Harlem Chocolate Factory: How They Get the Essence of Harlem in Every Bite

Harlem Chocolate Factory is an artisan chocolate company where we convey the various cultural experiences of Harlem through our chocolate products. We started with the names of iconic Harlem destinations and historical sites, such as Stivers' Row and the Pan-Pan diner and developed recipes that could tell the story. We are lovers of Harlem & Chocolate, sharing our love for Harlem & Chocolate. Our goal is bringing diverse voices to the forefront of the chocolate industry.     

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Transcript

Dondrill Glover: 0:02

Welcome to the NY NOW Podcast, a modern wholesale market for retailers and specialty buyers seeking diversity and discovery. Gathering twice a year in America's design capital, New York City. It's where buyers and designers on earth have refreshed and dedicated collection of eclectic lifestyle products.

Morgan Fowler: 0:21

Hi, listeners. My name is Morgan Fowler, program manager for Harlan park to park and a big thank you to New York now for inviting me to moderate for their our community. Your Voices Podcast Series, Harlan parks Park is a community based organization and our historic Harlem, New York City. We are a network of small business owners and entrepreneurs dedicated to the cultural preservation, economic and community development in Harlem. One of the programs I manage is our Harlem local venture program, an 11 month business accelerator program designed to help Harlem businesses producing locally made products succeed in our retail space. And this is where I met our guests today. I have the absolute pleasure of introducing you to our special guest, Jessica Spaulding, the founder and CEO of Harlem Chocolate Factory. Fascinatingly enough, Jessica grew up in an anti sugar home. But there was one exception to this rule, chocolate, high quality chocolate. Her mother knew the higher the quality of the chocolate, the lower the sugar, and the better the flavor. They would attend every chocolate show and learn about chocolate from around the world. But she always felt something was missing. She tempered her first batch of chocolate at 10 years old and dreamed of owning her own Chocolate Factory. Merging her passion for chocolate with her love of Harlem is an experience she now gets to share with the world. So please join me in welcoming Jessica.

Jessica Spaulding: 2:03

Hi. Oh my god, this is amazing. When you hear your your bio being read you like Oh, wow.

Morgan Fowler: 2:15

I know. And then when I when I read that you would attend chocolate shows. I was like, that's a fantasy. I can make a reality. I didn't even know that. It's a thing. It's a thing.

Jessica Spaulding: 2:31

Good. Good. Good.

Morgan Fowler: 2:33

So how are you doing?

Jessica Spaulding: 2:34

Doing? Well, I'm doing well. You know, we've gotten through 2020 we've gone we've gone I'm dipping my toe in 2021 I'll figure out how I feel about it. And in a few months. I'm gonna I'm gonna take it day by day. This is a new brand new relationship I have with this year.

Morgan Fowler: 2:51

Yes. Amen to that. Okay, so let's start some things. Let's start this off. Tell us about yourself and your journey to becoming a chocolate tier. What is that? What is the chocolate tier?

Jessica Spaulding: 3:06

Yeah, so I mean the chocolate tier is basically a a chef of chocolate you know and the person who understands chocolate although chocolate itself has it is one of the most difficult and complex ingredients on this planet. And while also being the one of the most difficult to to work with chocolate has a mind of is a very fickle fickle being so right. It needs the right temperature it is as much I'm as much a chef of chocolate as I am a scientist so it's one of those things that I get to form all all the nerd parts of myself. And all the months spent watching Bill Nye the Science Guy and Food Network at the same time. Yeah, I

Morgan Fowler: 3:57

know I think a lot of people when they think about chocolate they just think of it in like its sweet form or in cookies or brownies and desserts and cakes but like you can make mulay you know there are savory dishes you can make with chocolate. It's as you say is versatile. And why was chocolate okay in your household as opposed to anything else.

