64% William Dean blend of Valrhona dark chocolates topped with tart cherries and caramelized hazelnuts (filberts).
Peanut Butter Pretzel Balls
We take round pretzel balls and cover them in a milk chocolate/peanut butter chocolate then finish them in Peanut Butter Powder. Wow!!
Strawberry Chocolate Strawberries
We take the best dried strawberries we’ve ever found and then coat them in Valrhona’s new Strawberry Inspiration chocolate. If you like strawberries, you’ll be in heaven.