FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

VISIT US

Are you open?

Yes! We have fully reopened and have deliveries, pickups, retail, tours, and classes. For our most up-to-date hours and details, please see our Locations page or see our calendar of Tours and Events.

PROBLEM WITH AN ORDER?

Do you have a return or refund policy?

If you are in any way unsatisfied with your order, we hope you'll be in touch. You may read our full Refund Policy with our No Melt Guarantee as well.

Email us any time at orders@dandelionchocolate.com, including your order number in your message, or call 415-349-0942 between 9 am and 5 pm daily, and a Dandelion guest concierge will answer your question. (If busy, or after hours, please leave a voicemail, and we will return your call at our first opportunity.) You may also use the instant chat feature where we are standing by to answer questions during factory hours.

SHIPPING

When will my online order arrive?

Barring all shipping snafus, online orders will arrive within five to eight business days. You will receive tracking information for your order when it is sent out by our fulfillment team.

What shipping service do you use?

We ship domestically using USPS or FedEx and internationally using DHL.

Do you ship internationally?

Yes, we do, weather permitting! Please check the shipping-destination drop-down menu for current options.

Won't my chocolate melt during the hot summer months?

During the summer, we offer a No Melt Guarantee. If your item arrives melted, we will immediately resend or, for limited-edition items, refund your order. We pack orders with ice packs in a temperature-controlled tote and freeze the package until we ship it. Our Fulfillment team times shipments to prevent chocolate from sitting at shipping facilities over weekends, and we are happy to hold orders until the weather cools, upon request. If your order should arrive in anything but perfect condition, please contact us right away, and we will refund or reship immediately.

What if I want to expedite my shipping?

Expedited shipping is available at checkout for $15 via FedEx 2Day. We prioritize and ship out these orders first. Processing takes up to 1 business day.

USPS priority shipping is offered free for orders $25 and above. We process and ship out these orders within 2-3 business days. (Please let us know if USPS delivery is not available to your address.)

Though we cannot guarantee an arrival date, we will make every effort to send your package as quickly as possible.

Do you ship pastries anywhere outside of the Bay Area?

Our house-made Chocolate Breakfast Granola and Gâteau Basque are available for shipping now, and our kitchen.

PICKUP

How does pickup work?

Delivery and pickup are by online pre-order only, with pickup available from Valencia Street every day.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
San Francisco San Francisco
Oakland
Berkeley
Emeryville
San Francisco San Francisco

Place your order for pastries and / or chocolate online, selecting “Local Delivery” or “No-Contact Pickup” at checkout. Please make sure to include the best phone number for our fulfillment team to confirm your no-contact pickup or drop-off.

If a delivery order is a gift, please include the recipient’s phone number. Even if the gift is a surprise, we recommend confirming that your giftee will be home and available to receive their treat!

  • SF / East Bay delivery: order by 8am for delivery same day between 12 pm - 4 pm
  • For pickup at Valencia Street: order by 8 am for same-day pickup between 1 pm and 7 pm daily.
  • Order specialty cakes within their specified lead times.
  • Place any pastry or chocolate order up to four weeks in advance.

Pickup is available from 16th Street Monday-Friday

Place your order for pastries and / or chocolate online, selecting No-Contact Pickup” at checkout. Please make sure to include the best phone number for our fulfillment team to confirm your no-contact pickup.

I forgot to pick up my order. Can I get it tomorrow?

Yes! We're happy to hold retail orders at our 16th Street location for up to three days. We’ll reach out to you after the first day to see if you would like to update your order. If we cannot reach you, we’ll hold your order automatically for three days, and then refund any retail items and restock them. You are more than welcome to place a new order for pickup!

We are unable to hold pickup orders with fresh baked goods, which must be picked up the day for which they are ordered. Although we cannot replace baked goods, we invite you to place another order for a time that works better for you. Baked goods are non-refundable at this time. Thank you for your understanding!

If I would like to pick up a specialty cake, do I need to order in advance?

Our specialty cakes require lead times between 24 and 72 hours. Please refer to the product descriptions of our pastry items to find out how far in advance you will need to place your order.

Will you write on a cake for me?

Although we are not able to write on our cakes, we are happy to include an elegant, hand-written card with your cake order. Just check the “This is a gift” box at checkout, and type your (concise) note into the gift-message window. We’ll pen the card for you!

Do your cakes come with candles?

We’re still developing our pick-up program, and are not able to accommodate custom orders at this time. Please watch our Instagram page and newsletter for updates.

What did Dandelion do to ensure safety during COVID-19?

