The Best Hand-crafted Bean-to-bar Chocolate - Hello Chocolate

Team Subkit -

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food & beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Dima Minkov, Co-Founder of Hello Chocolate, located in Charlotte, NC, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Hello, Chocolate offers a better way to buy sustainably-made craft bean-to-bar chocolate made by the best independent chocolate makers worldwide. For a long time, we were trying to find a short and simple definition for our Chocolate that could serve as a conversation opener.

And "chocolate without crap in it" is probably it. But, of course, there's more. To craft bean-to-bar Chocolate, our makers start with organic cacao beans - in other words, the beans are farmed organically. Then, once the beans are harvested, fermented, and dried and start the chocolate-making process, they don't add anything foreign or remove anything from the Chocolate. This is bean-to-bar Chocolate.

In addition to offering unique products, we also provide a unique gifting experience delivering chocolate gifts "that never collect dust" to the United States, Canada, and Asia-Pacific. Our customer base is people who can be characterized as educated consumers. They are people who care about what they eat, wear, read and watch. They care about building a connection with the source and makers.

They also care about their consumption habits' long-lasting environmental and socio-economic effects. Our customers go for quality over quantity and don't mind spending more money to achieve this.

Tell us about yourself

I am from Ukraine, but my entrepreneurial journey started in 2012 in Singapore, where I was an employee of one of the most important financial institutions. There were two factors that encouraged my decision to start my entrepreneurial career: an existing customer problem and a lot of romantic naivety.

The problem was I couldn't find my favourite Chocolate on the shelves of Singaporean supermarkets. That is how I ended up representing one major confectionary corporation in the Asia-Pacific region. And something even more magical happened later. I opened for myself a fantastic emerging world of craft bean-to-bar chocolate.

The first time I tried a bar of Chocolate made directly from high-quality Vietnamese beans by two French guys in Ho Chi Minh City, I decided that this was what I wanted to do - to bring "the good chocolate news" to as many people from around the world as possible. That is how Hello Chocolate was born in April 2015. This is what still motivates me in my everyday life.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment at the moment is the fact that Hello Chocolate was the first company that started to bring the best examples of craft bean-to-bar chocolate from around the world to Singapore and Asia. It is never easy to create something entirely new.

But now we are proud that we managed to make it. Now Hello Chocolate is a well-recognized brand in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Australia, and in 2021 we launched our operations in America, covering the USA and Canada.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The hardest thing in launching and running a business is a high level of uncertainty and the necessity to wear many different hats. Or as Winston Churchill once said: 'Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm' It sounds great, but it's not easy.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Start with a vision. Paint for yourself a bigger picture of what you are trying to achieve.
  2. Be prepared for things going wrong. Especially your plans and assumptions. Be ready to learn and be prepared to change.
  3. Be prepared to play long. Growing a business, it's like growing a tree. It takes time.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://hellochocolate.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellochocolateshop
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellochocolateshop/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.