Fritz Knipschildt

Born and raised in Odense Denmark, Knipschildt began his culinary journey at the tender age of 13 working in a local restaurant as a dishwasher.  In a short amount of time Knipschildt quickly advanced and with the opening of a new restaurant in the north of Copenhagen, Knipschildt was put in charge of the bistro kitchen before he had even attended Chef School.  After training at the Hotel & Restaurant School of Denmark, Knipschildt worked in the beautiful Mont Blanc area of France twice and also in southern Spain.

Knipschildt was flourishing in the restaurant industry and at the same time, the chocolate industry was going through a radical transformation. “I loved to experiment with sweet & savory flavors and I continued to do so with chocolate,” says Knipschildt. A few years later, he was able to move to the USA and worked as a private chef. After which he was sponsored by a French restaurant in New York. In 1999, he began making his unique chocolates out of his small one bedroom apartment and selling them to local retailers. The response to his unrivaled chocolate combinations was instantaneous. Soon after Knipschildt began supplying larger retailers such as Dean & Deluca and Martha Stewart. It was then that [Knipschildt Chocolatier],LLC was born and has been thriving ever since. In 2005, Knipschildt opened “[Chocopologie Café]” where the theme of blending unlikely flavors was carried over to a classic bistro fare menu. Knipschildt’s success is not only within the chocolate industry but also in the restaurant business, which has earned him awards such as: top 40 under 40 in Fairfield County, CT for extraordinary leadership & accomplishments, 2008 NASFT Fancy Food Winner, Most Innovative Packaging, 2007 NASFT Fancy Food Winner, Most Innovative Packaging, 2004 & 2005 NASFT Fancy Food Finalist, Outstanding Confection, 2004 NASFT Fancy Food Finalist, Outstanding New Product, 2nd best dark chocolate truffle in the world, Gourmet Magazine Food Network; Winner on Bobby Flay’s “Throwdown”, Food Network, Behind the Bash with Giada De Laurentiis, CNBC, NYC Chocolate and Fashion Show spotlight and also Best Dessert and Best Chocolate in Fairfield County. Knipschildt has also been a guest judge of the graduating class at the French Culinary School for the past several years. Moving forward, Knipschildt is excited about what the future holds for Knipschildt Chocolatier, LLC and Chocopologie Café, but as they say “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never what you’re going to get.”