Blog

What to do if your melting wafers arrive melted.

You ordered your melting wafers, tracked the package, & counted down the days until they arrived, only to open the box & find that they melted. First of all: take a breath! This is fixable, & your wafers are far from ruined.

Couverture vs Compound Coating: What's the Real Difference?

Key highlights

• The Core Difference: Couverture chocolate uses 100% natural cocoa butter as its fat source, while compound coating replaces cocoa butter with vegetable oils (like palm kernel or coconut oil).

• The Tempering Requirement: Couverture chocolate must be tempered (heated and cooled to precise temperatures) to achieve a glossy finish and sharp snap. compound coating does not require tempering—simply melt, use, and let it cool.

• Best Applications for Couverture: Ideal for premium, artisan confections where flavor and texture are paramount, such as molded bonbons, truffles, high-end pastry work, and glossy chocolate bars.

• Best Applications for Compound: Best for high-volume baking, beginners, and quick decorating tasks, including dipping cake pops, enrobing strawberries, making holiday candy molds, or working in warm-weather environments.

• Flavor vs. Convenience: Couverture offers a rich, complex flavor and melts smoothly at body temperature, whereas compound coating offers hassle-free stability and a budget-friendly price point but can have a slightly waxy mouthfeel.

• Golden Rule of Melting: Never mix compound and couverture chocolate together. The vegetable oils in compound coating will contaminate the cocoa butter in couverture, preventing it from setting properly and causing streaks or software failure.

Introducing Lusso: Premium Couverture Chocolate Crafted in Italy

At Stover & Company, we’re always focused on bringing high-quality, performance-driven ingredients to bakers & confectioners who demand more from their chocolate. That’s why we’re proud to introduce Lusso, a premium line of couverture chocolate crafted in Italy by eleven o’one.

Designed for professionals but accessible to passionate home bakers, Lusso delivers the balance of flavor, fluidity, & workability that today’s creations require.

How to Prepare Your Bakery for the Spring Rush

As winter fades and the days get longer, bakeries and confectioners enter one of the busiest and most profitable times of the year. Spring brings a wave of demand driven by Easter, weddings, baby showers, graduations, and outdoor events.

The businesses that thrive during this season aren’t just great at baking, they’re great at planning ahead.

Here’s how to get your bakery ready to maximize the spring rush without the stress.

Sweet, Simple & Ready for the Holiday Rush

The holiday season is here & that means treat tables, cookie trays, homemade giftt & chocolate everything! Whether you’re prepping for your busiest bakery season or whipping up festive orders at home, Sweet Shoppe Melting Wafers make it easy to create crowd-pleasing desserts without the stress.

No tempering, no complicated steps! Just melt, dip, drizzle, & decorate!

At Stover & Company, the busy holiday season comes early!

From September through December, our order volumes are at their highest, which can create longer processing times than you may be used to. While our warehouse team usually exceeds your expectations by processing your orders within 1–2 business days, this time of year may require up to 4 full business days to carefully process & pack your order with care! 

Once your order has been picked, packed & passed to one of our shipping partners, you’ll receive a tracking number via email so you can follow your package as it makes its way to your door.

Please remember that all delivery dates & windows provided are estimated, once your package is with the carrier, transit times are out of our control.


Plan ahead: 
Shipping delays are common during the holiday season. We recommend leaving plenty of time when placing your order to avoid delays & product sellouts.


Need it ASAP?
Select Express Shipping at checkout for the quickest option:

• Express orders placed before 11:45am ET ship the same business day.

• Express orders placed after 11:45am ET ship the following business day.

                       

Please note our warehouse is closed on holidays & weekends. Order processing time begins the next business day. 

Now is the time to make your holiday ingredients list & check it twice, place your seasonal baking order today to beat the rush!!! 

Please note: shipping times provided at checkout are estimated. If you have not received tracking information after 4 business days, please contact customer service at 724.274.6314 or info@stovercompany.com for assistance. Please note that holidays & weekends are not considered to be business days. For more information please see our shipping page!  

