Our guest's chocolate candies were recently awarded best chocolate candy at the Oregon Chocolate Festival in Ashland Oregon, now that's something to celebrate! Michele Davis, President and CEO of Cocacao, (pronounced Ko’ Kuh-Kow) runs a company that makes “twelve chocolaty bites of paradise”. They are confections but not chocolate, as the treats do not have the coco butter to meet the true defintion of chocoalate, that's why they are called chocolate candies. Their base is only three organic ingredients and the consumer enjoys a milk chocolate extravaganza without the dairy. The reason is a typical one: Jeff Davis, Co-Founder and husband of Michele, had severe dietary restrictionsu and loved sweets. Jeff experimented scientifically for years to find a chocolate treat he could eat. Upon meeting and marrying Michele, the couple both desired to start a company and sell the treasures Jeff had invented. Each piece is packaged individually in a twelve-piece box and that packaging strategy has been a five-year journey, according to Michele. With humble beginnings in a farmer’s market, the company sold a plain white box of treats in individual baggies. They then moved up to a box that held twelve pieces, but in warm weather did not travel well (think melty mess by the time people got them home). Moving up the food chain (pardon the pun) they moved to a quarter pound bar that sold for ten dollars. The bar was retailed by our sponsor, Market of Choice and sold well. However at the farmers’ markets, still a big source of revenue for the company, it didn’t allow for sampling before buying the expensive bar which was a huge incentive, so it was back to the packaging drawing board. They completely re-branded and went to the pre-portioned treats of all their flavors in an attractive box and focused completely on retail locations and wholesale distribution. They also sell online, but retail is by far the bulk of the sales. The packaging is exquisite; check out their website.
"Masoni and Marshall the meaningful Marketplace" with your hosts Sarah Masoni and Sarah Marshall
We record the "the Meaningful Marketplace" inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.
Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil
Show logo was designed by Anton Kimball of Kimball Design
Website was designed by Cameron Grimes
Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster
10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes
Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast.
Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon.
Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House
Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers
Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design
Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky
