Riad Hilal and his son Georges are refugees from Syria. They arrived in Canada in 2022 with their family. Since 2018, the father and son share a passion that began in their country of origin: making homemade chocolate.

While the family was still living in Syria, Mr. Hilal was interested in passing on knowledge that might be useful to his son.

“All of a sudden, I had this idea: why not work with chocolate? It’s manual work, it’s good, and he really likes chocolate,” said Riad Hilal when speaking of his son in an interview with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Canada.

While working in Syria, Mr. Hilal often travelled to China, where he could buy the tools  needed for the new business.

“All the equipment, all the molds, and all the innovations in this business were right there in front of my eyes. So, I was lucky enough to be able to buy a variety of simple equipment and bring it back from my travels. I bought them as I gained experience in this field. So, whenever I saw that we needed new tools, I would buy them from China,” said Riad Hilal.

The father and the son also took part in a chocolate-making course at a hospitality school in Lebanon, where they learned a great deal about chocolate-making. The course gave them the confidence to make beautiful chocolate products and start sharing them with others.

“We started by offering our chocolates to relatives, friends, and everyone on religious holidays, and then we found that there was an opportunity to sell our products,” Hilal told JRS Canada.

“They took part in a small bazaar before the holidays and sold all the boxes, which was a great success; that’s how it started,” said Kinda Albadin, Riad’s wife.

This family is one of those affected by the war in Syria, which began in 2011. When they decided to take refuge in Canada, they wanted to pursue this entrepreneurial activity.

“When we were accepted in Canada, we didn’t want to lose this asset, so we packed up all our equipment and sent it to Canada by sea. It was around 800 kilos of equipment,” said Mr. Hilal.

Once in Canada, the family settled into a small apartment downtown where it was difficult to pursue their passion for chocolate. However, a few years later, in 2024, when the family moved into a house, they decided to dedicate a small chocolate workshop in a basement room. From there, father and son began experimenting again with ganaches and chocolate combinations.

 Georges Hilal is featured making chocolate in his workshop.

“In our house, we have a small workshop, and every day, when he [Georges] comes home from work, the three of us work,” said Kinda Albadin. ” Recently we’ve been making an oriental chocolate with knafeh,” a traditional Arab dessert.

At the end of 2024, Georges and his father had their first entrepreneurial experience in Canada with chocolate. Georges was motivated by his father to sell their chocolate products so he could buy the dog of his dreams: a chihuahua.

Hilal told his son that if he made enough sales, he could buy himself the little dog for Christmas. His son did everything in his power to achieve this goal.

“At Christmas, we had the opportunity to be in a church bazaar. At first, we were a little reluctant to do it, but then we got down to it and it was a great success! We sold much and got a lot of orders for chocolates. We made about $2,000 in sales, and that’s what enabled Georges to buy his dog,” said Mr. Hilal.

Georges at Saint-Éphrem Church during the bazaar, April 5-6, 2025.

The chocolate bears the Chevalier de Saint-Georges logo to honor the son’s name. Among his favorite chocolate flavours are milk, white, and cappuccino.

When we asked Georges what his favorite part of the activity was,
he replied, “I love making chocolate with my dad.”

The family was present at a bazaar on April 5th and April 6th, 2025 to offer their products to the parishioners of Saint-Éphrem Church. It was another success story, they sold everything out!