ALEX GOLDEN
BENTONVILLE — If you’ve spent considerable time in Northwest Arkansas coffee shops, you may recognize the all-capital lettering of the Kyya logo up against typically bold patterns — and maybe you’ve indulged in a chocolate bar or five.
Now, Kyya Chocolate is expanding to its own retail store on the Bentonville square, adding to its less visible display space and factory location in Elm Springs. Owners Rick and Cindy Boosey said the additional space will allow them to show customers more of their products — and with 142 kinds of chocolate bars in addition to other treats like bonbons, truffles and fudge, they could use the space.
The owners are looking to have a soft opening for the new store at 111 N. Main St., where The Station Cafe used to be, during Bentonville’s First Friday event Sept. 7, they said.
Several of those 142 bars are flavors that were either suggestions from customers or collaborations between Kyya and other Arkansas businesses, such as the best-selling sea salt almond bar that was the brainchild of a regular customer or the wine-infused bar that Kyya created with the help of Sassafrass Winery.
“A lot of these bars came from people that are like, ‘We want to do something unique together,’” Rick Boosey said. “And because we’re two small guys and we’re local, the result becomes something that no one else will ever have. It’s not going to end up on the shelf of a major retailer because it’s two guys or two girls sitting in a room thinking ‘What’s possible?’ That’s what Kyya is.”
In fact, the new store will have a section with items for sale from other Arkansas companies, such as the roughly 25 Arkansas coffee shops that work with Kyya.
The Booseys started Kyya in 2012 after visiting Uganda, according to a news release.
“Kyya was the first ‘bean-to-bar’ chocolate company in Arkansas,” the news release states. “Where possible, Kyya works directly with the cacao farmers who grow and hand-pick the cacao beans used in Kyya products. The company has invested in agricultural expertise to help those farmers improve their yields and quality.”
Kyya sources beans from 27 countries, Rick Boosey said.
“We don’t mix our beans,” Cindy Boosey said. “We want you to taste those individual flavors.”
