Bixby & Co.

Kate McAleer founded Bixby & Co. in 2012 — almost 2012, she says — in Rockland, Maine, inside a 125-year-old former ice plant on a working marina. The name comes from her great-great-grandparents, native New Englanders, which is fitting for a company that is deeply, specifically Maine.

Kate came to chocolate through culinary training (pastry arts and culinary management from the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, plus certificates from the Ecole Chocolate in Vancouver) and through a personal conviction that food should be clean. Her mother, Donna, was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in 2006 and has lived with the disease since then. That experience shaped Kate's focus on clean ingredients and chemical-free products in a concrete way — not as brand positioning, but as something she actually cares about.

Bixby makes its own chocolate straight from the bean. They source organic cacao directly from farmers in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Belize, and Guatemala — countries Kate has visited personally. The bean-to-bar process gives them full control over flavor and quality from raw cacao to finished bar. The result is chocolate that tastes like something specific, not like generic "dark chocolate." Their Belize 70% Dark Chocolate Bar was named a 2026 Good Food Award finalist.

Beyond bars, Bixby makes chocolate-covered peanut butter bites, caramel bites, clusters, bonbons, and chocolate-covered coffee beans — all USDA Organic, Non-GMO, Gluten-Free, and Kosher certified. A percentage of sales from their Puffin chocolate confections goes to Audubon Society's Project Puffin, which protects the iconic seabird along Maine's coast. That partnership was developed with Donna, who works with the organization.

The company is certified Women-Owned and has picked up recognition from the Tory Burch Foundation, SBA Maine's Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, and the Greenlight Maine Grand Prize. It's distributed at Whole Foods Market, L.L.Bean, Market Basket, Hannaford, and Stonewall Kitchen.

Products

• Bean-to-bar dark chocolate bars (single-origin and blended)
• Peanut butter bites
• Caramel bites and clusters
• Chocolate bonbons
• Chocolate-covered coffee beans
• Chocolate nibs
• Puffin charity chocolate confections
• Seasonal and holiday collections

Why We List Them

• Founded and owned by Kate McAleer — no outside investors, no corporate acquisition
• Certified Women-Owned business
• Maine's first bean-to-bar chocolate factory
• USDA Organic, Non-GMO, Gluten-Free, and Kosher certified across product line
• Direct-sourced cacao from small farms in Dominican Republic, Haiti, Belize, and Guatemala
• Founder personally visits source farms
• 2026 Good Food Award finalist (Belize 70% Dark Chocolate Bar)
• Charitable giving through Project Puffin partnership
• Ships nationwide