Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Email | RSS
“It’s a pleasure to get up and go to work every day, knowing what we’re going to be doing with the rest of our day, AND it’s [still considered to be] work,” said one employee. “It’s a joy to wake up and go to work every day.”
-Cynthia Leung, Co-founder SoMA Chocolate
Cynthia Leung is a soothing figure to be around. She has such a gentle tone that she almost manages to put you at ease, but then she proceeds to drop all of these wisdom bombs on you about how to run a business and keep your sanity while going through challenging times. She has almost twenty years of experience working in the craft chocolate industry, making her more than qualified to dispense that as well.
One of the oldest small-batch chocolate manufacturers in the world is Cynthia’s company, which goes by the name SoMA Chocolate. We talk about the landscape of cacao sourcing in 2003, the power of outsourcing, and their process for developing new origins from her factory in Toronto, which is located in Canada. I really hope that you take as much pleasure in hearing about our conversation as I did in having it.
Take note that the subject of growing her company features prominently in the questions I asked her as a result of the upcoming podcast episode for which I was conducting the interview with her.
View this post on Instagram
Cynthia with her partner David.
Topics We Cover
- Background information about Cynthia, including how she entered the artisan chocolate business before it really existed as an industry
- The actual expenditures incurred by them when they opened their first plant in the year 2003
- Authenticity in the aromas and flavors of the past
- The power of cultivating what you can, won’t, or shouldn’t do yourself while outsourcing what you have to do
- Their method for coming up with new flavors and starting points
- The present state of the cocoa industry in comparison to that of 16 years ago
