Town Has a Very Definitive Reaction to Syrian Refugee Who Opened a Small Chocolate Shop in His Shed

With so many sad stories about refugees flooding the news, it’s good to finally see something positive — and related to chocolate. That’s right — a new chocolate shop in Nova Scotia, beautifully named “Peace by Chocolate” is bringing hope to a community and prosperity to the Syrian family who runs it.

Assam Hadhad fled Syria with his family and was determined to restart the thriving chocolate business he had back in Damascus. It seems the Hadhad family came to the right place, as the community wants nothing more than to see them succeed.

They started small, in a shed — but have now moved to factory space, expanding their employment team and looking to build even more. The family says the support from the town of Antigonish has been vital to the success of the business.

“We are saying more thank you to them for embracing us and just supporting us because everything really has happened because of those really lovely people,” said Tariq Hadhad.

They will soon be leasing factory space from the Sobey’s grocery store chain, and the move will help them up their production by 30% — just what they need to expand and grow in the market. With the space and extra help, there is unlimited potential for what this refugee family can do with their Canadian business dream.

They’ve given hope in the sense that people can come here and there’s a lot of doom and gloom sometimes about our children going away to work or families having to leave to get work … They’ve showed us what people can do here,” said Laurie Boucher, mayor of Antigonish.

While relocating to a new country where everyone is a stranger is scary, the Hadhad’s clearly chose the right place — and the right attitude. It looks like they really will make Peace by Chocolate.