Cru Chocolate founder, Karla McNeil-Rueda grew up in Honduras. It was there where she developed a reverence and passion for the history, cultural significance and cultivation of cacao, and the production of fine chocolate for both eating and drinking.
After emigrating to the United States, McNeil-Rueda pursued a degree in Engineering and an advanced degree in Sustainability. She also studied Cacao technology and fine chocolate confectionery at the Chocolate Institute of Latin Americ
Cru Chocolate founder, Karla McNeil-Rueda grew up in Honduras. It was there where she developed a reverence and passion for the history, cultural significance and cultivation of cacao, and the production of fine chocolate for both eating and drinking.
After emigrating to the United States, McNeil-Rueda pursued a degree in Engineering and an advanced degree in Sustainability. She also studied Cacao technology and fine chocolate confectionery at the Chocolate Institute of Latin America and the Caribbean in La Habana, Cuba.
She learned to integrate and combine her empirical and cultural knowledge of chocolate with her experience as an engineer. Together with her partner and fellow engineer, Eddie Houston, they founded Cru Chocolate—a hand-crafted bean-to-bar company that sources fine Cacao from Mesoamerica and the Caribbean to use in their chocolate and other Cacao based creations. All their chocolate is produced in small batches at their home kitchen.
Cru Chocolate’s mission includes a focus on assisting people at origin in creating and growing their own business by providing education and facilitating small scale equipment.