Springfield Chocolate Maker Goes Global

Shawn Askinosie ditched a 20-year career as a criminal defense attorney to make chocolate.

Through baking, Askinosie became interested in how chocolate was made. He learned all he could about the craft, and traveled to Central and South America to study post-harvesting techniques and to find out more about how cacao beans are produced.

Askinosie Chocolate brought its first batch to the market in May. The bars sell for $7.50 to $8 each and are sold in 70 stores across 30 states.

“Sales are growing every month, and in some cases doubling every month,” he said. “In October, we reached our first month of positive cash flow.”

His journey from litigator to chocolate maker has been successful, evidenced by the fact that Askinosie recently shipped an order of chocolate to Sweden. This is a bit of a coup for an American chocolate maker, as fancy chocolate has historically been the domain of Europeans.

An integral part of the business is profit sharing with the farmers in Mexico and Ecuador who grow the cacao beans. Askinosie recently traveled to the remote villages that are the source of his raw material to share 10 percent of the company’s revenue with the farmers.

Tours of the company’s Commercial Street factory and storefront generate revenue for a program called Chocolate University, which teaches underprivileged children firsthand about chocolate making and global commerce.