Techstars Startup Week Seattle 2018

First, it was coffee. Then, micro brewers and their small batch beers. Now is the time for craft chocolate. Is this space within a titanic industry ready to go mainstream? How are the incorporating innovation in their companies? How are they managing pricing to be able to compete with cheap candy confections? How does uniformity affect their outcomes? What challenges are makers facing and how are they managing growth?

The fascinating story of craft chocolate has gone through many elements: makers changing careers entirely to devote themselves to chocolate crafting, adventurous travels to remote areas in the tropics
to find the best beans to make their chocolate, establishing relationship with farmers and embracing advocacy to support them, working with repurposed machinery and fashioning new systems to craft
more efficiently, coming up with compelling packaging, and finding ways to retail products that, for many, are completely new to their palates, even though chocolate has been a staple for years. However, there's an unparallel opportunity for innovation and growth, and our expert and esteemed panelists will share their experiences within the industry and talk about the opportunities they see are most exciting right now.