From a Damascus factory to a potluck in Antigonish
For close to thirty years, Isam Hadhad ran one of the larger chocolate operations in the Middle East. The family factory in Damascus employed around 30 people and shipped specialty confections across the region and into Europe. In late 2012, in the middle of the Syrian war, the factory was destroyed by a bomb. The family lost the business and the building in a single night and fled to Lebanon, where they spent roughly three years as refugees with little certainty about what came next.
In 2015 and 2016, a group of residents in Antigonish, a Nova Scotia university town of about 5,000 people, sponsored a Syrian family without knowing their names or their story. The family they were matched with was the Hadhads. Within weeks of arriving, Isam did the one thing he knew how to do better than almost anyone: he made chocolate. He brought a batch to a community potluck, and it was gone within ten minutes. At the local winter market soon after, people lined up to buy it, in a town small enough that a line of two hundred people meant something.
“Back home in Damascus, the Hadhads had owned a successful business, a chocolate factory that employed 30 people.”
By August 2016, just eight months after arriving, the family had opened a small factory in Antigonish and named it Peace by Chocolate. The name carries the mission: the company donates a share of its profits to peace-building work and built the brand around the line One Peace Won't Hurt. One month later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told their story on a global stage, at the Leaders' Summit on Refugees at the United Nations in New York. The early company had already donated some of its first profits to Fort McMurray wildfire relief, paying forward the welcome it had received.
What they actually make
The filled bars: The core of the line is a filled chocolate bar that blends a Belgian-style couverture with Syrian-inspired fillings, nuts, fruit, and warm spices. The 92 gram Peace Bar is the signature, and the brand has expanded into milk, dark, and peppermint variants.
The gift boxes: Assorted boxes like The Chocolate Lovers Box and the Canada Gift Box carry the gifting side of the business, which is where the brand's story does a lot of the selling. People buy these to give, not just to eat.
The newer bars: The family has kept up with the category, including a Dubai-style pistachio and crispy kataifi filled bar that rode the 2024 to 2025 pistachio-chocolate wave. It is a reminder that under the heritage story is a real, modern confectionery operation that ships nationally.
How it compares to other Canadian chocolate brands
Peace by Chocolate sits in an unusual spot. It is more artisan than a mass bar, more widely distributed than most craft chocolate, and it carries a mission that almost no competitor can match. Here is where it lands next to other independent Canadian chocolate brands you might find on the shelf:
| Brand | Style | Origin | Format | Where to buy | Signature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peace by ChocolateFeatured | Filled artisan bars + gift boxes | Antigonish, Nova Scotia | 92 g bars · assorted boxes | Sobeys, Loblaws, 1,000+ stores, Instacart | 3% to 5% of profits to peace projects |
| Mid-Day Squares | Refrigerated functional chocolate | Montreal, Quebec | 33 g squares | Loblaws, Sobeys, Whole Foods, Instacart | Founder-led, vertically integrated |
| Camino (La Siembra) | Fairtrade bars + baking cocoa | Ottawa, Ontario | 100 g bars | Natural grocers, Well.ca | Fairtrade co-operative |
| Hummingbird Chocolate | Bean-to-bar craft chocolate | Almonte, Ontario | 60 g+ single-origin bars | Specialty retail + online | Award-winning small batch |
| Galerie au Chocolat | Fairtrade Belgian-style bars | Montreal, Quebec | 100 g bars | Costco, national grocery | Fairtrade certified |
Categories and positioning reflect publicly listed information on each brand's site as of June 2026. Pricing intentionally omitted because it varies materially by retailer. See the live product links below. Mid-Day Squares is profiled in its own Maple Made edition.
Why people love it, beyond the chocolate
Most independent food brands wish they had a fraction of the public goodwill Peace by Chocolate has earned. The story has been told in a Canadian Geographic feature, a 2020 book by Jon Tattrie published by Goose Lane Editions, and a 2021 feature film directed by Jonathan Keijser that screened at festivals and on streaming. The United Nations profiled the family again in 2025. That is a level of earned attention that money cannot buy.
What makes the affection durable is that the brand keeps acting like the story it tells. It is one of the largest employers in Antigonish, it has hired and trained newcomers, and it routes a real share of profit into peace work rather than treating the mission as marketing. When shoppers put a bar in the cart, they tend to know exactly why they are doing it, and they tend to tell the person they are giving it to.
