Popular Beanermunky Chocolate shop to close doors in Hamilton
Published July 5, 2023 at 12:09 pm
The triple dark bonbons, sea-salted turtles, peanut butter cups, chocolate-dipped bacon and spicy chocolate confections will soon be no more.
Seventeen years after she started selling chocolate at a farmers’ market, Hamilton chocolatier Lori Eisenberger has decided to shutter her popular Beanermunky Chocolate shop in downtown Dundas and retire this fall.
Eisenberger said the shop may close its doors around Labour Day (Sept. 4), depending on staff and ingredient levels.
COURTESY BEANERMUNKY CHOCOLATE DUNDAS
Eisenberger announced on Facebook and Instagram yesterday (July 4) that she wants to spend more time with her four grandchildren, all under the age of five. Since the shop lease is expiring this year and she’s turning 65, she felt it was the right time to retire. She said it was stressful to keep her team and customers safe and keep the business afloat during the pandemic.
“Any small business owner will tell you that time is the most precious of commodities,” she wrote.
She named her shop after her two sons. Her eldest, Jacob, had the childhood nickname of “Beaner” and Mathew was called “Munky.”
She said her oldest son Jacob (a.k.a. “Beaner”) and his wife Alicia have two kids. Her son Mathew (a.k.a. “Munky”) and his wife Charity also have two little ones.
“My husband, Peter, who has been my rock and a source of never-ending help and support, has already been retired for a few years,” Eisenberger wrote.
Hamilton chocolatier Lori Eisenberger is retiring and closing Beanermunky Chocolate shop in Dundas. She said she wants to spend more time with her four grandchildren and family, pictured. COURTESY BEANERMUNKY CHOCOLATE VIA FACEBOOK
Although she is retiring, she plans to do other chocolate-related activities next year, including hosting chocolate pairing and tasting events. “This will allow me to stay in the chocolate business that I love but have much more control over my time,” she said.
Depending on ingredient levels, the business will continue producing confections until sometime in August. She will then announce closing sale discounts for the treats near the end of August. She will later sell equipment, tools, moulds and shop fixtures.
Those with outstanding gift cards are encouraged to visit the shop soon to pick up their treats.
She said one of the things she loves most about having a chocolate shop is being a part of her customers’ family celebrations and holidays.
“In the many messages I received since I announced my retirement, many have commented the same thing to me,” she said in an email to inthehammer.com. “We have become a part of their annual traditions. Sometimes on Christmas morning, I think about all the folks that are opening their stockings and receiving our confections. It really is heart warming.”
COURTESY BEANERMUNKY CHOCOLATE DUNDAS
Starting in the Hamilton Farmers’ Market in 2006, the business grew into a brick-and-mortar shop in Dundas in the fall of 2011.
The shop is well known for artisan chocolates and confections that are made onsite by hand in small batches using the fork-dipped method, considered the most challenging way to make them. She and her staff make about 90 per cent of the treats sold in the shop and for other products, they source it locally, said Eisenberger.
Popular bonbons are sea-salted caramel, triple dark, passionfruit, lemon burst, strawberry meltaway, earl grey tea and rosemary, she said.
Customers can regularly find certified chocolatiers and assistants at work through large viewing windows. Eisenberger says her shop uses only the highest quality ingredients and natural flavourings — no additives or preservatives.
Along with its seasonal chocolates and treats, Beanermunky offers gift boxes for different occasions. It uses milk, dark, white, ruby or gold Belgian chocolate, with vegan, dairy free and gluten free options.
COURTESY BEANERMUNKY CHOCOLATE DUNDAS
COURTESY BEANERMUNKY CHOCOLATE DUNDAS