Rencontre Cacao is the passion project of pastry chef and chocolate specialist Lisa Arielle Allen.

After nearly 15 years as an Arts Educator in international schools across the globe, Lisa moved to Paris in 2016 to retrain and complete a program in French Pastry at the esteemed Ferrandi Paris school of gastronomie and hotelerie.

It is no surprise that after two years teaching in Caracas, Venezuela and her first visits to the legendary cacao fields of Chuao with the Tisano team, Lisa was hooked by the wonders of the cacao fields. She was also acutely aware of the disconnect between the farmers’s lives and the products on the shelves, and hoped to someday help bridge that gap.

Once established in Paris, Lisa built a culinary tourism business all while deepening her passion and knowledge around chocolate and cacao. She was the business manager and Head Teaching Chocolatier in the Edwart Chocolatier client workshop for six years and has led tours, hands on classes and team building events for hundreds of clients in the atelier and with a selected handful of luxury tourism partners and DMCs. Over the last 9 years she has also studied and trained with some of the best in the industry to learn more about craft chocolate and the bean to bar movement. She started with courses at Callebaut and FBM, then completed Levels 1 and 2 as a certified chocolate taster from the IICCT, courses with Chloé Doutre-Roussel, Cocoa Runners, the Women of Cacao organization, Cacao Latitudes, and many others. She started judging for the Academy of Chocolate in 2019 and now also for the International Chocolate Awards. She has attended over a dozen chocolate festivals all over Europe, connecting with farmers, producers, exporters, and hundreds of chocolate makers, absorbing as much as possible about how this somewhat fragile supply chain and world of cacao is stitched together. 

Now, with Rencontre Cacao, Lisa aims to create a unique space to enjoy, learn and discover the best of craft chocolate, welcoming every day consumers and professionals alike. We are connecting the wonders and intricacies of fine flavor cacao and the craft chocolate movement with everyday pleasures and experiences. She brings together her passions and experience in pastry, teaching, and the incredible web of ‘cacao people’ around the world, creating a place of connection and community. Cocoa encou