Z. Cioccolato candy shop sold to new owner with growth ambitions

Thomas Forbes is the new owner of candy and fudge shop Z. Cioccolato, located at 474 Columbus Ave. in North Beach. He plans to take the business "to the moon."

By Alex Barreira – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times

May 21, 2025

Updated May 21, 2025 10:23am PDT

Beloved North Beach candy shop Z. Cioccolato has a new owner who plans to take the business and its renowned small-batch fudge into untapped areas of growth.

The nearly 23-year-old store at 474 Columbus Ave. was recently sold for an undisclosed sum to Thomas Forbes, wearer of many hats under prior owner Mike Zwiefelhofer — chef, sounding board, "chief fudgepacking officer" — since joining the business in 2021. He plans to bring the business a new aesthetic and orientation towards community causes, as well as an openness to growth channels such as retail partner distribution and brick-and-mortar expansion.

"I'm taking this place to the moon," Forbes, 41, said in an interview this week. "I have 100% energy to put into this job."

Z. Cioccolato prides itself on its artisanal fudge, of which it's sold 200 different varieties (and counting) since 2002. Today, it maintains about 18 core flavors and another half dozen or so monthly rotations, some requiring multiple days of baking. On a given day customers will find white chocolate macadamia cookie dough, strawberry french toast, or the seven-layer peanut butter pie — its most famous.

"That's our differentiator," Forbes said. "There are a lot of chocolate stores in the world, but there's nobody making fudge like we do."

Reputation travels, and under Forbes that could mean a brick-and-mortar presence in new markets at some point. His friends in other parts of the country — Los Angeles, Napa, Brooklyn — think a store would translate tomorrow, and he added he's "absolutely not opposed" to the possibility some day. The same goes for potential retail partnerships that would sell Z. Cioccolato products in other stores.

For the moment, though, the shop's biggest concern is meeting demand for its current in-person and e-commerce orders. The business makes as much as 60% of its annual revenue on holiday season orders, and so Forbes said more chefs and an eventual kitchen expansion are the priority to avoid leaving money on the table after straining its capacity in recent years.

Forbes plans to eventually give Z. Cioccolato a more unifying aesthetic that could involve, for instance, black and white tile floors.

In the long term, Forbes is planning to revamp the store interior in a more ambitious and experiential direction that would pop on social media and is more in line with San Francisco's reputation as a food capital of the world.

Forbes also sees Z. Cioccolato playing a more active role in community causes as a means of engagement, with organizational partnerships even inspiring new products and flavors. A new 12-piece, Pride-Month-inspired box shipping next week comes with the promise of a $5 donation to an LGBTQ nonprofit organization.

"We want to do something like that every month," Forbes said. "This wonderful job has meant a lot to my continued sobriety, so giving back to the community in different ways is really important to me."

Forbes's opportunity came after Zwiefelhofer two years ago started a new job in charge of Leadership San Francisco, a nonprofit within the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and after about a year began looking for a successor that could give the business their full attention.

Zwiefelhofer took over the business in 2015 at the retirement of its original founders, Kerri and Mark Warmus. Looking for a chef and lieutenant, he brought on Forbes after an introduction from Forbes's husband, Dustin Durham, whose experience in sales and events gave him deep connections to local restaurants and venues. Durham, while listed with Forbes on the new corporate business entity, is for now an informal advisor.

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