On the banks of the Raritan River in Highland Park sits an 8-pound rabbit. It’s not what you might think. This bunny is made of chocolate and sits on a shelf at the Birnn Chocolates store at 314 Cleveland Ave. If you’re considering picking up this confection for someone this Easter, bring $280.
Don’t fret, though. If you’re not needing a “Super Bunny,” rest assured, there are plenty of other choices here. There are, in fact, 200 different Easter confections.
Here, the Easter confections include: Bunny on a Tractor, Bunny Pulling a Cart, Bunny on a Cream-Filled Cookie, Chocolate-Coated Marshmallow Chicks, Cool Bunny, Easter Bunny with Bow Tie Pop, Easter Chicks, Easter Duckie, Easter Lamb, Fluffy Bunny, Foiled Easter Bunnies and Eggs, Gleeful Bunny, Jelly Beans, Market Bunny, Marshmallow Chick on a Cream Cookie, Marshmallow Chocolate Carrot, Pretzel Bunny, Sitting Bunnies in Solid Chocolate, Easter Basket with Foiled Eggs and Lentil, Small Spring Bunny, Top Hat Easter Bunny Pop, Truffle Basket and Twin Bunnies with Chocolate Lentils. Whew.
Prices range from $1.60 to $35.
John Cunnell, who heads the 91-year-old company, reports that during Easter season, the company will produce about 2,000 pounds of chocolate confections per week. And, he said, the Super Bunny is well-loved; it is used by some families as a centerpiece on an Easter dining table.
But Christmas is the busiest time of year for this small producer of high-end chocolate candies, Cunnell said. Like at Easter, Christmastime means chocolate creations in special seasonal molds. There are Santa figures, of course, but animals such as bears, too. At Thanksgiving, there are Birnn turkeys, of course. Cunnell also noted that on Valentine’s Day, customers will line up outside to make a chocolate purchase for their sweethearts.
Cunnell said the best selling chocolate is the milk chocolate cashew turtle. The chocolate turtle has been made the same way by this chocolate company since 1932, Cunnell said. But, the company is constantly adding new items to its repertoire. The chocolate bomb, a sphere of chocolate that makes hot milk as tasty as you would think, is one of the newer Birnn items. Also, sugar free options are now available.
“We’re making what keeps up with modern expectations – people expect more – but our methods really haven’t changed,” he said. The candy company has modern machinery, but it also keeps a nut roaster from the 1940s and a copper kettle for heating caramel and toffee.
Birnn also produces chocolate bars and boxed chocolates. Confections include a variety of truffles, nuggets, caramels and chocolate almond buttercrunch. Birnn also does custom orders for special occasions, think wedding guest gifts and more.
Birnn sources its chocolate from Guittard Chocolates of Burlingame, California. Nuts are sourced from several purveyors. Here, the Guittard product is melted and tempered, mixed with nuts, coated over caramel, and hand-painted.
Most of the Birnn Chocolates customers come to the store, Cunnell said, adding 20% of the chocolates sold here are shipped “all over the world.”
Cunnell said there is a lot of nostalgia when it comes to these chocolates. He notes that some customers are individuals from abroad who studied at Rutgers. “They go home and they remember us,” he said. In fact, Birnn has shipped chocolates to Switzerland, Nigeria, Guatemala,“They remember us,” Cunnell said.
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