Jessica Spaulding: 4:21

So with my mom it was chocolate was a vice that she had and for me growing up I she was very very strict on it being health conscious, and making sure she conveyed what the difference between like snacking and then treating yourself and just because you are treating yourself doesn't mean you have to eat kind of what she would look at as like garbage foods and you know things with just absorbent amounts of sugar and things of that nature but with chocolate itself, and very, very high quality chocolate. You're not eating Adding a bunch of sugar, you're not you're not eating these things. So, you know, dark chocolate is the combination of the cacao solids and very minimal sugar and the cocoa butter. So there's so many experiences that go into that. And even when you get to melt chocolate, it's still you know, the thing that gives milk chocolate, its sweet flavors more than milk than the sugar. And, and for her that it was very important for her for me to understand that, as a child, I hated it. You know, I thought that had multiple, you know, she had a lot of kids. And it wasn't, it wasn't the same, it will pop tarts over there. And, you know, juicy juice and all of that, that in my house, we had maybe some orange juice. So I, I kind of clung to chocolate in the hopes of like, I always enjoyed cooking, but I'm like, if I get to work just with the sweets, mm hmm, then I can eat the things that I'm creating. And that's not how it worked out, she would allow me to have one piece of whatever I made, then the rest of them would have to be given out. So my neighbors loved us growing up, but it was one of those like, kind of child mentality, like, Oh, I'm gonna be able to eat chocolate and that wasn't the case. Wow.

Morgan Fowler: 6:25

And your mother? Did she make she made chocolate?

Jessica Spaulding: 6:28

No, she was a lover of chocolates, you okay? Okay. Now, there are certain people who love wines. And there are people who love you know, beers and cheeses and everything. And for her, it was basically chocolate. And so when she was like, Alright, you like playing with chocolate. And, you know, it's not a it's not a cheap hobby to get into as she was like, You know what, if you want to learn this, I'm going to take you to the best of the best. And that's how we started going into chocolate shows. And so she took me to the salon to shop law, which is the international show that started to come to New York, and it is where you can taste chocolate from around the world. It's where the dream started going. Attending those shows, what I would do is how they used to set up the show it would be by a country or region, you know, and you'd walk through the show and you kind of start in Europe. And you like maybe there'd be a table for like an Italian chocolates here. Okay, keep walking in. And then it'd be like a French and there'll be like, you know, 30 French companies. But then they'll be like, a British company. And then there, you know, you just go through Europe for whoever like was there to represent Europe, you keep walking and you you start to walk through Asia. And you see a company like I remember this company from they were from Mumbai. And they had a table and all of their truffles were were rolled in like different like curries, very tumeric, you know, tumor confused, kind of nauseous. And then there was like this, then you keep walking, there was this Japanese company. And I was I think I was about 10 or 11. And I had one of the one of the truffles and it was covered in macho, you know, it was called Green tea back then. Yeah, yes. And it was like this. I mean, it was the most perfectly cubed truffle that you could ever see in your life. And their, their, their packaging was like these perfect, like, rectangles that each truffle fit into, and it was like, everything was like regimented, and perfect. And then in the squares and everything, like the right angles, and I tasted the truffle and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. For me as an 11 year old who's like looking for like, just a quick, you know, sugar fix is such an odd flavor for me. But it was in one moment, the single most Japanese experience I ever had in my life up until that moment, right like, I you wouldn't have gotten me to eat sushi as a kid. Yeah, it wasn't a thing that I liked, but I love the fact that in that moment, I was like transported to Japan. And then as I started to go from table to table I started to understand that I was having cultural experiences it was as you know, the years went on and we went every single year and we had a local ones and like with mom and pop tables, and it was from there that I realized like Whoa, that was a where's my culture? Yes where it got planted it

Morgan Fowler: 9:51

Okay, and you walking through these spaces you having these very like said this very sensory cultural experience. What? What was it that you thought was missing that it was your culture?

Jessica Spaulding: 10:07

Yeah, it was just, it was just, you know, the the flavor profile that spoke to me, you know, there'd be people there and you would see them, they would they would jump out of their skin because they had, you know, like a piece of marzipan. And it's like, these were the experiences that brought them back to their childhoods. And I'm walking through, like, well, what a sweet potato palace I can think of, you know, like, while I'm here, like, this is this is, this is my family thing, like, you know, like me and my mom are doing this every year. She's, you know, working. My mother is a operating engineer. And it was like, she worked long, long, long hours. And it was me and her. And then eventually my little brothers, but for a long time, it was just me and her. And it was just like, us, and that was our thing. And so you start to see people having these experiences with food. And that is, that's the kind of foundation of it for me.

Morgan Fowler: 11:06

Beautiful. Jessica. Are you born and raised in Harlem?

Jessica Spaulding: 11:11

Yes, ma'am.

Morgan Fowler: 11:12

Okay, yes. So you are, you are a black woman born and raised in Harlem.

