VIDEO: Askinosie Chocolate reveals business recipe

For former criminal defense attorney Shawn Askinosie, the pursuit of a new career began with a commitment to prayer.

That’s the start of his story in the Department of Economic Development’s latest Spotlight on Missouri Business.

The successful criminal attorney is now passionate about organic cocoa beans and organic sugar for his small-batch, single-origin chocolate factory, but he’s also cognizant of the impact his business model is having in communities near and far.

“It’s not just about the chocolate. It’s about much more than that,” Askinosie says in the 3-minute clip. “It’s about feeding children in impoverished communities where we buy cocoa beans. It’s about engaging the kids of our neighborhood.”

For instance, he pays farmers fair wages directly and influences how the beans are harvested. He also started Chocolate University in partnership with Drury University to give high school upperclassmen a chance to learn the trade first-hand.

The chocolate factory on Commercial Street is now exporting to Scandinavia, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia, he says.

“I could do this, possibly, with something else besides chocolate, but I don’t know what would fit so perfectly, that would make people happy and that would also engage young people and engage communities,” he says. “It’s really the perfect recipe, if you will, for the kind of business we run.”

Askinosie this month was named the 2013 Humanitarian of the Year by Community Foundation of the Ozarks, and he just returned from Davao, Philippines, where Askinosie shared profits with farmers, visited a school supported by the company’s sustainable lunch program and conducted roasting tests with the farmers. While Davao was not hard hit by the super typhoon, the farmers collectively decided to donate 10 percent of their earnings to relief efforts for victims.

The company also just released limited edition holiday bars: pumpkin spice white chocolate and Gingerbread dark chocolate.

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