What Does It Take To Bring a Small Chocolate Snack To a Large Market?

About the Episode

Building a specialty snack bar company presents challenges and opportunities. Katarzyna Bosne talks about the lessons she has learned in starting and scaling a business producing all-natural nutrition bars made with vegan, no-preservative ingredients. She discusses manufacturing handmade products in-house, the costs and challenges of shipping products that are refrigerated directly to consumers, the distribution channels, and working with DTC and retail sales to bring healthy, delicious snacks to the marketplace.

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“When growing and scaling a business, focus on what you do the best, concentrate on quality, and learn from mistakes. The key is to learn – if you think you know the best, you are limiting yourself – you are not growing.”

Kataryzna Bosne

In this Episode

4:08 Where does Rawmantic Chocolate source its cacao and cocoa?
6:36 How many SKUs does Rawmantic Chocolate have in its line?
11:45 How are chocolate bars preserved without using preservatives?
13:10 How does having refrigerated products and working with the cold chain impact the timing of production and distribution of the final products?
14:30 Where are Rawmantic Chocolates sold? What is the target market?
16:18 What hurdles existed in starting the business and getting it off the ground?
18:03 Does Rawmantic Chocolate manufacture in-house or use co-packers? What is the manufacturing process?
19:35 What was the sales and marketing strategy when Rawmantic Chocolate launched?
21:15 How are the products sweetened, and what challenges does this present?
24:15 What’s the biggest challenge with direct-to-consumer sales?
26:50 How is it working with retailers? How difficult is it to get refrigerated space with retailers?
28:46 How hard is it to break into a distribution channel?
31:15 What has been the most challenging aspect of trying to grow and scale the business?
35:35 What’s the most important lesson Kataryzna learned in starting and growing the business?
37:00 What is the most difficult aspect of running a business in the protein bar space?

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Resources Mentioned in This Episode

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Acronyms or Terms Used in This Episode

  • SKU: stock-keeping unit
  • DTC: direct-to-consumer

Meet Our Guest

Katarzyna Bosne

Katarzyna Bosne

CEO and Founder of Rawmantic Chocolate | New York, USA

Kataryzna is the CEO and founder of Rawmantic Chocolate, a 100% women-owned small business. She spent 25 years in the high-fashion industry, dressing top celebrities, musicians, and royal family members for red-carpet events, galas, and TV appearances. Rawmantic Chocolate was launched when Kataryzna started producing healthy snacks for her clients while simultaneously running her full-time fashion business. It was a perfect environment to introduce the snacks and test the recipes. After two years, she decided to take a leap of faith and exited the fashion world for good to focus full-time on building Rawmantic Chocolate.

Kataryzna holds a bachelor’s degree focused on International Business, Trade, and Commerce from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and she is a certified raw vegan chef and Health Educator from Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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