Jessica Spaulding: 11:19

Yep. Yep.

Morgan Fowler: 11:21

You opened your chocolate factory in Harlem. I mean, that in and of itself is a cultural stamp, you know, it's something to be celebrated. And then opened up your storefront and the historic the legendary strivers row in 2018. I mean, I have goosebumps right now. Like,

Jessica Spaulding: 11:45

no, though, the weight of that is the weight of that is not less than me, I remember I was on the I was on the bus, in Brooklyn, like, coming from a job that not that I was losing, or anything, you know, that I had done, but the business was just closing. And I was just like, you know, I've been thinking of chalk like wanting to do my chocolate shop and wanting to do it and wanted to, you know, kind of speak to my culture. And I was just so so so terrified to represent Harlem and feel like do I have I even earned the right like even I lived there my whole life, like, have I earned the right to do something. And I was like, You know what, I think if I always honor Harlem, rather than exploit it, then the people will know that this is something done for them. And, and for the community like I've done this for for all of us and there's somebody else thinks that they can do a better whatever, then they can open the Harlem chocolate company and you know, whatever. Yes, and I remember that started with three chocolate bars and a one was called the champagne on strivers row and then there was another one nickelsville berrio and then like the Ode to Pan Pan but the champagne Australia's rose the first bar I started with to to then find a location after going through the trenches to even get a location. It was like I was in shock when the space became available like no this is like yeah, like, like even sometimes I still have to pinch myself about how that came full circle that I literally started with strivers row. And like all of my initial business plan had pictures of strivers were all over it. And so to open strivers row was was amazing. Look at that manifestation.

Morgan Fowler: 13:38

Always. Yeah, that's amazing. So you opened up in strivers row. It's been said that your artisanal chocolate conveys the cultural experiences of Harlem I know you just mentioned you know the sweet potato pie that champagne and strivers. Oh bro, expand upon that a little bit for us.

Jessica Spaulding: 13:57

Yeah, so I mean, it's, it's super easy for me like, the The way I see it is I am taking what experiences I have had and infusing them either into our recipes, our packaging and and to the general experience of our business, right? Like, what does Harlem feel like? Like Harlem is still in Manhattan, there are people who believe that Harlem is its own separate Island, you know, when you when you leave, they don't understand that Harlem. Well, what makes it feel so different once you cross 100 and 10th Street. And so what we really tried to do is just embody that in either the way we operate into how we're doing things and even what things we're doing, you know, like we do have these kind of like signature truffles and signature pieces that speak specifically to you know, some parts of the African American experience but we definitely Harlem has its own kind of melting pot. And it's a very like, all around New York, each neighborhood is like, it's one culture in that neighborhood, in Harlem, from from block to block, you're I mean, it's it's dramatic, and how expansive the experiences kind of like all interweave with one another, you'll find people up here from the south, you'll find people from the Caribbean, Africa like and ever in the in the limitless amount of countries that there are and then you find this diasporic experience that I think sometimes we ourselves kind of take it for granted. So we are just trying to provide a platform that infuses those experiences with chocolate.

Morgan Fowler: 15:56

Oh, my gosh, she worded it so perfectly. This little diaspora right here in Upper Manhattan. And I'm glad you brought up the Diaspora because now I want to kind of ask you a little bit something differently. And one of our more recent meetings, we were discussing ways in which we could bring the black culinary world to light and shed light on not only in America, but throughout the African diaspora. And you had mentioned something in that meeting that I thought it was, well, something one I did not know. And to something that was, it's very important. And you had said that, you know, 60% of the world's cocoa beans can come from Ghana and Ivory Coast. But African farmers that harvest this crop, have very little to show for it. Can you speak a little bit more on that? And maybe, like, how does that influence you?

