Jens Knoop will tell you that his love of chocolate began as a child with his grandmother. He said she “always made eating chocolate ceremonial and special.”
Now, he’s bringing that same experience to the U.S. for the first time with the opening on Aug. 21 of his Knoops Drinking Chocolate Cafe in Salt Lake City. The new cafe at 907 E. 900 S. joins his family of Knoops stores in 29 different locations in the United Kingdom and Middle East.
“It all kind of started in London when we heard a lot of people talking about our first shop,” Knoop said. “As we grew, our cafes became very popular with American expats and tourists who told me we needed to come to America. I did some research and felt we’d be a perfect fit for the country, and then a voice from Utah reached out to us, so we began making a plan.”
That voice belonged to Utah resident Mike Jensen, who will oversee the Knoops expansion in the U.S. — plans for up to 160 stores by 2032.
“To Jens’ point, there were a lot of Utahns that I’d heard talk about Knoops,” Jensen said. “I had a neighbor who told me I just had to try it when I was in London. I walked by a store and saw a line out the door, stuck my head in, then found another Knoops elsewhere in town and gave it a try. I had such a fabulous experience that I knew it needed to come to Utah, so I reached out to Knoop via LinkedIn, we connected and had a great conversation. So now we’re working together.”
Jensen said Knoops is about making happiness and bringing it to customers. He feels the market here in Utah is ready for the way Knoop has come to curate chocolate in his cafes. Knoops holds the world’s largest drinking chocolate library, with 21 chocolates ranging in percentages from 28 percent white to 100 percent extra dark. Knoop, a trained chocolate sommelier, built that library by hand through traveling to cacao festivals and plantations in nine countries. Cafe patrons can select dairy or non-dairy milks, then choose the chocolate percentage for drinks that can be hot, iced, frozen, or served as a milkshake. Add-ins include house-made marshmallows, orange zest, sea salt, chili and more.
“It’s a process, just like dirty sodas,” Knoop said with a smile, having learned about the Utah-based craze during his recent visit to Salt Lake City. “You can create your perfect chocolate drink using our different flavor profiles. And we just added a frozen hot chocolate, like a slushy of sorts, because people want hot chocolate drinks in the summer as well as the winter.”
Snoops will also offer local bakery items, working with a core local bakery, and coffee will be available as well.
The location on 9th and 9th was deliberate, as Knoop felt a real sense of community and a great diverse mix of people.
“Chocolate brings people together,” he said. “This is a great place that embodies portions of what the brand stands for.”
He said his surname translates to “button” in Dutch, a fitting name for chocolate drinks made from real chocolate buttons — and soon to be served in Salt Lake City.
