By Ed Avis
When you scan the countertop of your costume shop, hopefully you see a few profitable impulse items that customers snatch up as they’re paying. You probably don’t see chocolate bars…but that could change soon. New NCA Vendor Member The Functional Chocolate Co. is confident that sales of their infused chocolate bars can add a few dollars to your cash register year around.
“Chocolate has always been considered a ‘super food,’ going back to the Aztecs, but we’re helping it do more than ever,” says Graham Sorkin, co-founder and chief of staff of The Functional Chocolate Co. “We believe snacks should do more than just taste good, so we offer a delicious snack that can make your day a little better.”
What makes Functional Chocolate bars special is that they are formulated with botanicals that are known to help with various health issues. For example, Sleepy Chocolate features a blend of botanicals including chamomile, valerian, lavender and lemon balm, plus magnesium and melatonin, that help you fall asleep faster and sleep soundly. Energy Chocolate has a combination of Chocamine®, a patented cocoa-based ingredient shown to provide sustained energy without jitters, alongside a blend of vitamins, taurine, L-Tyrosine, schizandra berry and green tea extract. And Rhythm Chocolate includes a patented ingredient made from saffron flowers that has been clinically shown to reduce the severity of PMS by 50 percent.
That last bar – Rhythm Chocolate – was the first bar in the collection. Co-founder Chris Peruzzi, a single dad, developed the bar when his teenage daughter complained of PMS. Peruzzi had 30 years of experience in natural product development, so he knew a good-tasting snack with the right added ingredients could help his daughter. It worked, and a business idea was born!
“That was a couple of years ago, and we’ve been selling it for about a year and a half,” Sorkin says. “One of the biggest challenges is that we have so many ideas. We started with a focus on women’s health – the PMS bar, a menopause bar, and a stress and anxiety bar. Then we realized we had the opportunity to address everyday health realities for everyone, so the energy, sleep and focus bars followed.”
Today the company has seven bars, each addressing a different issue with a careful blend of proven nutrients…combined with delicious chocolate, of course. They are currently working on the Pain Free Bar, which will address inflammation and everyday aches and pains.
Why does the company think NCA members will succeed with the bars? Because they help with issues that everyone faces from time to time in an accessible, tasty format. Also, the packaging is great – the illustrations were all created by the daughter of the company’s creative director. When customers see the colorful bars on your counter, the temptation to add one or two to the purchase will be hard to resist.
“The Sleepy Chocolate bar is by far our best seller, because sleep issues affect everybody and ending the day with a little treat appeals to a lot of folks,” Sorkin says. “We’re not here to cure major diseases, just to help with things that everyday people deal with all the time.”
The bars retail for $7.89, and The Functional Chocolate Co. is offering an NCA members-only discount of 5 percent off the wholesale price of $4.73 per bar, plus free shipping, for all orders over $250. Plus, if you order before December 31, 2022 you get a free 12-bar case of your choice! Please visit ShareFuncho.com, contact sales@funcho.co or call 303-809-8288.