LEADIN:

Chocolatiers across Beverly Hills and Hollywood are gearing up for Easter with their latest, high-end creations.

It comes as annual global chocolate sales are expected to top more than 100 billion US dollars for the first time.

STORYLINE:

Easter is fast approaching, a time for chocolatiers to bring out their most impressive and expensive creations.

And in Beverly Hills and Hollywood, the Easter delights are at their most luxurious.

From 18 karat gold bunnies to Jackson Pollock-inspired eggs, there is plenty to tempt customers, as long as they've got a budget to match.

Ed Engoron, President and CEO of Perspectives/The Consulting Group, an international food and restaurant consulting firm, says chocolate sales are at an all time high worldwide:

"Well the chocolate industry right now is very exciting both for consumers and processors because we are going broach over 100 billion dollars this year and that's the first time. That's up about 8 percent in the last 10 years. The Swiss continue to consume the most chocolate and that's right about 10 kilos a year. The Austrians and the Germans follow very closely behind and that is about 9 kilos a year and America is right around, somewhere around 5 kilos a year," he says.

The market research agency Statista says that increased consumption from India, China and Asian Pacific countries is driving the industry, as those consumers grow more accustomed to 'Western' tastes, along with a belief in the health benefits of eating dark chocolate.

The appetite for chocolate has been growing so much that analysts predict a 30 percent increase in global cocoa demand by 2020.

Edelweiss Chocolates of Beverly Hills has been a chocolate institution since 1942.

During the golden Age of Hollywood, it catered to Hollywood royalty, including the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Katherine Hepburn.

The store is filled with handmade premium artisan chocolates, made using traditional techniques and sold in Hollywood and abroad.

Owned by the Zahir family, Edelweiss has enjoyed a unique place in the fabric of Beverly Hills history for many years.

Lucille Ball was a regular customer of Edelweiss and used to enter through the backdoor, passing the conveyor belt.

Rumour has it the infamous chocolate conveyer belt episode in I Love Lucy was inspired by Edelweiss.

Danny Zahirpour, the creative director and head chocolatier, says vibrant colours on chocolate eggs are the big trend this year.

In line with that trend, he's created a modern speckled painted Easter egg made from scratch with a splatter technique.

Each cost 59.95 US Dollars and are in big demand this season.

"They are hand molded and we speckle them with coloured coco butter by hand so it's almost like a handpainted design," he says.

"Think about Jackson Pollack, splattering the paint on the molds. Then we shell the egg and then we demold them and put them together in a 3D fashion and then they stand on a platform and then they are boxed with a beautiful Spring ribbon."

He also hand brushes and paints 18-karat gold chocolate bunnies which sell for 24.95 US Dollars each.

He says Easter is a time people will spend more money on fine, handcrafted chocolates.

Katherine Spiers, food critic at KCRW, NPR public radio agrees.

"People like to eat fancy chocolate around Easter. This is the holiday where you will see people spending more of their money on the high-end chocolates so the expensive chocolatiers are going to see a big bump in business around Easter compared to say Valentine's Day and Halloween," she says.

Kelly Green and John Kelson (aka John Kelly Chocolates) cater to Hollywood's elite and are known for some of the finest chocolates.

They specialise in handmade, ultra luxurious gift boxes and presentations, making their chocolates with natural ingredients in small batches.

One of their most popular items at Easter is the combined dark and milk chocolate bunnies in small round gift boxes (10.50 US Dollars for two bunnies).

They say they sell thousands of these bunnies each Easter.

Kelson says artisan, high quality chocolates are the biggest growing segment and are hugely popular with corporate Hollywood and VIPS.

"We have a big celebrity clientele. We're located in the heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles. I mean you can't get anymore in the centre of entertainment that that. So we do a lot of business with the studios. We have a lot of celebrities that do come directly to our stores and buy from us," he says.

Kelson says their business keeps growing and there is always a peak in business around holiday times.

He says e-commerce is also growing in leaps and bounds as people want the convenience of shopping online.

