The mother-daughter duo behind the beloved chocolatier is celebrating its Oak Cliff return with a bigger space, bold Mexican flavors and a message of resilience.
DALLAS — For Cindy and Andrea Pedraza, chocolate has always been about more than something sweet.
Nearly 16 years ago, the mother-daughter duo opened CocoAndré Chocolatier after both were laid off from their jobs. What began as a difficult chapter became the beginning of something entirely their own.
Now, after three locations and three moves in 15 years, CocoAndré is back in Oak Cliff with a new space, a new chapter and the same commitment to community that has carried the business from the start.
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“For the last three years, it’s been an intense labor of love,” Cindy said.
The new chocolatier and horchateria is filled with details that reflect the women behind it. Wall art tells stories. Pieces of culture are woven throughout the space. And the menu brings together European-style truffles with bold Mexican flavors, including dulce de leche and mazapán.
The coffee bar also serves specialty horchata drinks.
For Cindy, the goal is to make CocoAndré feel like more than a place to buy chocolate.
“I want everybody that comes in through that door to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel welcomed,” Cindy said. “For them to enjoy something sweet and hang out with us for a little while.”
That feeling goes back to CocoAndré’s former Oak Cliff location, a small building that looked and felt like a home.
“When we used to be in the house, it was a house,” Cindy said. “I want you to feel like you’re walking into your grandma’s house.”
They eventually sold that building. Three years later, CocoAndré has returned to Oak Cliff in a larger, reimagined space.
“It feels like we’re starting all over again, but this time there’s a lot less crying,” Cindy said with a laugh.
The first time around, she said, there was a lot of fear and uncertainty. This time, there is something else: perspective.
Cindy and her mother had already learned plenty about starting over. Her mother, Andrea, immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was 20. A former seamstress, she spent 14 years working in that trade before spending another 25 years working for a chocolate company.
Cindy said her mother’s story is one of the clearest examples of resilience she knows.
“It makes me emotional,” Andrea said. “Because she immigrated here when she was 20 and she really didn’t have… what did you have with you, your beautiful boots?” Cindy asked her mother as she laughed.
The answer, Cindy said with a laugh, was a pair of her mother’s beloved platform boots.
But her mother also brought determination.
“I think that’s the epitome of resilience,” Cindy said. “I think at 20, most of us are trying to figure out what we’re going to do with our lives. Finding our way. She’s always been headstrong.”
That determination eventually helped inspire the business the two women built together. Cindy said she now gets to benefit from the years of work her mother put in.
“She worked extremely hard to get to where she was,” Cindy said. “She was a seamstress for 14 years, then she worked for the chocolate company for another 25, and then here we are 16 years later in our own business.”
Today, CocoAndré, Cindy and Andrea own three locations, including the newly opened CocoAndré at 423 Center St. in Oak Cliff, Olmo Market in Oak Cliff and Olmo Market in Elmwood.
One thing they did not expect was just how much support would follow them through every move.
“What has surprised me the most is just the outpouring of continued support,” Cindy said.
Cindy said that support has come from people who have made the business part of their own community.
“To see people really represent us, care about us, go to bat for us, that’s the crazy part to me, in a good way,” Cindy said.
For the Pedrazas, success is not just about their own business.
“It’s not just us succeeding,” Cindy said. “We’re succeeding as a group.”
That spirit of community is at the heart of what CocoAndré is all about.
The Pedrazas regularly use their business to create opportunities for others, hosting monthly markets that showcase local entrepreneurs and partnering with women-owned businesses. They also source ingredients directly from female cacao farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, creating a connection between the community they serve in Dallas and the women who help make their chocolates possible.
CocoAndré also participates in local events and panels, including the Dallas Mavericks’ Women’s Symposium, and works with community organizations and programs like the Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program to mentor and uplift women entrepreneurs. For the Pedrazas, giving back is not something separate from the business. It is part of what the business was built to do.
That philosophy is especially meaningful as CocoAndré returns to Oak Cliff during Hispanic Heritage Month.
“It’s also amazing to see here we are, two Hispanic women who have been through a lot, opening our third location,” Cindy said. “Three moves in 15 years, and here we are during Hispanic Heritage Month being a part of it and bringing culture to our neighborhood.”
Inside the new space, that culture is part of the experience, from the flavors to the artwork to the Día de los Muertos chocolates.
And after all these years, Cindy said there are still moments when she has to remind herself just how far they have come.
“I still haven’t taken it all in,” she said. “It still feels like it’s not mine.”
¡Ya párale!,” Andrea responded, which means “enough, stop it!”
“It feels surreal. I don’t believe it,” she said. “I’m very proud of it, though.”
For Cindy’s mother, the answer to surviving setbacks has always been simple.
“I always say never stop. Just keep going,” Andrea said. “If you’re doing what you like to do, what you love to do, keep on doing what you love to do.”
For a mother and daughter who turned a layoff into a business, hardship into opportunity and a former home into a new beginning, CocoAndré is living proof of what can happen when you do just that.