Good Good is a Philly chocolate lover's dream
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Philly chocolatier Lisa Schoenbeck. Photo: Courtesy of Mike Prince
Making bonbons is a grueling process that makes the uninitiated say, "Bon voyage." But chocolatier Lisa Schoenbeck digs in and says, "Bon appétit."
Why it matters: The ovarian cancer survivor recently opened Good Good Chocolates, a brick-and-mortar shop in Queen Village that's the perfect place to score holiday treats.
The big picture: The French word "bon" means "good," which inspired the name of Schoenbeck's shop, which, yes, specializes in decadent chocolate bonbons — 21 flavors' worth.
- There's more — bars, wraps, caramels, malt balls, chocolate-covered nuts — enough to make Willy Wonka jelly.
- Prices range from $10 to $48 for a 12-piece box.
The backstory: Schoenbeck and her husband are pastry chefs.
- When they moved here from Los Angeles, she borrowed his commercial kitchen equipment and started making bonbons at home.
- They were a hit. But ovarian cancer struck in 2022. She underwent surgery that put her into menopause and several rounds of chemotherapy.
Yes, but: Chocolate makes everyone happy. And that's what Schoenbeck longed for after she got sick.
- She worked through treatment to keep the business afloat, and signed a lease on the Queen Village shop a month after learning she was in remission.
What she's saying: Schoenbeck describes herself as "extremely type A, controlling, neurotic." That's great for her because "there's nothing romantic about" chocolate making, she says.
- "It's very tedious, but very rewarding to climb this mountain."
- How it works: It takes a couple days to finish a batch, including polishing molds and tempering chocolate so it's smooth and has a scrumptious snap.
🤯 1 cool thing: Dandelion Chocolate, a huge bean-to-bar chocolate maker in San Francisco, asked Schoenbeck for 64,000 chocolates, including for its Advent calendar.
- Schoenbeck paired dark chocolate and a pear filling for the specialty treats. She shipped the first 13,000 pieces in October. The collab can be purchased through August 2025.
The intrigue: Schoenbeck said she leaned on friends and family to get through that dark period in her life. She says one paid thousands of dollars for her cold capping, a treatment some cancer patients use to avoid hair loss.
- She still remembers the words of the South Philly dry-ice guy she'd buy from — "Ahh, that sucks that you have to go to chemo" — because he made her feel normal rather than pitied.
The bottom line: Cancer is the "best and worst thing that can happen to you," says Schoenbeck, who reminds herself every day she's living the good good life.
- "All it takes is for one cell to jump off."