Chocolate Lovers Dream with Alexandra Clark, Founder and CEO of Bon Bon Bon

Description: Joining the show today is Alexandra Clark, the Founder and CEO of Bon Bon Bon, a chocolate company, reinventing bon bons. Alex talked about how a raspberry truffle during a visit in Europe changed her life and inspired her to use chocolate as an art medium, why she created her own manufacturing, starting with a 650 square-foot space in the back room of a diner, and why she advises entrepreneurs to prepare for best case scenarios. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:Give the gift of the world’s most beautiful spice rack and get 15% off by using the promo code STAIRWAY15 at www.evermill.comGet 20% off luxury fitness equipment that you won’t want to hide in your closet by using the promo code STAIRWAY20 at www.equiptmovement.comIn This Episode You’ll Hear About:(5:40) More about BonBonBon, a chocolate company reinventing bon bons, their packaging, and the experience of eating and enjoying chocolate. (10:00) What it was like growing up outside of Detroit, growing up being adventurous, with a natural internal commitment to things(15:30) Her first job working at an ice cream shop, and how she fell in love with food and customer service and ending up at Michigan State for a dairy science program(24:00) How traveling throughout Europe led her to fall in love with chocolate and eventually inspire her to create Bon Bon Bon(32:00) How she ended up buying her own factory to create the best chocolate and the best level for the tasting experience(37:00) Her advice for preparing for best-case scenarios, and thinking through what you’re going to do if it does work out, not just thinking through worst-case scenarios(38:50) How they came up with the packaging experience, how having single-serve packaging was ideal for them, and using honeycomb material(48:50) The times when she got knocked down in business, and how she built herself back up, and the limiting beliefs she’s had to overcome(56:00) Some of the best advice she’s been given, and the grand vision for BonBonBonTo Find Out More:https://bonbonbon.com/Quotes:“Everything I was worried about didn’t happen.”“It started to hit me that there's so much uncertainty in the chocolate industry of what is being sold and then what is actually happening, and I wanted to fix that.”“Just because you started something doesn't mean you need to do it for the rest of your life.”“Something really cool and universal about chocolate that I appreciate so much is you can buy the best piece of chocolate in any city and it's generally going to be less than $5.”“A lot of what we're doing is imparting fresher more real flavors into the chocolate that we make in order to make a more accurate experience.”“We don’t do a lot of planning around the idea of what if it all works out and goes well, and we all should be doing that.”“It felt like we were stuck between a rock and a hard place of, we didn't know how to stop and we didn't know how to not stop and everything was broken.”“When you're absolutely exhausted and you're thinking about quitting, cause everybody does when it gets hard, don't think about quitting while you're still walking. Keep moving forward. You don't have to be sprinting all the time, but at least if you're contemplating stopping all together, don't sit down and contemplate it. Keep moving in the direction you already decided.”“Walk through being overwhelmed.”