Unknown: 17:02

Yeah, I mean, well, it's like 60% comes from the back like that West African belt, and up to 80% of the beans come from the continent in general. And so when you start to understand that there are p, there are certain countries in which people who live within the country cannot purchase beans to start their own chocolate companies in their own country. It impacts you in a way that you realize, like, Alright, how do we build a company that doesn't take advantage of this already inequitable industry. And so for me, it was very, very important that I kind of joined that fight in whatever way that we could, if it was something where, for the initial part of our business before we could specifically make our chocolate ourselves, really researching the companies that we deal with, like, we have extraordinarily strict guidelines internally on how we purchase chocolate, and what companies we will deal with and which companies we won't. And if you do want to deal with us, even though we are these little, this little team, you know, there's there's not doing much I think building it in now and not having those compromises. Now, you can set us up to have a platform to really engage in in these conversations. I know for myself, I'm a recent member of the fine chocolate Industry Association and been working throughout COVID on a task force to address these inequities. And I also work with like three other programs, like the social justice association with the chocolate Association, it's a few other Institute's out of Harvard, all working on the social justice aspect of the chocolate industry, specifically starting with the fine chocolate industry, as the five chocolate industry kind of like sets the tone for what should is regarded as chocolate throughout the world. And, and so those things are important. They just wouldn't it would be like me, owning a fashion line, knowing people were enslaved with cotton. I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to sleep and even then parts of me that still like I pray and hope that each piece that I touch is not helping to support something that this is franchises. People that look like me, and even if they didn't look like me, I don't want to buy clothes from people who I wouldn't care if a person was purple. And I don't want I don't want I don't want anyone to experiences the wrongs and ills of trafficking and slavery and, and, and just the general taking advantage of, you know, like that it's just something that that sits right with me. And I've been fighting for things since I was a little kid trying to get on the school counselor, student councils, you know. You know, those are, those are aspects that I wanted to build in. And any time I'm given a platform, you go, and you go, I'm a Thomas dedicate five minutes of it to addressing this topic. Because I don't think people really understand, you know, you pick up a candy bar at the store, and you're just like, I'm excited, I'm okay. Then you start taking a second to really understand, like, Okay, wait, where did all this come from? How many people are hurt by this? Yeah, I second piece of joy. And I didn't want anyone to have that. Imagine how guilty you would feel if you knew that a child was sacrificed for your candy bar. And so I don't want anyone to experience that with us. And I don't want to help support that process. So I really, I mean, we in it for the long haul is a lot of it's a lot of meetings and a lot of zooms, but you actually go to Ghana, at the end of this year to start trying to work with some chocolate tears on the ground and join a few other programs. And, you know, we're not separate in our fight human decency. Is, is a is a global issue.

Morgan Fowler: 21:43

I'm really looking forward to this, you know, this awakening of the way in which we buy things, you know, I've noticed that a lot of people have on their website, like links to Transparent supply chain, you know, and it's important. I mean, you said it so wonderfully is important. You just can't buy blind anymore, not when we are so in tune with one another with social media, you know, we are globalization is real, it's happening. We're at the height of a. So thank you so much for sharing that. You've also mentioned scaling, and a desire to create opportunities and small town communities in upstate New York, what does that look like?

Jessica Spaulding: 22:33

So for us, when it when we started in it, things happen for us very, very, very quickly. I mean, it doesn't feel like it, when you're in it, it feels like oh, my God, we're never gonna grow. But we always knew there'd be a part where we'd have to address scale. And you can run the models all day. And what was happening was, we were realizing if we kept a production kitchen, specifically in Harlem, I mean, we would always have, you know, retail locations in Harlem. And that was always the goal to have as many as possible, what we would have to do is, each time we got a new retail location, we'd wind up having to build a kitchen because wholesale space, and I mean, like, manufacturing space is just way too expensive to ever have products that could ever compete in anyone's grocery store store, gift shop. Internet, it would matter. Yeah. So what, then it's also if we, if we, if we do that? Do we then have to have all automated machinery, because we can't afford to hire anyone? We're, you know, we're spending $48 a square foot how are we going to have any money to pay people and I believe in living wages. I was a person who lived in New York and had to be paid and and also like feed people and myself and then occasionally do things like take baths and buy food. Not having a living wages is a real thing. So I'm like, you know, how do we how do we do that? And how do we create the most impact? And so what we started to realize is that there were a lot of like small town communities in upstate New York that completely with with this kind of like deindustrialization have these vacant manufacturing manufacturing spaces and large manufacturing spaces that are vacant and people who are struggling to make ends meet and and having to accept like little to no hourly rate jobs, you know, where there may be catching five hours for the week in work and so we really That if we took a lower rent space in a smaller town community, we could have a larger impact on that community. And, and it's, it's probably going to be a model that that we stick with. And then the more products we create, we can now offer people higher paying jobs in the city, as as managers and and actual sales people, rather than, okay, you're going to have to make, you know, to two bones an hour, because we try to pay the rent. Now, you know, with this plethora of products that have been made, you know, in a place that now the money can go to the people rather than to cover the space. And, and it just made more sense for us. So that's what we're in the process of now.

