I have to admit, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and like things that are really good. Have you ever had one of those experience when you've tasted or experienced something that wasn't quite as good as you thought it could be? Have you ever thought you could make something better? Building a better mousetrap is one way to start a business and lots of successful entrepreneurs get their ideas and inspiration from having a bad taste in their mouth. From my experience this is how I started a corporate gift basket business, I didn't like gift baskets and saw that they were super wasteful. Gary Erickson got the idea for starting Cliff Bar while trying to stomach Power Bars on a 200 mile bicycle ride, seeing an opportunity for tasty energy bars. Tiz and Tara from Zazubean Organic Chocolate have a similar story, while on a cycling trip with friends seeing an opportunity to improve the chocolate bar industry.
Top 3 Reasons Zazubean is All Good
1. Carbon Footprint - cocoa beans come from Central and South America. The vast majority of them get shipped to the major chocolate houses of the old world (cross Atlantic trip number one) where they get turned into chocolate couverture which get shipped around the world (cross Atlantic trip number two) and used by chocolatiers to make chocolate truffles and other tasty treats. Zazubean works with North America's only certified organic fair trade bean to bar chocolate factory, hence the chocolate used in Zazubean bars travelled direct to the Pacific Northwest and played hooky from 2 cross Atlantic trips.
2. It's my medicine! - Zazubean chocolates are paired with various herbs that have medicinal and therepudic value. The Lunatic Bar (aka the Women's monthly maddness bar) for example is paired with Dong Quai root and Chaste tree berry, two Chinese medicinal herbs used to alieve menstral cramps.
3. Fair Trade helps poor farmers in the South get paid fair prices for the crops that they grow. Although there is debate around the value of Fair Trade certification, some even questioning the value of it in theory, fairly traded products can put cash directly into the hands and communities of the farmers working to produce the goods we demand every day. Fair trade can shrink the gap between rich and poor by eliminating uneccessary middle men, helping to build hospitals and schools in rural communities in the developing world.
Where's my main squeeze?
I'm a big fan of Zazubean's newest chocolate bar, Squeeze, which combines orange and ginger. I likey, it's juicy and got some quenching punch! Besides making tasty chocolate bars Zazubean's got a fun vibe, coming up with line's like "Save Earth! It's the only one with chocolate!" and have great photos for their different bars. The Nutbar was another new product in 2009, a tasty combination of almonds, coconut and lavender, features legendary Vancouver surfing yogi Eoin Finn. I ever popped my modelling cherry as the Zing bar guy having my hair straightened for the first time was an experience I'm not exactly looking for again but was pretty fun looking back at.
I'm always on the look out for amazing new products to add to our gift baskets. Checking out specialty shops, farmers markets, doing internet research to name a few, looking for the best delicious, locally sourced, organic and fair trade products. Gourmet foods, snacks, spa and body care products, coffee, tea, and of coursemany people's favorite, chocolate. There are days when something unexpected shows up, a package that wasn't ordered, someone sending me something to check out. This past spring I received one such package, from Sara Redpath of Sarandipity, a local chocolatier in Ladysmith, BC on Vancouver Island, filled with samples of her organic and fair trade chocolate creations. Another day at the office!
