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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\u2019 Kuh-Kow) runs a company that makes \u201ctwelve chocolaty bites of paradise\u201d. 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\u2019s 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\u2019 markets, still a big source of revenue for the company, it didn\u2019t 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.\n\n"Masoni and Marshall the meaningful Marketplace" with your hosts Sarah Masoni and Sarah Marshall\n\nWe record the "the Meaningful Marketplace" inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.\n\nAudio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil\n\nShow logo was designed by Anton Kimball of Kimball Design\n\nWebsite was designed by Cameron Grimes\n\nProduction assistant is Chelsea Lancaster\n\n10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes