Chocolaterie Bruntz, Truffes Fantaisie from Alsace since 1960
Chocolaterie Bruntz is a small chocolate shop in Kingersheim near Mulhouse, founded in 1960 by three brothers and now managed by Quentin Ricou and Laurent Kalis. They make powdery French-style cocoa truffles, known as Truffes Fantaisie, as well as hand-molded chocolate figures, dragées, and cocoa Kougelhopfs, all crafted in Alsace.
Chocolaterie Bruntz stands for cocoa confections from Alsace: soft, cocoa-dusted truffles, a French staple since the 1930s known as Truffes Fantaisie. Production takes place in Kingersheim, a municipality north of Mulhouse, where they have been based at Rue de l'Industrie since 1978 with a team of about ten. The brand, found online at chocolat-bruntz.fr, has featured a smiling B in its logo since 2025, accompanied by two words that say it all: Depuis 1960.
1960, three brothers and a chocolate shop near Mulhouse
Three brothers named Bruntz founded a chocolate shop in Kingersheim in 1960, laying the foundation for a company that still bears their family name today.
Kingersheim is located in southern Alsace, a few kilometers north of Mulhouse, in an area once better known for textiles and potash than for cocoa. The brothers stayed nonetheless, outgrew their first premises, and moved in 1978 to the Rue de l'Industrie, where they continue to stir, mold, and pour to this day.
In 1998, the founders sold the business to a group of shareholders; in 2005, the Ricou family took over and led the company for nearly twenty years. 2024 saw the next transition, this time to Quentin Ricou, son of a chocolatier and master of production, and Laurent Kalis, who had previously spent twenty years distributing gourmet food wholesale. One knows the kettles, the other knows the customers.
That an Alsatian company would focus on truffles is down to the neighborhood. Chocolaterie Bruntz is located less than 40 kilometers from Basel and even closer to the Rhine, and in this corner of France, the Kougelhopf (gugelhupf) is as much a part of Sunday as coffee. For about 45 years, the company has shaped its Truffes Fantaisie like small Kougelhopfs, and the idea became their signature trademark.
Three truffles, three fillings, one cocoa powder
From Bruntz, you will find three types of cocoa confectionery, each containing 16 truffles in a 100-gram box, each with a different filling in its soft center.
The cocoa confection with hazelnut crunch features 6 percent caramelized hazelnut slivers that provide a crunch until the very last bite. The cocoa confection with salted caramel hides 5 percent caramel pieces made from cream, salted butter, and sea salt from Guérande in its core—sweet and salty all at once. The cocoa confection with Crêpes Dentelles crackles with shards of the ultra-thin Breton wafer.
Green, orange, blue—this is how the boxes are distinguished, and all three bear the striped ribbon and the smiling B. Back home in Kingersheim, the range is larger: the Kougelhopfs d'Alsace, truffles in the shape of the Alsatian gugelhupf, have been the brand's trademark for some 45 years; in addition, there are Easter bunnies and Christmas figures made of chocolate with pure cocoa butter, dragées, and candies.
The Kougelhopfs come plain, with orange, with cherry, or with crème brûlée, available in a ballotin of 16, as a mini-version in a small bag, or in a gift box of 24. For starters, we have deliberately limited ourselves to the three truffles in the box—powdery, creamy, crunchy—because they best show what distinguishes Chocolaterie Bruntz from other houses: the filling in the core.
Copra, cocoa powder, and the question of why it's called confection
Truffes Fantaisie are made without cocoa butter, using vegetable fat from copra and palm kernel, sugar, low-fat cocoa powder, and whey powder; therefore, in Germany, they cannot be labeled as chocolate but rather as cocoa confectionery.
That sounds like fine print, but it is the essence of the matter. Coconut fat melts at around 24 degrees Celsius, significantly below body temperature, which is exactly why a Bruntz truffle melts in your mouth instead of needing to be chewed like a praline. The powder on the outside is tart and dry, the center is soft and sweet, and between the two lies that specific moment for which one buys Truffes Fantaisie.
Handcraft is part of everyday life at Bruntz; about ten people stir, pour, and pack in Kingersheim. "All our chocolate figures are made entirely by hand," says Laurent Kalis about the company's bunnies and eggs. Three-quarters of the production goes to gourmet shops, tourism, and regional trade; the chocolate shop sells a good quarter itself, in the shop on Rue de l'Industrie and online.
Incidentally, for the molded figures, Bruntz works with real chocolate made from pure cocoa butter, but quite deliberately not for the truffles. The soft mass requires a fat that is just firm at room temperature and yields immediately in the mouth, and coconut fat does that better than cocoa butter. Two lists of ingredients, two goals: the figure should snap, the truffle should melt.
Marque Alsace, Alsace Authentique, and a new face
Chocolaterie Bruntz is a partner of Marque Alsace, the region's umbrella brand, and belongs to the Alsace Authentique network, in which 17 Alsatian family businesses have joined forces.
You won't find competition awards on the wall at Bruntz, but something rarer: a chocolate shop that has been making truffles since 1960 and is currently reinventing itself. In 2025, the company received a new logo—a brown B with eyes and a smile—along with new boxes in vibrant colors and a refreshed factory outlet on Rue de l'Industrie, where the locals have always shopped.
"Every chocolate Kougelhopf, every truffle, every dragée should make the taste buds sing," as Quentin Ricou puts it. That is the agenda of the new generation: not to get bigger, but to get sharper. Since 2024, the group has also included Chocolaterie Chocogil in Haute-Marne, a company with 15 employees that produces pralines and candies for confectioners, allowing both operations to share knowledge and kettles without Kingersheim losing its identity. Hats off.
We like the caramel truffle with an espresso
If you don't know Bruntz yet, start with the salted caramel; it shows best how a soft core and a salty finish come together.
The caramel pairs perfectly with an espresso after a meal, the Crêpes Dentelles with a café au lait on Sunday, and the hazelnut truffle is the one for the office cookie jar. All three like it cool and dry, between 15 and 18 degrees, and none of them like the refrigerator—the powder gets damp there. As a gift, the colorful boxes work without further ado—green, orange, or blue, depending on who you are visiting.
Those who love the genre should try the truffles from Anjou by Mathez alongside them, the classic among Truffes Fantaisie since 1934, and taste the difference between two houses and two regions. The Breton wafer plain is available as Crêpe Dentelle by Gavottes, the caramel in its original form as Caramels au beurre salé from Brittany. And if you're looking for more, the entire selection of pralines and truffles awaits. Taste your way through, ideally with cool fingers.