What the press is saying
Justin Trudeau shares Antigonish refugee family's success story in UN speech
“Back home in Damascus, the Hadhads had owned a successful business, a chocolate factory that employed 30 people.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at the United Nations
Read the full feature →Peace by Chocolate: from Syria to Antigonish
“A family that lost everything in the Syrian war found a second home, and a second factory, in small-town Nova Scotia.”
Read the full feature →Peace by chocolate: One Syrian refugee family's journey to sweet success
“From a destroyed factory in Damascus to more than a thousand stores across Canada, the Hadhad family turned displacement into a brand built on peace.”
UN Office at Geneva
Read the full feature →Tareq Hadhad tells a sweet story of family, food and fortune
“The Peace by Chocolate founder on rebuilding a life, and a family business, in a new country.”
CBC Radio
Read the full feature →Where to actually buy it
Each link below goes directly to a Peace by Chocolate product page or a live retailer listing, not just a homepage, so you can add a real item to your cart without hunting:
For the full list of grocery and specialty retailers near you, see Peace by Chocolate's store locator and grocery locations pages.
Questions this guide answers
- What is Peace by Chocolate?
- Peace by Chocolate is a Canadian chocolate company based in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. It was founded in 2016 by the Hadhad family, Syrian refugees who had run a chocolate factory in Damascus for nearly 30 years before it was destroyed in the war. The brand makes filled chocolate bars, assorted gift boxes, and hot chocolate, and donates a share of its profits to peace-building projects. Its tagline is One Peace Won't Hurt.
- Who founded Peace by Chocolate?
- Peace by Chocolate was founded by the Hadhad family. Isam Hadhad, a master chocolatier who ran the family's original factory in Damascus, serves as president, and his son Tareq Hadhad is the CEO and public face of the company. The family, including Isam's wife Shahnaz and their other children, resettled in Antigonish in 2015 and 2016 after three years as refugees in Lebanon.
- What is the story behind Peace by Chocolate?
- The Hadhad family ran a chocolate factory in Damascus, Syria for nearly 30 years. In late 2012 the factory was destroyed by a bomb and the family fled to Lebanon, where they spent about three years as refugees. In 2015 and 2016 the community of Antigonish, a Nova Scotia university town of roughly 5,000 people, sponsored them. Isam made chocolates for a community potluck, they sold out within minutes, and the family opened a small factory in August 2016 under the name Peace by Chocolate.
- Where can I buy Peace by Chocolate?
- Peace by Chocolate is sold in more than 1,000 stores across Canada, including Sobeys, Foodland, Safeway, Loblaws, and Real Canadian Superstore, plus specialty shops and some Shoppers Drug Mart locations. You can also order directly from peacebychocolate.ca, on Amazon.ca, and through Instacart Canada. The brand operates retail shops in Antigonish and at the Queen's Marque waterfront in Halifax.
- Is there a Peace by Chocolate movie?
- Yes. Peace by Chocolate is a 2021 Canadian feature film directed by Jonathan Keijser, based on the true story of the Hadhad family and their move from Syria to Antigonish. There is also a 2020 book, Peace by Chocolate: The Hadhad Family's Remarkable Journey from Syria to Canada, by Jon Tattrie, published by Goose Lane Editions.
- Did Justin Trudeau mention Peace by Chocolate?
- Yes. On September 20, 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Hadhad family's story during his address to the Leaders' Summit on Refugees at the United Nations in New York. He described how the family had run a chocolate factory in Damascus, lost it in the war, and rebuilt their business in Nova Scotia with community support, donating some early profits to Fort McMurray wildfire relief.
- Does Peace by Chocolate give back?
- Yes. Peace by Chocolate donates between 3% and 5% of company profits to the Peace On Earth Society, a Nova Scotia registered organization that supports peace-building projects around the world. The company is also one of the largest employers in Antigonish, with a workforce of more than 75 people.
Bottom line
Peace by Chocolate is the rare brand where the story and the product are the same thing. A family that built and lost a chocolate business in Damascus rebuilt it from scratch in a Nova Scotia town of five thousand, and turned a community welcome into more than a thousand points of distribution across the country. The chocolate is good. The reason to reach for it is better. If you have never tried it, the 92 gram Peace Bar is the simplest place to start.
peacebychocolate.ca
Browse the full range, order direct from Antigonish, or find a retailer near you. Peace by Chocolate ships across Canada and runs shops in Antigonish and on the Halifax waterfront.