Beyond the Box

For over a century, Leonidas has made premium chocolate accessible to everyone. But for its employees, retailers, press, schools and loyal customers, there was no dedicated place to experience what happens behind the scenes.

WeWantMore was asked to change that, creating an Experience Center within the new Leonidas headquarters and production site in Nivelles. Instead of simply telling the Leonidas story, the idea was to let people step inside it.

The challenge was to bring Leonidas' family heritage together with its creativity, expertise and innovation, while creating a journey that could adapt to different visitors within a working production environment.

The starting point was hiding in plain sight: the praline box. What if opening one became an experience in itself?

Chocolate as design language

The Experience Center is imagined as a giant box of chocolates brought to life. The goal was to create a happiness factory filled with pralines, textures, colours and details to discover.

Pralines become the source of the design language. Their elegant, simplified forms pop up throughout the space as furniture, objects and sculptural installations. At the entrance, the moment of opening the box becomes architecture. The ribbon becomes a sweeping art installation and reception desk. The eye is drawn upwards, where oversized praline forms appear to float above, as if the lid has just been lifted and the chocolates released.

A Journey of Discovery

The experience begins in the auditorium, where visitors are immersed in the Leonidas story. A large screen in front and projections above create an enveloping setting, making visitors feel as though they have stepped inside a chocolate box themselves.

From there, they enter the museum and travel back through Leonidas’ history. A timeline traces the company’s history, while historic packaging, archival material and a paperscape recreating the first shop window bring Leonidas’ early days to life.

The journey then continues into the Experience Corridor, where visitors discover the story of chocolate, from cacao and its ingredients to the making of pralines. Interactive installations make the process tangible, before panoramic windows offer glimpses into the production areas.

The final stop is the tasting room, where a giant globe opens to reveal a selection of Leonidas chocolates, turning the final tasting into a moment of surprise.

Designed Around the Visitor

There is one route, but no single way to experience it. School groups can dive into cacao and flavours, while retailers and press can explore production and innovation in greater depth. Loyal customers get a closer look at the world behind the brand.

The praline becomes more than a design reference. It becomes a way for visitors to step inside the Leonidas world and discover it for themselves.