South Bend Chocolate Company

The South Bend Chocolate Company was established in 1991 by Mark Tarner, a second generation chocolate maker. Along with a chocolate factory, the company has retail stores in the South Bend, Indiana regional area as well as Indianapolis and Ohio. The company's flagship store, the South Bend Chocolate Cafe located on 122 S. Michigan St., is billed as the "World's Largest Chocolate Store" and has been credited with contributing to South Bend's downtown revival. The company is expanding its operations to the west side of South Bend with a new factory and dinosaur museum set to open in 2024 at 7102 Lincolnway W.

Origins & Growth
Mark Tarner grew up in South Bend and worked in his father's sweet shop named Sugar 'N Spice. Tarner attended Clay High School in South Bend and later played basketball for Eastern Illinois University eventually earning a Masters degree in European history. Tarner and his wife Julie purchased their first home on South Bend's near west side near the Oliver Mansion and the Studebaker National Museum.

The company started by producing candy under a license from the University of Notre Dame. Capitalizing on the proximity of the university, three candies were produced for Notre Dame: the Domer, the Rockne, and Nuts for ND. The company sells chocolate in around a dozen Michiana locations including the South Bend International Airport and St. Joseph Hospital in Mishawaka, Indiana. Opened on October 16, 1994, the South Bend Chocolate Company's factory is located at 3300 W. Sample Street in South Bend in a building that once housed the South Bend Toy Company. The factory features 60,000 square feet and produces 500 different varieties of chocolate and candy. The facility also includes a museum that exhibits a collection of chocolate memorabilia including a 1,300 year old Mayan chocolate pot. The Sample St. factory is a regional tourist site that hosts up to 50,000 visitors per year. Tarner plans to move the Sample St. operation to a new site on the west side of South Bend in 2024.

According to South Bend Mayor Pete Buttegieg in 2017, Tarner is "is one of the most creative and successful people in South Bend, who believed in South Bend before many other people did".

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tarner was forced to lay off 200 employees and suspend operations. Tarner obtained a forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government for $1.7 million to help maintain his employees.

Despite the pandemic setback, Tarner has continued plans to establish a new 88 acre operations center just west of the South Bend International Airport close to the exit for US Highway 31. The center will offer attractions such as the Indiana Dinosaur Museum, hiking and skiing trails, sledding hill, bison conservatory, and wineries and restaurants. Tarner received the undeveloped site for $1 from the city's Redevelopment Commission with the stipulation that he must invest at least $5 million in the facility, and he has stated his intention to invest up to $14 million to develop the site. Tarner also received a grant of $500,000 from the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative. In 2017, Tarner encouraged St. Joseph county officials to build a new South Shore train station on the museum campus. A South Shore station is located at the South Bend International Airport and the tracks run just a mile south of the museum site.

Chocolate & Dinosaurs
In 2004, Mark Tarner took up paleontology as a hobby and has spent summers excavating dinosaur fossils in Montana. Tarner has accumulated many dinosaur discoveries which are stored in his various businesses. He also works with Peter Larson of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research to identify new specimens and prepare museum quality casts.

In 2013, Tarner held a press conference to announce his discovery of an Edmontosaurus on a Montana ranch. Tarner and his brother-in-law Steve Bodi were granted rights to excavate the fossil after the discovery of a vertebra fossil by Montana rancher Steve Curry. The dinosaur skeleton, named Juliet after Tarner's wife, features much of its skin intact, a rare discovery and one of only four such found.

Tarner's passion for paleontology and business skills led him to establish the Indiana Dinosaur Museum which will open in 2024. Tarner plans to exhibit the Edmontosaurus discovery in the new museum.

The Dinosaur Museum will share an atrium with an adjacent chocolate museum. Tarner also plans to move the South Bend Chocolate Company factory and museum from the Sample St. location to new locations within the museum complex. Along with a host of additional attractions, Tarner wants to emphasize the site's natural beauty, views of the nearby Golden Dome of the University of Notre Dame, and the site's proximity to the north-south continental divide. The project also returns buffalo to South Bend with a herd established in a pasture behind the museum.