2017 W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award: Askinosie Chocolate LLC

Askinosie Chocolate LLC easily can be spotted at 514 E. Commercial St. Through its large, front windows, chocolate-making machinery and delectable-looking products seem to tempt passersby.

Window shoppers aren’t the only ones taking notice. The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce May 3 named the factory its 2017 W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award winner.

Behind the Springfield business, which has appeared on the pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal – audiences for Bloomberg and MSNBC, too – is an interesting history that dates back to 2005.

Askinosie Chocolate began after a well-known lawyer, who had made a name for himself in 20 years of criminal defense, gave up his days in the courtroom.

“I loved the law, I loved criminal law, specifically, but I was just ready for a change of career,” founding CEO Shawn Askinosie said.

Askinosie believes many are faced with a change of heart when it comes to their careers.

It was a long, five-year process that led Askinosie toward becoming a renowned chocolatier, but “the short answer is prayer,” Askinosie said.

Tasteful hobby
Askinosie turned to hobbies in the days leading up to his big idea, and most of them involved cuisine. Grilling and baking had nothing to do with law, but Askinosie found people enjoyed his food. Soon, he was giving chocolate dessert-making a go.

“I had this idea to make chocolate from scratch, but I didn’t know what that meant,” Askinosie said.

With that, he put his researching skills as a lawyer to the test, and within three months of coming up with the idea, Askinosie was in the Amazon, learning how cocoa farmers influence the flavor of chocolate by how it’s harvested.

“It all sort of began to fall from there,” he said.

A big challenge for Askinosie was learning how to run a company. He had never been to business school.

“Creating food in your kitchen is much different than manufacturing products,” Askinosie said, noting he got help from business and financial advisers before he started producing.

But when he bought a 6,000-pound, 100-year-old mixer from Germany, the business seemed to be a done deal.

“I knew there was no turning back,” he said.

After all, the only place it could go was in a factory.

Solving problems
For a long time, most chocolatiering took place in Europe.

“And they weren’t talking,” Askinosie said. “For centuries, it’s been a very secretive process.”

And for those wondering if Askinosie goes on trips as exotic as Roald Dahl’s tales of Willy Wonka, the answer is yes – well, almost. Every year, Askinosie travels to the Philippines, Ecuador and Tanzania for direct trade with farmers to purchase their cocoa beans.

In the Philippines, many of the farmers Askinosie works with speak English, so he doesn’t face many language barriers there. In Tanzania, however, where the language is Swahili, Askinosie needs the help of a translator, who also takes part in shipping and logistics.

And even though Askinosie doesn’t speak much Spanish, he has a special relationship with an Ecuadorian farmer he’s worked with for roughly 10 years. Askinosie has been to the farmer’s house and has met all his children, he said. He’s formed a friendship with a man with whom he can’t completely communicate.

Not all relationships with farmers have been good, though. Askinosie remembers losing thousands of dollars to a farming group in Venezuela during the company’s first year of operation.

“I still can’t believe I did this,” Askinosie said. “I paid the farmer group all of the money for cocoa beans before I really had a good sense of whether or not they would ship them to me.”

Over a period of six months, Askinosie wired money to a farmer who didn’t send one cocoa bean in exchange.

“I lost $30,000, and that was really hard,” Askinosie said. “I ended up letting go of that emotionally, though, pretty quickly, because it was my mistake to learn from.”

Askinosie said this mistake, and many others, needed to happen for the business to find success.

Askinosie Chocolate was recently named among the 25 Best Small Companies in America, by Forbes Magazine, which lists its annual revenues at $2 million.

Askinosie prides itself on being a small-batch, bean to bar factory.

Outside of the standard white to dark chocolate bars, that sell for $8-$14, the company produces limited edition and collaboration lines. For instance, its 1098 line of chocolates are released a few times a year but only in quantities of 1,098. Currently, it’s a “dirty” white chocolate with vintage cocoa gravel sold in pouches sewed by local Trappist monks of the Cistercian Order founded in 1908.

Chocolate-tasting kits, s’more bark and chocolate-covered malt balls are sold online, and Askinosie reportedly was the first chocolate factory in the United States to produce cocoa butter, a step toward creating solid chocolate. Take that, Wonka.

The business isn’t all about its products, however. It has contributed to the community, too.

Soon after the factory began to churn out chocolate, Askinosie began researching ways to involve the city of Springfield. One of those was through students, and Askinosie created Chocolate University. The experiential learning program has a worldwide reach for local students with the intention of inspiring them to think globally and embrace the idea that businesses can solve world problems.

“The experience for these young people can be transformative,” Askinosie said, recalling what one student said after joining Askinosie Chocolate on a trip to Tanzania. “She said, ‘Tanzania does not need me as much as I need Tanzania.’ And I thought, yes, she gets it.”

New origins
This year, Askinosie plans to add a new origin to its list of countries and cocoa bean farmers – but he’s not saying where just yet.

“This new origin that we’re bringing on is also led by a woman, so I am excited about that,” Askinosie said. “There’s another layer of desire that we have which is to support women entrepreneurs in the world.”

Askinosie said hiring female farmers could have a catalytic effect for women across the globe.

And later this year, on Nov. 14, Askinosie will release a book published by Penguin Random House. Titled “Meaningful Work: A Quest to do Great Business, Find your Calling and Feed your Soul,” it chronicles the process of building Askinosie Chocolate and creating a work life that is fulfilling. He also has plans to launch a blog.

“I think that we’ll have an audience,” Askinosie said. “We have a lot of people around the world that are both supporters of our chocolate and our story.”