Your health and safety -- and that of our team -- is our top priority. At every stage of production and fulfillment, we've added multiple layers of COVID-19 prevention to Dandelion's already stringent food-safety protocols. Our factories and shops are currently closed to the public and to most team members, and production and fulfillment staff may only work spaced many feet apart. We perform rigorous cleaning and sanitation procedures frequently throughout each day, and extra hand-washing and -sanitizing stations have been placed at entrances and critical junctures throughout facilities.

P.P.E. including gloves, masks, and face shields are mandatory for on-site staff, and are provided at entrances and key points throughout work spaces. Strict wellness checks, including temperature and blood-oxygen measurements, are required of everyone who enters a Dandelion building, and logs are maintained daily. Management are in constant communication with government and medical sources to ensure that Dandelion Chocolate not only meets, but exceeds, all required and recommended COVID-19 precautions, and we will continue to share information as we learn it.

Above all, we value your well-being, and hope that you will enjoy our chocolate in happiness and health. Thank you for supporting Dandelion Chocolate!

How does pickup work?

Delivery and pickup are by online pre-order only, with pickup available from Valencia Street every day.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
San Francisco San Francisco
Oakland
Berkeley
Emeryville
San Francisco San Francisco

Place your order for pastries and / or chocolate online, selecting “Local Delivery” or “No-Contact Pickup” at checkout. Please make sure to include the best phone number for our fulfillment team to confirm your no-contact pickup or drop-off.

If a delivery order is a gift, please include the recipient’s phone number. Even if the gift is a surprise, we recommend confirming that your giftee will be home and available to receive their treat!

  • SF / East Bay delivery: order by 8am for delivery same day between 12 pm - 4 pm
  • For pickup at Valencia Street: order by 8 am for same-day pickup between 1 pm and 7 pm daily.
  • Order specialty cakes within their specified lead times.
  • Place any pastry or chocolate order up to four weeks in advance.

Pickup is available from Valencia Street Monday-Friday

Place your order for pastries and / or chocolate online, selecting No-Contact Pickup” at checkout. Please make sure to include the best phone number for our fulfillment team to confirm your no-contact pickup.

Why do you charge for local delivery when domestic shipping is free?

We offer USPS Priority shipping of our retail products throughout the United States with no charge to you -- and USPS mail carriers do the legwork for us! (We’re working to develop systems for shipping perishable items, too.)

With local deliveries, your $10 fee ensures a safe, timely, convenient, temperature-controlled, phone-verified, no-contact delivery of fresh-baked pastries, specialty cakes, and retail goods by one of our friendly, responsible drivers. Your delivery order reaches you much sooner than if shipped via USPS, which typically takes two to three business days.

What is your menu for local delivery? For curbside pickup?

For both pickup and delivery by pre-order, you’ll find our ever-expanding selection of cookies, pastries, and festive cakes on the Pastries tab of our Shop page. You may also order any of our single-origin chocolate bars, collaborator confections, baking items, and gifts for pickup or delivery.  

I missed my delivery and really need chocolate. Help!

We’re so sorry to have missed you! Our drivers text recipients before and at arrival, and make sure to confirm visually that an order is received, unless directed otherwise. Our drivers will wait five minutes, and attempt a direct phone call, then will move on to the next delivery. Our Guest Service team will be in touch with you to reschedule your delivery of retail items for the next available window. (We’ll try for the same day, but the next day is also fine for retail items).

Orders with freshly baked pastries must be delivered the same day, and we are unable to redeliver these items if we miss you during our afternoon delivery round.

I forgot to pick up my order. Can I get it tomorrow?

Yes! We're happy to hold retail orders at our 740 Valencia Street store for up to three days. We’ll reach out to you after the first day to see if you would like to update your order. If we cannot reach you, we’ll hold your order automatically for three days, and then refund any retail items and restock them. You are more than welcome to place a new order for pickup!

We are unable to hold pickup orders with fresh baked goods, which must be picked up the day for which they are ordered. Although we cannot replace baked goods, we invite you to place another order for a time that works better for you. Baked goods are non-refundable at this time. Thank you for your understanding!

I want to send my friend a surprise gift of cookies and hot chocolate mix. Can I do that?

Yes! We love delivering gifts! In these changing times, we recommend giving your recipient a heads-up that they have a special gift coming, and when to expect it, so that you can be sure we get it to the right person.

If you need to update a delivery or pickup time, we’re happy to reschedule orders set for the next day or beyond. (We are not able to reschedule deliveries the same day if they include freshly baked pastries.) Simply email orders@dandelionchocolate to reschedule and we’ll be happy to help you.

How does instant pickup at the Valencia street window work? Is there a menu?

Our Valencia instant-pickup window is open 7 days a week. You may order when you get there via the following link, which is posted on the front of the café: dande.li/order. You can also use this link to preview the current menu. Once your order is placed, a Dandelion barista will prepare your treats and place them on the no-contact pick-up ledge momentarily!

If I would like to pick up or deliver a specialty cake, do I need to order in advance?

Our specialty cakes require lead times between 24 and 72 hours. Please refer to the product descriptions of our pastry items to find out how far in advance you will need to place your order.

Will you write on a cake for me?

Although we are not able to write on our cakes, we are happy to include an elegant, hand-written card with your cake order. Just check the “This is a gift” box at checkout, and type your (concise) note into the gift-message window. We’ll pen the card for you!

Do your cakes come with candles?

Yes, the Bean to Bar Celebration Cake does! If you’d like to add candles to another pick-up or delivery order, please check the “Order or delivery instructions” box at checkout, and type in your request to include candles with your treats.

Can I order a custom cake (special size, different flavor, etc.)?

We’re still developing our delivery and pick-up programs, and are not able to accommodate custom orders at this time. Please watch our Instagram page and newsletter for updates.

What is Dandelion doing to ensure safety during COVID-19?P

Your health and safety -- and that of our team -- is our top priority. At every stage of production and fulfillment, we've added multiple layers of COVID-19 prevention to Dandelion's already stringent food-safety protocols. Our factories and shops are currently closed to the public and to most team members, and production and fulfillment staff may only work spaced many feet apart. We perform rigorous cleaning and sanitation procedures frequently throughout each day, and extra hand-washing and -sanitizing stations have been placed at entrances and critical junctures throughout facilities.

P.P.E. including gloves, masks, and face shields are mandatory for on-site staff, and are provided at entrances and key points throughout work spaces. Strict wellness checks, including temperature and blood-oxygen measurements, are required of everyone who enters a Dandelion building, and logs are maintained daily. Management are in constant communication with government and medical sources to ensure that Dandelion Chocolate not only meets, but exceeds, all required and recommended COVID-19 precautions, and we will continue to share information as we learn it.

Above all, we value your well-being, and hope that you will enjoy our chocolate in happiness and health. Thank you for supporting Dandelion Chocolate!

INGREDIENTS AND ALLERGENS

Where do you get your cocoa beans and sugar?

We do our best to work directly with the producers who grow, ferment, and dry the cacao we buy. We travel to origin as frequently as possible to learn about our producers’ best practices, exchange feedback, and make sure that high standards of quality and sustainability are met. We pay a premium far above the world market price and work to strengthen our relationships year after year in order to maintain our collective commitment to sharing the best and most distinctive cacao. We also publish an annual sourcing report where you can get to know the producers we work with.

While our beans come from all over the world, our organic sugar only comes from Brazil. More particularly, 350 kilometers northwest of São Paolo, where the Native Green Cane Project is pioneering a new, more sustainable approach to sugarcane farming.

Do you have any vegan or gluten-free options?

Our single-origin, bean-to-bar chocolate is vegan and gluten-free, and we have other tasty vegan treats in our online store as well. (Have you tried Feve’s delicious chocolate-covered caramelized almonds?) Full ingredient information is provided in each product description.

On the pastry front, our gluten-free oatmeal nibby cookie is a team favorite, and many of our beverages can be made vegan (just select oat milk when ordering). Please note that although our chocolate bars are vegan and gluten-free -- as well as nut-free, soy-free, and kosher -- our house-made pastries and specialty cakes are baked in a separate kitchen space that processes eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat.

What about allergens?

Product descriptions of our chocolate bars, baking items, collaborator confections, and house-baked pastries include ingredient lists with allergy notes. Our single-origin chocolate is nut-free, soy-free, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, certified kosher, and made with organic, unrefined cane sugar. House-made pastries and cakes are baked -- and our café beverages are prepared -- in separate kitchen spaces that process eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat.

WHOLESALE AND CORPORATE ORDERS

Can I order your products wholesale?

Please reach out to wholesale@dandelionchocolate.com to find out more about our wholesale options or fill out this form to sign up for a wholesale account.

Can I place a bulk order for a special event?

Yes! Please reach out to wholesale@dandelionchocolate.com to learn more about our custom order options.

More Questions?

Didn't find the exact answer? We're here seven days a week to answer all chocolate questions by phone or email:
 
(415) 349-0942