Morgan Fowler: 25:57

Wonderful. I would love if we could go back again. And I'm sure our listeners would love to learn about your process and the need to tell a story through flavor. Tell us one of your favorite spices, or anything that you will trade with.

Unknown: 26:16

So my my favorite specific space to work with is when I was when I was making the the mango still burial bar. And that was the one that really kind of got into like that experiential part of what I was trying to convey with Harlow Chocolate Factory because I grew up like in lower Harlem, in between the East and the West side. Okay, and so that means what East Side Spanish Harlem had a lot of like programs and stuff I've worked on, you know, on the east side, grew up friends on the east side, 116th Street was a summertime experience. For me, you don't realize it's a cultural experience, but a mango on a stick cultural experience and when you went from different when you went from different parts of the chili that what you were offered changed as you went to different part depending on the country of origin of the person, like pushing the car. Yeah. And when I wanted to recreate that experience, I fell in love with the way that chili they audible like how that specifically interacts with mango. And with chocolate. So it became this thing when when you bit into the bar, you tasted the chocolate and you tasted the mango people be like, this isn't spicy at all. Like I don't even know how to convey you know, everybody with that initial two years of criticism like talent, I mean, a mango a chocolate like you just don't get it and then one piece and they're like, I can taste the mango in the chocolate but I don't taste the heat. Another piece I don't taste any heat. And then by that third piece, the way that chili the audible like the way that that flavor kind of unfolds and hits you Yeah, that it was like oh my god. Yeah, experience and so it was one of those it was, it was the one I had the most fun, right like trying to figure out how not to kind of kill people while also providing this kind of like fun and unique mouth experience. And having a balanced and so that was that's that's gonna still be the kind of like key to my heart there.

Morgan Fowler: 28:50

I love that. I love the way you built up that flavor profile. Yes. So well. That's That's amazing.

Jessica Spaulding: 28:59

Yeah, I mean, I again, I grew up eating chocolate from from from all over the world. And so you really get you have an experience when you eat chocolate whether you recognize it or not like we kind of distant I think more Americans kind of like desensitize themselves because we're we work so much that we don't get to have like, experiences of the things that we like. So we don't really experience them. We consume them and we kind of keep it moving because we got too much to do. Yeah, but when you have a second and you like really experienced things that was what I realized I'm like, Okay, let's build that in as the core of our business on the chocolate side because I didn't want it to be all experience and then you open up the bars like this is the nastiest chocolate I've ever had. But it was cute in his team fun. And that's not what I wanted at all because I've had that experience 1000s of times before Oh, the, you know, the table was beautiful when I went to the event and everything was beautiful. And then I opened the box, and by the second piece was disgusted. And so that's the one thing that we don't want to happen.

Morgan Fowler: 30:17

When it does not happen. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Absolutely. So Jessica, you're also a photographer. And I don't think that many people know this. But the images your chocolate is wrapped in, or photographs taken by you. Yeah. Let's talk about that. How do you select the photos? You know, the brand selection, your packaging? Tell us about that?

Jessica Spaulding: 30:43

Yeah. So the photography actually is, is built in in such a way. When I was in high school, I actually attended the Studio Museum of Harlem expanding the Wallace program. And it's a program that teaches you about Harlem and teaches you photography, through the lens of the Harlem Renaissance photographer James Vander Zee and James Van doozies wife actually gave me my first camera. Yes, is insane. And so in that program, you he specifically used to alter pictures, and that's how, like, I I kind of think of him as the first Photoshop. And he would like alter his pictures and customize them in such a way and play with color and play with all these things that really embellish photographs in in created a new way to experience photography. So I kind of kept that with me in my photography. And so when it comes to how we are selecting, like, what the images are, and how we're altering them, sometimes I may take in old, old old photo of Harlem and kind of like, re imagine it and re envision it, it's about that, that process, like how is someone going to experience this chocolate, like, that's, that's the end goal, I don't know, when they're not opening a pair of shoes, they're not, I don't want it to be that much of a disconnect, but something that's inviting, and also speaks to the the flavor and enhances the flavor, right? Like, if you open up, you know, and you or you get afraid of things that look ugly, like you're always surprised, you know, except if you are having a certain experience, right, you go to the south, and someone hands you a greasy brown paper bag, you actually know that that's about to be hidden, that's the fried fish. Because it's about the full experience and it has that look conveys a certain thing to, to the person who is knowledgeable. And so the the photography is about increasing the knowledge and increasingly experience. So that even if you have the knowledge, you still it enhances your chocolate experience. And if you and you if you don't have the knowledge, it's still enhancing your chocolate experience or just drawing you in, I wanted people to walk past the bars and be like, when I got to try that, because that's how that's how it used to happen to me, we would come away with with holes from these chocolate shows, we would have bags full. And it was about that, like, you know, like, oh, that box looks a little bit better than that box or that box, you know, maybe the table who it was cuter, we'd get more from and, and so that all these things kind of play their own role in that.

