The Story of the Chocolate Monkey

After much contemplation, Steve and Mei Shuen Branham along with brother John and sister-in-law Mary Branham made the decision to venture into the candy business. After many combined years of experience in both retail and customer service, we knew that this was a direction that we wanted to go in because even in times of bad economic conditions, people love their sweets!

In February 2009, we opened the doors to our first Chocolate Monkey in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with the help of several veteran candy makers from the area. With all of their many years of experience with chocolate, candy and fudge business we were able to get started with relatively few mistakes. This allowed us to compare various recipes and techniques with the ultimate goal of producing the absolute best quality and best tasting products to be found anywhere, period. The Smoky Mountains have long been associated with great homemade candies and fudge, but we had the goal of offering our customers an even better product combined with fantastic customer service. All of our products are created the old-fashioned way using the best ingredients such as real cream and butter. Our giant caramel apples are one of our star attractions. They are covered in our own homemade caramel and topped with various combinations of candy, chocolate and nuts resulting in an incredible work of delicious art. Our real cream and butter fudge has been a huge hit with customers who know great fudge. The rich flavor and creaminess of our fudge has many of our competitors scratching their heads. We have definitely moved great fudge to another level.

In October 2009 we added a custom-made Chocolate Monkey Concession Trailer for Fairs and Festivals and also, the ability to provide our great products for indoor events. This Concession Trailer is based out of Columbia, South Carolina. This allows our customers who cannot make it to the stores in Tennessee as often as they want, to purchase our great tasting chocolate, fudge, and apples at an event near them.

In March 2010 because of our success with our first shop and concession trailer, we decided to take a great leap and opened our second Chocolate Monkey in the middle of downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Because of it being a huge tourist destination, we located right in the middle of several big-name competitors. We are happy to say that we have carved out our share of the business by doing what we set out to do, raising the bar for outstanding quality and customer service. We have noticed that some of these competitors have already made changes in their products in an attempt to compete with us. We intend to always stay a step ahead with the goal of outstanding customer satisfaction resulting in happy repeat customers.

In February 2011 the third Chocolate Monkey was opened in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This is a different type of area with not as much foot traffic but a lot of the visitors to the area recognize the Chocolate Monkey name which has made this store a big success.

In February 2012 the fourth Chocolate Monkey was opened in Lexington, South Carolina. This is our largest Chocolate Monkey with over 2500 square feet. We wanted to know how a Chocolate Monkey would do outside of a tourist area and are proud to announce this store is doing better than our highest expectations.

In March 2013 the fifth Chocolate Monkey was opened in Sevierville, Tennessee. This store allows our customers to sit outside on picnic tables under a canopy and enjoy all of our delicious treats. We are excited about the new changes as we continue to grow our business.

In June 2014 Chocolate Monkey opened at West Town Mall in Knoxville, Tennessee. We are excited about trying the Chocolate Monkey concept in a mall environment.

Because of our success, we are now being invited to locations. In July,2015, we opened in the Food Court at Columbiana Mall in Columbia, S.C.

Chocolate Monkey opened at the Food Court at West Town Mall in Knoxville, TN., in September 2015.

In January 2017, Steve and Mei Shuen decided to retire. John and Mary moved up to Tennessee to run the stores there.

Chocolate Monkey 9 opened in June of 2017 in Pigeon Forge.

In July of 2018, we closed our two South Carolina stores and decided to concentrate our locations in the east Tennessee area.

Chocolate Monkey 10 opened May 3rd, 2019, at Ober Gatlinburg.

On October 26th, 2020, a new location opened up on the main drag in Gatlinburg near the village.

On June 27, 2025, we opened our newest location in Pigeon Forge, near the Old Mill.

Our name .... A huge part of our success has been our name. After considering many different options, most of which are too ridiculous to mention, the name "Chocolate Monkey" evolved. We gave a lot of thought about it to come up with a simple, funny, and easy to remember name. We always enjoy standing outside of one of our shops and listening to people walking by say "Chocolate Monkey". It is a name that puts a big smile on the faces of both kids and adults because everyone loves chocolate and everyone loves a monkey. Our sign really stands out and grabs people's attention and people just have to come in and see what we're all about. The sight and smell of our shop takes care of everything else. We offer people free samples of our fudge, cinnamon glazed
nuts, and ice cream. After a taste of what we have to offer, we have a happy customer who will surely be back for more.