Interview with Linus Gorpe.

“Quality is everything! Without the quality at the very start, you can’t improve any further.”

Established in 2006, The Raw Chocolate Company not only makes a feel-good product, they also strive for positive social change. We caught up with Founder, Linus Gorpe, to discover what drives this unwavering commitment to high-quality, ethically-sourced ingredients.

1. What inpsired you to start The Raw Chocolate Company?
I wanted to eat chocolate that tasted great and made me feel good after having eaten it.

You see, I’ve always loved chocolate. When my son was younger, I made sweet treats for him with nuts and seeds and dried fruits. They were ok, but they were better coated in chocolate! But then the chocolate wasn’t that great – highly processed and lots of sugar. I’d heard that chocolate could be amazing, full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and so much more… I’d heard it called ‘the food of the gods’. A friend introduced me to raw chocolate and it was awful. I thought… there must be a way of making this better, of making it taste nice without compromising the nutritional qualities.

So I read, asked for help, trained, learnt and converted my kitchen into a mini chocolate laboratory. Then my bedroom. Then another bedroom. Pretty soon the whole of my house was alive with raw chocolate and we’d cracked it — raw chocolate that tasted and had a mouth feel like regular high sugar chocolate.

2. What values are you most proud of regarding The Raw Chocolate Company?
We don’t compromise and we’re always trying to improve. We’re vegan, paleo, vegetarian, kosher, fairtrade, organic, gluten free, soy free, refined sugar free, outstandingly and award winningly tasty, great for tummies, great for growers and great for the environment. We are working towards introducing fully biodegradable packaging as an upgrade to our current packaging. We’re self taught and constantly learning and supporting each other in a fantastically stimulating way. It’s wonderful ☺

3. What aspect of your brand’s identity is the most important to you?
Quality ingredients. Because it is everything! Without the quality at the very start you can’t improve any further. We spent nearly 5 years trying to find the perfect goji berries for our raw chocolate gojis. They had to be organic of course, but also tasty and juicy too. We took our time, made demands and got there in the end. If the quality isn’t good enough from the start, we just won’t bother. We get ideas all the time for new products, but most of them don’t make it to market as we can’t get a long term sustainable source of high enough quality ingredients.

4. Describe the feeling you hope that your product stimulates for your customers.
Love, joy, freedom and flight.

5. Do you have a secret, bold, and wonderful vision for your brand that you would like to see become reality?
We’d like to be an ethically and economically prosperous business that others are inspired to emulate for everyone’s benefit.

6. What are the most exciting features of digital culture to you?
The instant contact and interaction we can have with customers, stores and suppliers alike... Having said that it is also more important than ever to switch off and get outside as much as possible — it helps if you have some chocolate with you too!

7. Describe what epitomises feel-good for you?
Hahahah too easy… nature and chocolate!

Fancy some guilt-free indulgence? Discover The Raw Chocolate Company.