We know how much YOU love our chocolate & melting wafers! Sometimes you love it so much that our inventory depletes faster than we can keep up with! While our production team works hard to keep up with demand & prevent sellouts, sometimes it can take us a little while to recover from times of high demand, especially during busy seasons.

Sellouts & Restocks:
If you’ve ever clicked on a product & seen that dreaded “Out of Stock” notice, here’s what to know:

As a local distributor, we service many regional bakeries (in the Pittsburgh & Cleveland areas) via weekly deliveries, so some items like frozen goods or specific packaging are only available for local delivery or customer pickup, which is why they are listed as out of stock online. That said, this usually doesn’t apply to our chocolate & compound coating items.

As for items that are truly out of stock, we always recommend signing up for a Restock Notification!

     

Important Update: RE: Merckens: Heads up! Cargill has shorted our upcoming Merckens order. What does that mean for you? A very limited restock is not expected until 2026. If you need melting wafers sooner, we recommend trying Sweet Shoppe wafers as an alternative, otherwise please sign up for a restock notification. 

Discontiued Products:
Our website team is currently working to remove discontinued items from our online catalog to make shopping easier for YOU! Over the next few weeks, if you can no longer find a product on our site, that likely means it has been discontinued. If that happens, please reach out to our customer service team for advice on finding a replacement item. We’re always happy to help you track down the next best thing! 

We’re Here to Help:
Questions about your order? Looking for alternate products? Our team is always happy to assist! Contact customer service at info@stovercompany.com or 724.274.6314 or check out our FAQ page! 

As summer winds down, it’s important to remember that warm temperatures still pose a risk for chocolate, caramel & coating products in transit. That’s why we always highly recommend adding our Protective Cold Packaging to your orders year round! 

Insulation & Ice Packs:

Our cold packaging add-on includes insulated panels & ice packs to help create a cooler environment during transit. While these added reinforcements helps provide the best chance for your order to arrive unmelted, it’s important to remember that cold packaging is not a guarantee* against melting. Once your package leaves our facility, it may be exposed to conditions beyond our control, such as high temperatures, carrier delays & extended transit times.

That’s why we offer cold packaging year round — to help protect sensitive products like chocolate, caramel & coatings from temperature swings in transit. If the ice packs arrive melted by the time your package arrives, rest assured knowing that they’ve already done their job by helping lower the internal temperature of your package during shipment!

*Please note: Stover & Company does not offer refunds or replacements for products that melt during shipping, with or without cold packaging. Please consider this carefully before placing your order.

How much do I need?

Our system automatically calculates the appropriate amount of cold packaging needed based on the total weight of chocolate & caramel products in your shopping cart, so there’s no guesswork required! 

Plan ahead for Delivery Days: 

Once your package leaves our facility, it may be exposed to extreme conditions we can’t control, including temperatures over 100°F in some shipping facilities. Please note, our cold packaging add-on is designed to handle temperatures between 80–90°F for up to 72 hours, but after that, the risk of melting increases significantly.

To help keep your order in the best condition possible:

• Select Express Shipping to reduce time in transit 
• Be ready to bring your package inside immediately
• Store it in a cool, temperature controlled environment
• Avoid leaving it outside or in direct sunlight

What If My Chocolate Melts in Transit?

The good news — melted compounds & chocolate are still perfectly usable! Even if your chocolate arrives soft, misshapen or fully melted, it hasn’t gone bad. Most compound products are not perishable, so a little heat doesn’t spoil them, it simply changes their form. While your order may arrive soft, stuck together, or misshapen, it’s still completely safe to use & will perform just as intended once remelted.

If your chocolate does melt in transit, here’s what we always recommend:

We’re Here to Help:

Questions about your order? Looking for bulk chocolate solutions? Our team is always happy to assist! Contact us at info@stovercompany.com or 724.274.6314.

*Please note: Stover & Company does not offer refunds or replacements for products that melt during shipping, with or without cold packaging. Please consider this carefully before placing your order.