Join the Dandelion Team

We make chocolate from just two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar. Yet behind those two ingredients there's a team of sourcers, makers, bakers, creators, and educators working side-by-side to build good, trusting relationships with cocoa producers, to coax nuanced flavors from each bean, to design cacao-themed tasting sets and products, to host educational chocolate classes with our online guests, to bake pastries and serve hot chocolate beverages for our community, all while highlighting what makes each cacao origin truly special.

Since we started making chocolate from a garage in 2010, our machines have evolved though our day-to-day remains the same: learning, creating, measuring, and testing to refine our craft and develop flavor profiles that showcase the good genetics and field practices from our cocoa producers. We pay a premium — favor above the world market price — for ethically-sourced beans with good flavor. Our goal is simple: to make chocolate that continues to improve each year.

Perks & Benefits

We invest heavily in our team member's health and well-being. We offer one of the strongest medical, dental, and vision insurance offerings of any small manufacturing business in San Francisco. Since 2015, our benefits package has included 90% employer-paid coverage for all full-time team members with premium PPO and HMO medical coverage.

  • Up to 90% Employer-Paid Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
  • Kaiser Platinum HMO 90 0/15
  • Blue Cross Silver Full PPO 1800/55
  • One Medical Membership
  • Guardian PPO Vision & Dental

All team members receive paid holidays and sick time including:

  • Up to 12 paid vacation days for hourly team members (following 28 days of employment)
  • 1.5x holiday pay for hourly team members asked to work holidays
  • Up to 9 sick days per year for all team members
  • 10 paid vacation days for salaried team members
  • 11 paid annual holidays for salaried team members
  • Bereavement pay
  • After 3 years of employment, accrual of additional vacation days for all team members
  • Bonus holiday vacation: for 8 of the last 10 years, we have also given an additional week of paid holiday vacation between Christmas and New Years to all team members when we could afford it

Other benefits include:

  • Cacao Origin Trips
  • Japan Exchange Program
  • 8-week Professional Development
  • Employee Assistance Programs
  • Chocolate Production Day
  • Company Events
  • Educational Assistance (BVAC, pastry school, accounting, Adobe)
  • First Aid/CPR & Safety Training
  • Additional time (up to 8 hours weekly) to participate in company committees with approval
  • Annual bike tune-up day
  • Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits
  • Pre-Tax FSA
  • 401k
  • Paid time off to vote
  • 30% Dandelion discount plus $150 annual Dandelion Chocolate gift card
  • Safety shoe stipend for certain roles
  • Chocolate, lots of chocolate!

Origin Trips

Since 2010, Dandelion has sponsored over 60 Dandelion team members to travel to origin to see cacao grow at the source. Many alumni have gone on to work at origin or start their own craft chocolate businesses.

  • Belize
  • Costa Rica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Hawaii
  • Honduras
  • Japan
  • Madagascar
  • Netherlands
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Taiwan
  • Tanzania
  • United Kingdom
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam

Read more about our adventures.

Traditions

LEARN ABOUT CHOCOLATE

During onboarding, team members spend a half-day with the chocolate production team to sort beans and make chocolate, learn how to taste and identify chocolate tasting notes, learn the history of Dandelion from Todd, and more.

PATTERN DESIGN

Each summer we organize pattern-making classes where any team member can try their hand at creating new patterns for upcoming bar papers and products. Almost all of Dandelion's chocolate bar patterns were created by team members.

TRAVEL

We have opportunities for team members to work in our Japanese exchange program for short stints or for longer 6-12 months stays.

We frequently bring team members to national and international chocolate conferences like FCIA or Chocoa.

FIRST AID & SAFETY TRAINING

We aim for zero injuries each year through reporting, training, safeguarding, and best practices. We average about 15 new safety officers each year. All managers and leaders are required to have active First Aid / CPR and Safety training, and in June, we celebrate National Safety Month with a weeklong safety training curriculum.

EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE

Dandelion has provided stipends for career development in external coursework such as Adobe suite (BVAC), food safety, accounting, and other skills relevant to specific roles.

DIVERSITY

We try to do right whether with the farms we work with, in our community, or within our team. We believe trust is given, second chances matter, and that we should be thoughtful in all of our interactions. But there is still more to do.

Open Roles

Pay & Advancement

As a craft chocolate making company, our compensation strategy has been to invest and reward those with the initiative and curiosity to ask questions, to learn, and to further American craft chocolate. We've intentionally leveled our teams to prioritize the chocolate makers, emphasizing chocolate making skills more than other making skills so we reward craftspeople who intend for chocolate making to be their long-term career.

In an effort to be transparent in what we do, here are our pay and advancement paths for our maker roles with additional management and technical opportunities available beyond the senior and assistant manager roles too. Raises and compensation increases happen based upon performance, reaching milestones outlined in each team's development plan, and when new positions are available and required for day-to-day operations. We conduct performance reviews and consider changes to our leveling and pay structure each spring. Pay rates below apply to our San Francisco factories and cafés. Please feel free to reach out at jobs@dandelionchocolate.com with any questions.

 

CHOCOLATE MAKERS

L1 Factory Assistant $24.25 - $27.75
L2 Apprentice | Operator $26.25 - $27.75
L3 Chocolate Maker $29.25 - $31.25
L4 Lead Chocolate Maker $70,000 - $75,000
L5 Senior Chocolate Maker $77,000 - $88,000

KITCHEN & CONFECTIONS

L1 Dishwasher $20.75* - $25.50
L2 Pastry | Chocolatier $25.50 - $26.75
L3 Lead Pastry | Chocolatier $28.00 - $32.00
L4 Sous Chef $68,500 - $78,000

CAFÉ

L1 Trainee* $20.75
L2 Barista* | Retail* $21.75 - $23.25
L3 Lead Barista* | Retail* $23.75 - $25.75
L4 Assistant Manager* $27.75 - $31.75
*Not including tips which typically range between $4-10/hr

PRODUCT MAKERS

L1 Apprentice Product Maker $23.75 - 24.75
L2 Product Maker | Trainer $24.75 - $27.25
L3 Lead Product Maker $27.25 - $29.75
L4 Assistant Manager $66,750 - $74,750

WAREHOUSE & FULFILLMENT

L1 Trainee, Associate $23.75 - $24.75
L2 Specialist $25.00 - $27.25
L3 Lead | Driver $28.50 - $31.50
L4 Assistant Manager $66,750 - $74,750

EXPERIENCES

L1 Associate $23.75
L2 - -
L3 Chex Experience $29.00 - $31.00
L4 Lead Experience $69,000 - $74,500
L5 Senior Experience $79,500 - $88,000