Morgan Fowler: 34:07

Absolutely. And I mean for everybody listening, the Harlem Chocolate Factory home chocolate factory is an experience, you know, you walk in and you can smell it. You see like, it's visually so beautiful, you know, between your rapping, and the truffles itself and then the taste of just like it's an it's a sensory overload almost, and I love the way that you've incorporated all of these different ways to really really so in Harlem in every piece of like fabric and texture in your store, it's it's amazing. Finally, we are reaching sort of the end, unfortunately. So Jessica, talk to us about your connection to Harley. Park to park, you were in our very first Harlem local vendor program cohort in 2015. I remember I was there, you stood out, you've done big thing. So give us a little taste of that.

Jessica Spaulding: 35:17

So what you what you don't know is that I did not have a business when I got into the Harlem Cohort. I had a plan, right, like, so here's the full like, true, quick version of that. I joined this business plan in December 2014, with the New York Public Library. And I, when I joined the business plan competition, I was gonna say I was basically I told you, I was like, had just basically lost my job, quote, unquote, the bit, you know, that business has shut down. And I was like, You know what, I'm going to be looking for a job for a little while. While I'm doing that. Let me just see if this business idea that I had tried to start in college, but it didn't really work out. Let's just see if we can, like flesh out the idea. I joined the business plan competition, join some business classes, and they were telling me about like, you know, the general, like you're building a business, try to find local programs that support and I had found Harlem park to park as I was trying to, like, garner support for this idea that I could get into the hot Bread Kitchen incubator program. Again, I had absolutely no products, I had these three bars that I was at home, like tinkering with every single day tinkering, Tinker, Tinker and tinkering, but I had absolutely no products. So I like, coercing everyone into believing that Harley's chocolate factory is real, don't really what would happen is for the business like class, he asked me to like if you believe in your business, by your buyer, your domain. And when I bought the domain, and I built this, like, very plain website, I had like a contact box. And then I went, and I started to get requests for products on that page with no business, right? Well, people were looking when I was doing the business plan, people were actively looking for chocolate in Harlem. So I started to have to build a business that was just for this, like, fake business, I was building for this business plan competition that in the business started forming kind of around me. And then I got into the Harlem park to park like, I got into Harlan park the park and I was like, Okay, and then wholefoods like reached out and was like, we think you'd be a great like candidate for this local vendor program to like help you build up like your, your cell sheets, not knowing that I had absolutely, like no business whatsoever. But I wind up winning this that business plan competition for $15,000 Oh, my God, literally, like four weeks later was that first local vendors program, we had to have that product. So when you met me and my eyes were like, at the bottom of my face, because I hadn't slept for two weeks, and trying to get prepared for like these, the tests for Whole Foods and everything. And then they were like, yeah, of course, you'll be in the first cohort like, you know, we had to do that like application to get in. Yeah, it was insane. And everyone thought that it was like a legitimate chocolate factory was a real business. And it was formed in the two weeks of me trying to get into the vendors program. And so it was it was just insane. And I had no way of fulfilling any of those orders. But we got them. And it was it was a it was a major, major change. And there were just so much information in that first six months. That helped us with, you know, just setting up the business. Correct, right, because it was for people who already had businesses but because I was still in the process of building mine. I could be like, simple things like oh, you need UPC, like oh, like okay, let me go. Let me let me figure out if I'm if I can even get it You know, these things done. And I was building it every week, while like, every time we had our next like vendor program, I was like, Alright, well, I'm gonna do that to figure out distribution, okay? Figure out distribution. This is like when I say it started in 2015, like I got my LLC in, like, November of that year. And like, remember like that first thing was in like September so I was in the back of those meetings like Alright, well, whatever's happening. Insane so I went into my, my first year of business with like, in my in my original packet like, okay, we already have orders from Whole Foods. And I think after that I like Sam Adams and Columbia. And just, I mean,

Morgan Fowler: 41:03

That's incredible. You couldn't have told me that back then at all, you know,

Jessica Spaulding: 41:09

very much look like my life was together. And that's the goal.

