Valrhona is a French chocolate manufacturer base in the small town of Tain L'Hermitage in Hermitage, a wine-growing district near Lyon. The company was founded in 1924 by a French pastry chef from the Rhône valley and has five subsidiaries and 60 local distributors across the globe. It is today one of the leading producers of chocolate in the world. The company also maintains the École du Grand Chocolat, a school for professional chefs with a focus on chocolate-based dishes and pastries.