Nine WashU student-lead ventures are finalists set to compete for $22,500 in awards in the 2020 Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC) later this month. Over the next few weeks, we are publishing Q&A articles to feature each venture team. Today we are highlighting Honeymoon Chocolates, co-founder Cameron Loyet (PM) shared a little about his company and entrepreneurship experience.
About the Company
Honeymoon Chocolates officially began in a dorm room kitchen when Co-Founders Cam and Haley Loyet first began making bean-to-bar craft chocolate sweetened with honey. The first and foremost reason for creating chocolate is to allow consumers to remove refined sugar from their favorite foods. Secondary, but just as important, is to address the decline of honeybees and the decreasing supply of cacao nationwide.
Number of Employees: 0
Total Funding (as of March 2020): $6,000
About the Founding Team
Cam Loyet, Co-Founder, has accounting experience with Washington University (October 2018 - February 2020). He also had the opportunity to run a sports consulting agency called Future College Golf Association (FCGA), where his role was the Managing Partner. This company was established for 10+ years in the US and had over 350+ clients. Cam also is a part-time MBA candidate at Washington University- slated to graduate in December of 2020.
Haley Loyet, Co-Founder, is currently a full-time student at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and is contributing her academic experience in biochemical food science in a part-time capacity.
What problem is Honeymoon Chocolates solving?
Sugar’s negative health image has affected growth in the United States and Canada. Mintel, a market analysis firm, predicts that the category of basic sugar is expected to remain fairly flat as declines in sweeteners and sugar are offset by growth in honey, and emerging plant-based and other low-calorie sweeteners. Honeymoon Chocolates has formulated the process for producing chocolate sweetened with honey. Because this process is difficult, only a handful of small craft chocolate makers have been able to reproduce this.
What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your venture?
Our biggest lesson since beginning in 2016 is that the smart decision is not always the easiest. We started by sourcing cacao butter and cacao powder to make our bars, and the quality was non-existent. To improve quality, we focused on finding manufacturing equipment to become truly bean-to-bar, and quality improved! Although, the learning curve for manufacturing your own fine chocolate is steep and more costly than one would imagine. I believe that we have vastly improved our quality through the many hours of testing and fine-tuning our equipment- but it was a decision that drastically changed our ability to sell chocolate in the short-run.
What do you love about being an entrepreneur?
I love the ability to grow at your own pace and showcase our hard work. Each bar that is wrapped and stamped with our logo has had the utmost attention from the first day of refining.
What words of advice do you have for those interested in starting a business?
We started through advice from a young entrepreneur in Chicago- "All it takes is an idea and the LLC filing fee to begin a business." While this was true, it became apparent that we did NOT have a business without sales. My update to his would be, "All it takes to start a business is an idea, a plan to acquire three months of sales, and the LLC filing fee for your state."
Website: hmchocolates.com
Facebook and Instagram: @honeymoonchocolates
Twitter: @hmchocolates