Friis-Holm

Why it is renowned

Friis-Holm has won gold at the International Chocolate Awards every year since 2013, at both the world and the European finals.¹ At the 2026 European final in Bordeaux it took 13 gold medals, among them best chocolate maker, and its O'Payo Milk 50% has won world gold five times.¹ The Telegraph and The Guardian have written about its bars.²

The story

Mikkel Friis-Holm, a chef, came to chocolate in San Francisco in the late 1990s, through the young Scharffen Berger company.³ In 2007 he joined a cacao project in Nicaragua backed by the Danish development agency Danida, and beans from its farmers are still at the core of his chocolate.³ Until 2013 the bars were made with Bonnat in France; the first chocolate made in Denmark came off the machines in 2015, and the factory now stands at Herslev, next to Herslev Bryghus.³⁴ The beans are roasted, ground, refined and conched on site, on a longitudinal conche more than 100 years old, with milk from Thise Dairy for the milk bars.⁴ Since 2023 the family behind Hansen Is has been a co-owner.³

What to know it by

• O'Payo Milk 50%Milk chocolate; world gold 2018, 2019, 2020/2021, 2024 and 2025
• Dark Milk 55%Dark milk chocolate; world gold 2013 and 2023
• La Dalia 100%Chocolate with no sugar; world gold 2021 and 2023
• Nicaliso 70%Dark bar from Nicaraguan cacao; European gold 2018