Morgan Fowler: 41:13

No, is it is the COA know the story?

Jessica Spaulding: 41:17

I don't know. Because it was just so much like, Oh, do you have this yet? Friday, give me till Friday. license and everything. Oh, you know what I need like two weeks. I think I put it in this envelope. And yeah. Cuz I really needed to get into hot bread to even make these products and I want like stalking them. And I was just like, I got into the vendors program. I need to be here to make these products. And they let me in because you were supposed to be in business already for like a year before you got into hot Bread Kitchen. And I had all of like, three days. So I was just like, please let me in. Please. That's not enough. Nicola knows, like the full story of like how little of a business I had at the time. But she will. Well she will now.

Morgan Fowler: 42:31

And Nicola Evans Hendricks is our executive director of home park to park so when you say Nicola Nicola, that's what we're talking about.

Jessica Spaulding: 42:42

Yeah, no, it was. So it was so, so insane. And you know, and she's so she's so fast paced. And so, like, we're getting this done and what has to happen? I'm like, I'm gonna meet all my deadlines. You know, if I have a deadline, it doesn't, it literally doesn't matter. Like, it's like, oh, you know, you gotta beat me on the moon by January 1. All right, even if it's December 31, I'm gonna start walking, you know, I'm gonna make sure it happens. Like that is the most important part of this process. And being a part of that program, it just let me know that there were there are so many opportunities for businesses that embrace the their, their cultural differences and embrace that aspect. The whole goal of the marketplace, is to provide consumers with options like, outside of, you know, me developing these things like these things. Those things are personal to me. Why should anyone get this over another bar that's on a shelf? Well, it's because you get to also have this experience with me. And I think it's a I realized why the business formed so rapidly about it around me, is because there really is a vacuum of that we're seeing, you know, things get in sucked up into now. But there's a vacuum of culturally diverse product offerings, like, there's only so many times you can eat the same thing. And now people having to be home that I right, like, Yeah, I know, I like that. But I want to try something new. And these are experiences that people want to have. And we do a disservice to the consumer, by not allowing them to make the decisions on on what options they want available. Like maybe they don't always want to buy the same thing. Yes. Maybe they're willing to spend an extra dollar on something That has been handmade or has had a hand in the process that machines haven't done it from start to finish. You know, those those are, it's very important that that gets respected because that aspect that I was so like, I was like, Alright, anybody gonna want this? Crazy? It literally, I mean, I think I brought the domain in April of 2015. By November is when we were having our initial talks with Whole Foods, like, you know,

Morgan Fowler: 45:38

come on, let's do it all.

Jessica Spaulding: 45:41

And it wasn't because it's not because I'm some like, I have some type of outrageous connections or whatever. I mean, I am absolutely insane. And, and I stayed on everyone. And I was just like, Alright, you need me at the event. I'll be there early. And, you know, I'm not I'm not afraid of any kind of amount of hard work. But it wasn't, it wasn't something that was like, oh, somebody's like, Alright, I'm gonna make this phone call for you. I didn't have anybody who could do that. So, you know, it just shows you that consumers are looking for it. And, and they like it. And definitely this company built itself? No, definitely. And I chimed in and out and I have to definitely acknowledge my business partner. I should, I should I called I should that that right when I got off the bus when I was initially talking about starting this business, because I realized I'd never be able to do that mountain list of things by myself. And that was another very, very, very important way and reason, we were able to do things so rapidly, because it wasn't just me. Yes, no,

