Metro Phoenix Based Stone Grindz Chocolate, Three Others, Join Good Food Awards 2026 Winners

Our final coverage of the 2026 Good Food Awards winners, “officially” awarded just yesterday in New York City, is here, featuring four more outstanding chocolate bars.

Two of these are completely new, and I really enjoyed the introduction. Then there’s my local favorite, Stone Grindz, whose chocolate-making facility is mere miles away from where I sit right now as I write up this article… and I am very, very happy for them!

Now let’s dive into Stone Grindz and these other three well-deserved winners as well, as we wrap up the rundown of all fourteen Good Food Awards 2026 winners for chocolate.

BAR #11: Maverick Chocolate | Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate

Maverick Chocolate out of Cincinnati, Ohio is truly a family business, spearheaded by former aviation engineer Paul Picton. Paul and his wife and two sons run Maverick together, and their specialty is turning ethically-sourced cacao and minimal other high quality ingredients into pure chocolate magic.

This Peanut Butter Dark Bar is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a peanut butter cup disguised as a chocolate bar. It’s more of the flipside. As Maverick notes –

“We start with our dark chocolate and work in real peanut butter, pushing it as far as we can while still keeping that clean snap of a chocolate bar. Any more, and it would be a spread. The result is a more subtle peanut butter flavor that shows up alongside the cocoa, not on top of it.”

As a vegan who probably eats way too much peanut butter already, I cannot wait to try this bar. The concept high quality chocolate first, a bit of peanut butter in the mix second is actually quite appealing. We’ll call it an idea whose time has come, clearly seconded by the big win at the Good Food Awards.

You can click here to try to pick up the Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Bar, but like many of the bars in this elite group of fourteen, at last check they were sold out.

Regardless, however, congratulations to Maverick on yet another win!

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Bar Ingredients
Organic cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, peanut butter (roasted peanuts, salt), organic cocoa butter.

BAR #12: Seahorse Chocolate | Dominican Republic – Zorzal – 70%

You most certainly should not be surprised that Seahorse Chocolate won a Good Food Award for its Zorzal bar… because they actually had not one, not two, but three bars that were finalists this year (the Dark Milk 65% with Coconut Milk and Left of the Dial 78% Blend being the two others).

I give mad respect to Seahorse Chocolate in Bend, Oregon for openly touting their desire to do chocolate the right way. Seahorse’s mission clearly states their goals to “help change the cocoa industry for the better,” and to “be the best partners we can be for producers, customers, and everyone in our community.” That’s wearing your heart on our sleeve, and I absolutely love it.

They also deserve credit for their commitment to sustainability, as they are the first licensed Smithsonian Bird Friendly chocolate maker.

With several previous winners under their belt, Seahorse’s latest chocolate champion is the Dominican Republic – Zorzal – 70% bar, crafted with Zorzal cacao that grows in a bird sanctuary in the Dominican Republic.

It’s another outstanding two ingredient bar, simply cocoa and sugar.

Expect notes of “cherry and raspberry up front,” and then “toffee on the finish,” if you get to enjoy this delectable treat for yourself.

Speaking of, click the link to order the Dominican Republic – Zorzal – 70% Bar directly from Seahorse Chocolate.

Dominican Republic – Zorzal – 70% Bar Ingredients
Cocoa beans, organic cane sugar.

BAR #13: Stone Grindz Chocolate | Bourbon Pecan & Dark Cherry 70%

Always a pleasure to write about a chocolate maker who is also a neighbor, and that’s especially true for Phoenix Metro chocolate maker Stone Grindz, based out of Scottsdale (or Chandler, depending on who you ask it seems, and we vote Chandler).

We first covered them via our Stone Grindz Chocolate In Focus Feature back in late 2020, and it’s great to see their perseverance and another well-deserved Good Food Award.

Stone Grindz is meticulously, some might say obsessively even, focused on the craft, and as such, they seem to make a habit of churning out some incredible chocolate bars.

Case in point, the Bourbon Pecan & Dark Cherry 70% Bar, made with a 50/50 blend of cacao from Ecuador and Peru. Featuring tasting notes of bourbon, maple, candied pecan, and cherry, I’m not shocked to learn that this bar has won previous awards. 2026 is just another on the mantel for this masterpiece.

Click the link to pick up the Bourbon Pecan & Dark Cherry 70% Bar on Stonegrindz website.

Bourbon Pecan & Dark Cherry 70% Bar Ingredients
Fair Trade Peruvian Cacao Beans, Fair Trade Ecuadorian Cacao Beans, Organic Unrefined Cane Sugar, Organic Cacao Butter, Bourbon Pecans (Bourbon, Sugar, Cinnamon, Canola Oil), Freshly Dried Dark Cherries.

BAR #14: Videri Chocolate Factory | Milk Chocolate Cocoa Crunch with Sea Salt

Videri cuts into the dance at the very end here as the one chocolate maker I actually hadn’t read about before. Located in Raleigh, North Carolina, Videri runs “a cozy downtown chocolate factory” with a mission to make it a welcoming place to visit, which is pretty, pretty cool (Willy Wonka would undoubtedly appreciate).

The Milk Chocolate Cocoa Crunch with Sea Salt is a 55% bar that registers as one of the lower cacao content bars on the winner’s list here, which makes it even more impressive. Unfortunately, no tasting notes are noted by Videri directly, and they also don’t state which cacao they used for this bar, so it’s very difficult to speculate on any tasting notes.

That said, again, winning a Good Food Award as a 55% bar speaks volumes, so if you’re not vegan (it does contain organic whole milk), this bar will probably deliver in spades.

Click here to give the Milk Chocolate Cocoa Crunch with Sea Salt Bar a try, ordering directly from Videri.

Milk Chocolate Cocoa Crunch with Sea Salt Bar Ingredients
Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Roasted Cocoa Beans, Organic Whole Milk Powder.

That wraps up our coverage of the 2026 Good Food Awards Chocolate Winners — what a phenomenal selection of chocolate!

If you missed any of the earlier bars we covered, click here for part one, and click here for part two.

Also, here’s the full list of winners altogether for quick reference:

70% Barrel Aged Dark Chocolate Bar
Askinosie Chocolate

The Zeke Bar | 65% Dark Chocolate + Tart Cherry
Askinosie Chocolate

Belize Organic Dark Chocolate Bar
Bixby Chocolate

Puerto Rico JeanMarie Dark 70%
Fruition Chocolate Works

Limited Release, Old Fashioned Root Beer
Goodnow Farms Chocolate

Barrel Aged Rum Bar with Coconut Milk Chocolate Bar
Honokaa Chocolate

Nocino Nib
J. Street Chocolate

Guava Lime 57% Dark Chocolate Bar
KESSHO LLC

Salted Plum 59% Dark Chocolate Bar
KESSHO LLC

Kosha Chocolate Piura White
Kosha Chocolate

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate
Maverick Chocolate Co.

Dominican Republic – Zorzal – 70%
Seahorse Chocolate

Bourbon Pecan & Dark Cherry 70%
Stone Grindz Chocolate

Milk Chocolate Cocoa Crunch with Sea Salt
Videri Chocolate Factory

We’ll see you in 2027 for the next round, and I have a feeling I will be in New York City myself for that one, in which case we’ll be doing this coverage in a very different way next summer.

Enjoy all the great chocolate everyone, and please feel free to let us know your favorites in the comments below – we’ll happily pass those sentiments along to the chocolate makers as well.

You can also click here for the original awards list on the Good Food Awards website.