Lumineux Chocolate

Post-pitch story

Ben Snyder's Lumineux Chocolate was a craft chocolate maker founded in Greenville, South Carolina, in 2020, the kind of bean-to-bar business that wins over food lovers one bar at a time. It grew into a real operation, with a production space in Travelers Rest and distribution to more than 70 stores around the world. Before the end, the founders even launched a second brand, Barrio Chocolate, aimed at the wholesale market. But the economics of chocolate turned brutal. Global cocoa prices soared, and small makers were squeezed hardest. On March 1, 2025, Lumineux announced it was closing, citing rising cocoa costs and high operating expenses. Snyder stayed in Greenville's food scene. In early 2025 he joined Augusta Street Market as a baker, where he researched and launched a high-end bagel program, and he now works there in an operations and baking role. Lumineux's story is a sadly common one for craft food startups in the 2020s: a good product and loyal customers, undone by the cost of the main ingredient. Its fans will miss the bars, but Greenville clearly didn't lose its baker.