Beverly Hills, California, US - 15 March 2018

1. Pull out of Easter eggs and chocolates

2. Various of Easter eggs and chocolates

3. Close of spinning chocolate on enrober

4. Pull out from picture on wall to wide of assembly line cooling tunnel

5. Close of Easter chocolates moving along assembly line

6. Various of Easter candy designs being placed on chocolates

7. Set up of Ed Engoron, President and CEO of Perspectives/The Consulting Group

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ed Engoron, President and CEO of Perspectives/The Consulting Group:

"Well the chocolate industry right now is very exciting both for consumers and processors because we are going broach over 100 billion dollars this year and that's the first time. That's up about 8 percent in the last 10 years. The Swiss continue to consume about the most chocolate and that's right about 10 kilos a year. The Austrians and the Germans follow very closely behind and that is about 9 kilos a year and America is right around, somewhere around 5 kilos a year."

9. Pull out of Edelweiss Chocolates exterior

10. Close of Edelweiss Candy Kitchen sign

11. Wide interior with customer buying Easter bunnies

12. Wide tilt down of Easter chocolates on shelves

13. Mid of Easter baskets on shelves

14. Wide of Zahir family working on chocolates in kitchen

15. Pull out of Danny Zahirpour, Creative Director and head chocolatier, Edelweiss Chocolates

16. Wide of the hand painted speckled eggs

17. Various of Zahirpour splattering colouring into speckled egg molds

18. Pull out of chocolate being poured in speckled egg mold

19. Mid of Zahirpour flipping mold and tapping out excess chocolate

20. Mid of Zahirpour scraping excess chocolate from speckled egg mold

21. Wide tilt up of Zahirpour putting two speckled eggs halves together

22. Close of sealed speckled egg completed

23. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Zahirpour, creative director and head chocolatier, Edelweiss Chocolates:

"This year for us we are doing something new, we are doing our handmade speckled eggs. They are about 7 inches long and they are hand molded and we speckle them with coloured coco butter by hand so it's almost like a hand painted design. Think about Jackson Pollack, splattering the paint on the molds. And then we shell the egg and then we demold them and put them together in a 3D fashion and then they stand on a platform and then they are boxed with a beautiful spring ribbon."

24. Mid of gold chocolate bunny and gold egg

25. Close of gold chocolate egg

26. Various of Zahirpour hand creating gold chocolate bunny

West Hollywood, California, US - 15 March, 2018

27. Pull out of Katherine Spiers, food critic at KCRW, NPR public radio

28. SOUNDBITE (English) Katherine Spiers, food critic at KCRW, NPR public radio:

"People like to eat fancy chocolate around Easter. This is the holiday where you will see people spending more of their money on the high-end chocolates so the expensive chocolatiers are going to see a big bump in business around Easter compared to say Valentine's Day and Halloween where people are buying sort of more inexpensive chocolate candy, which might come in a bulk bag, that sort of thing. It's less elegant than Easter chocolate."

29. Pull out of John Kelly Chocolates exterior

30. Close of John Kelly Chocolates sandwich board

31. Pull out of interior

32. Wide of John Kelson with client offering chocolate sample

33. Close of client eating Easter chocolate sample

34. Mid pan of framed press articles

35. Wide of shelves with chocolate boxes

36. Close of milk chocolate bunnies gift box

37. Pan of dark and milk chocolate bunnies on trays

38. Close dark and milk chocolate bunnies on trays

39. Wide of John Kelson, Kelly Green and chocolatier working in kitchen

40. Wide of John and Kelly preparing Easter bunnies

41. Mid of three Easter gift boxes

42. Mid of awards and Tower gift boxes

43. Close of 24 piece Assortment Boxes

44. Set up of John Kelson, CEO and co-owner of John Kelly Chocolates

45. SOUNDBITE (English) John Kelson, CEO and co-owner of John Kelly Chocolates:

"We have a big celebrity clientele. We're located in the heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles. I mean you can't get more in the centre of entertainment that that. So we do a lot of business with the studios. We have a lot of celebrities that do come directly to our stores and buy from us."

