the platypi story

From first thought to opening has been a journey of many years and many places. Over 30 years ago, while travelling around Australia, Mandy and Michael were inspired by a small chocolate factory in WA. A seed was planted and it waited for the right place and conditions to take root.

Houses were bought, renovated or built and then sold to fund the next project. Children were raised, jobs and careers changed and through it all this thought bubbled in the background. What about a tree change?

Finally, mountain biking took us to Forrest and we purchased three acres of Otways bush, where the setting and timing was perfect for our own chocolate production and café. The plan was to spend our days close to home working for ourselves, having fun with staff and customers.

It has been four years of planning, designing, construction, product development, training and plain hard work, but two years after opening the dream has been realised. We now walk 17 seconds to work, have a team of fun, talented employees and a wonderful group of customers that make our lives a pleasure.

We love living in rural Victoria and we have had a commitment from the outset to provide an opportunity for locals to work locally, learn locally and grow locally. Our staff are our neighbours and friends and by investing in their future, we invest in our town and our region.

Platypi is a fun place to visit with a fantastic modern building, unique chocolate flavours, savouries and desserts that we are proud of and a team we love – and you will too. Come join us and take away not just the chocolates, but a little share of our happy place.