The milkshake is still on the menu
Kelly Mauer and Danielle Shipp bought Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe in 2020. The Krupas taught them the room. The town kept it open. They have since moved down the block.
Cove Tales · April 1, 2026 · 3 min read
Tim and Dawn Krupa opened Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe in 2011 after years of eating their way through Europe and missing the chocolate when they came home. In 2020 they were ready to retire. Two longtime staffers, Kelly Mauer and Danielle Shipp, discovered they had the same idea on the same day, and bought the shop together. April 1, 2026, they marked six years of that ownership and fifteen years of the cafe, in a larger room a couple of doors down Spruce.
Journey here
“We were so excited, but nervous when we started,” Mauer told Discover Our Coast. Then the pandemic arrived and the sales went online. “It was a humbling experience. The community rallied around us and we partnered with hotels and other shops to get our chocolates out there. Honestly, we had a lot of extra love. Within a year, we had doubled our income.” Mauer is the people person, the floor, the staff. Shipp studied at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco, and is the chocolatier. “Danielle uses her fabulous baking skills to create new concoctions,” Mauer said. “Combined with everything she learned from Krupa as a chocolatier, she really can let loose.” Shipp: “Sometimes it gets me in trouble. It’s fun to try new flavors and new recipes like peaches and cream, seafoam, homemade marshmallow or infusing truffles with spirits like whiskey, tequila or bourbon.”
A normal day
Nine to six most days, nine to five Sunday. Illy espresso, which replaced the original French press. Truffles, bars, bark, pastry. The legendary chocolate milkshake is still on the menu, built on 70 percent dark Colombian chocolate. A February 2026 city sign permit still lists 232 North Spruce; a July reviewer said they had moved down a couple of doors and were still in the same cluster, next to Ecola Seafood. The new room, on their own camera, is the one with more air and a patio they are waiting to sit in.
A customer moment
The first-year customer was the town. Hotels took the chocolate when the door could not. The current customer is the person who came for the milkshake in the old room and is now standing in the new one saying it is still the milkshake. Instagram comments on the anniversary reel did the civic work: “Way to go ladies.” That is Cannon Beach, and it is also the business model.
What visitors should know
Spruce, not Hemlock. The milkshake is the thing to order if you only order one thing. If you want a truffle that might have bourbon in it, ask. If you knew the old nook, they have more space now; the chocolate did not get bigger, the room did.
The community rallied around us and we partnered with hotels and other shops to get our chocolates out there.