46. Wide of chocolate conveyer belt

47. Mid of chocolatier putting chocolate on conveyer belt

48. Close of melted chocolate

49. Close of chocolates on conveyer belt

US EASTER CHOCOLATE

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

RESTRICTIONS: AP CLIENTS ONLY

LENGTH: 6:29

SHOTLIST:

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Beverly Hills, California, US - 15 March 2018

1. Pull out of Easter eggs and chocolates

2. Various of Easter eggs and chocolates

3. Close of spinning chocolate on enrober

4. Pull out from picture on wall to wide of assembly line cooling tunnel

5. Close of Easter chocolates moving along assembly line

6. Various of Easter candy designs being placed on chocolates

7. Set up of Ed Engoron, President and CEO of Perspectives/The Consulting Group

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ed Engoron, President and CEO of Perspectives/The Consulting Group:

"Well the chocolate industry right now is very exciting both for consumers and processors because we are going broach over 100 billion dollars this year and that's the first time. That's up about 8 percent in the last 10 years. The Swiss continue to consume about the most chocolate and that's right about 10 kilos a year. The Austrians and the Germans follow very closely behind and that is about 9 kilos a year and America is right around, somewhere around 5 kilos a year."

9. Pull out of Edelweiss Chocolates exterior

10. Close of Edelweiss Candy Kitchen sign

11. Wide interior with customer buying Easter bunnies

12. Wide tilt down of Easter chocolates on shelves

13. Mid of Easter baskets on shelves

14. Wide of Zahir family working on chocolates in kitchen

15. Pull out of Danny Zahirpour, Creative Director and head chocolatier, Edelweiss Chocolates

16. Wide of the hand painted speckled eggs

17. Various of Zahirpour splattering colouring into speckled egg molds

18. Pull out of chocolate being poured in speckled egg mold

19. Mid of Zahirpour flipping mold and tapping out excess chocolate

20. Mid of Zahirpour scraping excess chocolate from speckled egg mold

21. Wide tilt up of Zahirpour putting two speckled eggs halves together

22. Close of sealed speckled egg completed

23. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Zahirpour, creative director and head chocolatier, Edelweiss Chocolates:

"This year for us we are doing something new, we are doing our handmade speckled eggs. They are about 7 inches long and they are hand molded and we speckle them with coloured coco butter by hand so it's almost like a hand painted design. Think about Jackson Pollack, splattering the paint on the molds. And then we shell the egg and then we demold them and put them together in a 3D fashion and then they stand on a platform and then they are boxed with a beautiful spring ribbon."

24. Mid of gold chocolate bunny and gold egg

25. Close of gold chocolate egg

26. Various of Zahirpour hand creating gold chocolate bunny

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

West Hollywood, California, US - 15 March, 2018

27. Pull out of Katherine Spiers, food critic at KCRW, NPR public radio

28. SOUNDBITE (English) Katherine Spiers, food critic at KCRW, NPR public radio:

"People like to eat fancy chocolate around Easter. This is the holiday where you will see people spending more of their money on the high-end chocolates so the expensive chocolatiers are going to see a big bump in business around Easter compared to say Valentine's Day and Halloween where people are buying sort of more inexpensive chocolate candy, which might come in a bulk bag, that sort of thing. It's less elegant than Easter chocolate."

29. Pull out of John Kelly Chocolates exterior

30. Close of John Kelly Chocolates sandwich board

31. Pull out of interior

32. Wide of John Kelson with client offering chocolate sample

33. Close of client eating Easter chocolate sample

34. Mid pan of framed press articles

35. Wide of shelves with chocolate boxes

36. Close of milk chocolate bunnies gift box

37. Pan of dark and milk chocolate bunnies on trays

38. Close dark and milk chocolate bunnies on trays

39. Wide of John Kelson, Kelly Green and chocolatier working in kitchen

40. Wide of John and Kelly preparing Easter bunnies

41. Mid of three Easter gift boxes

42. Mid of awards and Tower gift boxes

43. Close of 24 piece Assortment Boxes

44. Set up of John Kelson, CEO and co-owner of John Kelly Chocolates

45. SOUNDBITE (English) John Kelson, CEO and co-owner of John Kelly Chocolates:

"We have a big celebrity clientele. We're located in the heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles. I mean you can't get more in the centre of entertainment that that. So we do a lot of business with the studios. We have a lot of celebrities that do come directly to our stores and buy from us."