Morgan Fowler: 46:55

you can't, you know, you can't do this work on your own. And just to put into context, this Harlem local vendor program, Columbia University and Whole Foods Market helped us create this program. So they are our partners, they help, they have been just so supportive and have provided so many resources, so many opportunities to us. But, you know, I do want to talk about this, I want to talk about partnership, and how important it is, in the world of being an entrepreneur, you know, like, I have a really tough time with the self made, you know, kind of thing because it takes a village to lift up everyone. And just the way in which Harlem park to park, Harlem local venture program, Columbia Whole Foods Market, you know, we have all come together to make so much happen and Nicola talks about it all the time, and it to go even, you know, back to you saying that, when you started, you didn't have a business plan. It's the it's the life of an entrepreneur. You know, I think I came in to help market target like 21 I didn't know anything, you know, but I've seen people you just learn as you go, you just have to do it. And if you know you do it, you ask for the help. And you're just steadfast and what you want. Beautiful Things happen. And beautiful things have happened for you. And I you know, again, you started in 2015. Three years later, you had a storefront. I mean, I was like, Whoa, you know, storefront in New York City. Like, what in the world, it's, it's, it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. And I'm so happy that we can be a part of this journey with you. And you know, we continue to be a part of this journey with you. And it's just like, this is such a fulfilling moment. For me. It's come full circle come full circle moment. It's absolutely beautiful. So what is next on your agenda for 2021 2021

Unknown: 49:11

is the year of the scale. We, at the end of the year, we made it to Oprah's favorite things 2020 that was a definite game changer. We've made it so many gift lists. This year. It was absolutely insane. We were on about 15 or 20 different BuzzFeed lists and Christie's Hagen's Gift Guide. The grieux so many so many different lists of people 17 Okay. But yeah, it was the, it's the year that really, like, we worked, we worked 2020 like, we was like, you know, we're not gonna, we won't go down, we're not going down without a fight. And so 2021 is just about like, all right, clearly, whether we want it to or not, this business wants to survive. And so we are in the process of putting that scale idea into practice. And no, I just want as many people to experience Harlem Chocolate Factory as as possible. And I want it to really, I want it to serve and show as an example of what happens when diversity isn't token, nor ignored. And how powerful it can be that people have the right to choices. And I need to make myself available to those to supply those choices. And so that's gonna take a whole different set of work, but we willing to do it. And we're making it happen.

Morgan Fowler: 51:27

Well, Jessica, we're here with you, these listeners are here with you. And for my final question, if listeners want to connect with you, how can they reach you?

Jessica Spaulding: 51:38

Right? The easiest, easiest, easiest way is through our website, Chocolate Factory calm, we're on Instagram as the Harlem Chocolate Factory, I am going to be adding more insights on our Twitter at Harlem choco fact, I think that that is a great place and also Facebook, Harlem Chocolate Factory. You know, where on all the social medias. And there and I just definitely want to support even more, you know, entrepreneurs in and going for what they've done. I've talked to so many people who are just waiting for things to kind of like, come together and not seeing that. They may already have an opportunity in front of them. And so you just have to work it and you don't need an outrageous amount of money to make it happen. And yes, so you can reach out to me. And I'm always on this phone. I got two of them.

Morgan Fowler: 52:47

Okay, I'm sure. Sure. And it's at Harlem chalk factory on Instagram, too.

Jessica Spaulding: 52:54

Yep. That Harlem Chocolate Factory. Yeah. Chocolate Factory just type chocolate is only one. It's only one. Only one thing? Yes.

Morgan Fowler: 53:08

Oh, my goodness. Jessica, it's been such a pleasure to

Jessica Spaulding: 53:14

great yes to talk about that vendor program in so many years. Like, that was such a wild ride for three months, like always on the edge of my seat, like, hoping and praying like, okay, please don't order too much like people ordering. It took me like all day to like, make 1030 bars and then people are like, Okay, well, can I get 90? I'm like challenged once a week?

Morgan Fowler: 53:43

Well, you You rose to the challenge. I mean, you're a force to be reckoned with. And when you speak, you speak with like just about the most important things with such conviction and people listen to you. And thank you for letting me moderate this discussion and letting me be here, of course, no, thank you. So we are going to wrap this up. I want to thank Donald Glover, another Harlem local venture program alumni and the producer of this podcast. And thank you New York now for sharing our voices with your community. And thank you, Jessica, so so much.

Jessica Spaulding: 54:25

Oh, thank you, this was so much fun

Dondrill Glover: 54:29

Thank you for listening to the New York now podcast. Make sure to tune in weekly for engaging and insightful conversations, touching on the most relevant topics facing our community today. Is it New York now.com to learn more about our market, and how you can join in on the conversation