Chocolate academy to open in Belgium

Chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut is building the largest of its training centres in Wieze, East Flanders. Minister for economy Johan Vande Lanotte yesterday laid the first stone of this ‘chocolate academy’. The training centres offer a range of courses and tutorials for professionals. Nearly 38,000 professionals are trained each year in Callebaut’s chocolate academies.  “Chocolate academies facilitate the creation of partnerships with artisans, be they confectioners, chocolatiers or chefs," the company announced. The new academy built in Wieze, which is scheduled to open in June 2014, will be located next to where the Callebaut company was founded 100 years ago. According to Barry Callebaut, the new centre – the company’s fifteenth and largest in the world - "provides a space for training - namely courses and tutorials - for professional customers, so as to inspire them to spread Belgian chocolate culture throughout the world."