46. Wide of chocolate conveyer belt

47. Mid of chocolatier putting chocolate on conveyer belt

48. Close of melted chocolate

49. Close of chocolates on conveyer belt

LEADIN:

Chocolatiers across Beverly Hills and Hollywood are gearing up for Easter with their latest, high-end creations.

It comes as annual global chocolate sales are expected to top more than 100 billion US dollars for the first time.

STORYLINE:

Easter is fast approaching, a time for chocolatiers to bring out their most impressive and expensive creations.

And in Beverly Hills and Hollywood, the Easter delights are at their most luxurious.

From 18 karat gold bunnies to Jackson Pollock-inspired eggs, there is plenty to tempt customers, as long as they've got a budget to match.

Ed Engoron, President and CEO of Perspectives/The Consulting Group, an international food and restaurant consulting firm, says chocolate sales are at an all time high worldwide:

"Well the chocolate industry right now is very exciting both for consumers and processors because we are going broach over 100 billion dollars this year and that's the first time. That's up about 8 percent in the last 10 years. The Swiss continue to consume the most chocolate and that's right about 10 kilos a year. The Austrians and the Germans follow very closely behind and that is about 9 kilos a year and America is right around, somewhere around 5 kilos a year," he says.

The market research agency Statista says that increased consumption from India, China and Asian Pacific countries is driving the industry, as those consumers grow more accustomed to 'Western' tastes, along with a belief in the health benefits of eating dark chocolate.

The appetite for chocolate has been growing so much that analysts predict a 30 percent increase in global cocoa demand by 2020.

Edelweiss Chocolates of Beverly Hills has been a chocolate institution since 1942.

During the golden Age of Hollywood, it catered to Hollywood royalty, including the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Katherine Hepburn.

The store is filled with handmade premium artisan chocolates, made using traditional techniques and sold in Hollywood and abroad.

Owned by the Zahir family, Edelweiss has enjoyed a unique place in the fabric of Beverly Hills history for many years.

Lucille Ball was a regular customer of Edelweiss and used to enter through the backdoor, passing the conveyor belt.

Rumour has it the infamous chocolate conveyer belt episode in I Love Lucy was inspired by Edelweiss.

Danny Zahirpour, the creative director and head chocolatier, says vibrant colours on chocolate eggs are the big trend this year.

In line with that trend, he's created a modern speckled painted Easter egg made from scratch with a splatter technique.

Each cost 59.95 US Dollars and are in big demand this season.

"They are hand molded and we speckle them with coloured coco butter by hand so it's almost like a handpainted design," he says.

"Think about Jackson Pollack, splattering the paint on the molds. Then we shell the egg and then we demold them and put them together in a 3D fashion and then they stand on a platform and then they are boxed with a beautiful Spring ribbon."

He also hand brushes and paints 18-karat gold chocolate bunnies which sell for 24.95 US Dollars each.

He says Easter is a time people will spend more money on fine, handcrafted chocolates.

Katherine Spiers, food critic at KCRW, NPR public radio agrees.

"People like to eat fancy chocolate around Easter. This is the holiday where you will see people spending more of their money on the high-end chocolates so the expensive chocolatiers are going to see a big bump in business around Easter compared to say Valentine's Day and Halloween," she says.

Kelly Green and John Kelson (aka John Kelly Chocolates) cater to Hollywood's elite and are known for some of the finest chocolates.

They specialise in handmade, ultra luxurious gift boxes and presentations, making their chocolates with natural ingredients in small batches.

One of their most popular items at Easter is the combined dark and milk chocolate bunnies in small round gift boxes (10.50 US Dollars for two bunnies).

They say they sell thousands of these bunnies each Easter.

Kelson says artisan, high quality chocolates are the biggest growing segment and are hugely popular with corporate Hollywood and VIPS.

"We have a big celebrity clientele. We're located in the heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles. I mean you can't get anymore in the centre of entertainment that that. So we do a lot of business with the studios. We have a lot of celebrities that do come directly to our stores and buy from us," he says.

Kelson says their business keeps growing and there is always a peak in business around holiday times.

He says e-commerce is also growing in leaps and bounds as people want the convenience of shopping online.

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