The inspiration to create an entirely new chocolate experience struck Katrina
Markoff one day while she was working in her kitchen and experimenting with
unusual flavor combinations. Mixing chocolate with coconut milk and curry, she
created a batch of decadent truffles that were so delicious she decided to
launch a business, Vosges-Haut Chocolat. It's that kind of creativity, along
with solid business acumen and a passion for her community, that led Markoff to
win the 2007 OPEN from American Express and Entrepreneur magazine Woman of the
Year contest.
Markoff launched her specialty gourmet chocolate company from her Chicago
apartment in 1998, but her journey started long before. With a zeal for cooking,
she attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Markoff found her passion was actually in
trying new blends. A cooking mentor advised her to take time to travel the world
so she could learn and expand her flavor imagination. "I traveled for the next
nine months, studying street food in Southeast Asia and Australia," says Markoff,
34. "There is a much closer connection [between] food and people and land in
Third World countries than there is in the U.S."
That connection to people and community is at the heart of Vosges-Haut
Chocolat. By using exotic ingredients--from wasabi to anise to ancho chili
powder--in her specialty chocolate truffles and other desserts, Markoff enables
her customers to taste and experience different parts of the world. "It got to
be about much more than just doing interesting flavors with chocolate," she
says. "It's about telling a story of a different culture, artist, movement or
religion through the medium of chocolate."
When Markoff launched, she pitched her chocolate to a buyer at Neiman Marcus.
Despite a lukewarm response, she left some samples with him. The next day, he
called and asked for more. He put them in the break room and they were
devoured--colleagues excitedly asked where he got them and pressed to have them
sold in the store. "That was our first wholesale account out of my apartment,"
recalls Markoff. Two months later, she opened her first retail store in
Chicago's Buck-town neighborhood. Soon after that, she launched a mail order
catalog and a website, and the brand really took off.
In 2007, company sales hit almost $12 million. Now Markoff says her challenge
is taking the company to the next level. With chocolate boutiques in Chicago,
Las Vegas and New York, she recently went global by launching in Japan and is
considering opening locations in London.
Locally, however, Markoff is thinking green and focuses on creating a
sustainable luxury brand. She already runs her headquarters with 100 percent
renewable energies. "But we're shooting for LEED platinum-level certification,
which means we'll basically have no waste and be almost 70 percent off the
grid," explains Markoff. She's even building a chocolate "temple"--a
manufacturing facility that will offer tours and feature an exhibition space for
art, an organic rooftop garden and a yoga studio.
All those special touches are de rigueur for the approximately 50 employees
of Vosges, who already enjoy a weekly yoga class at the office. "It's really
important to have that in a company," says Markoff of those benefits designed to
foster an atmosphere of creativity and innovation as well as calm and
relaxation. "It says this isn't all about money; there's a lifestyle component
to this business."
Making life better is central to Markoff's mission. A passionate traveler,
she was moved by stories she read of the unjust treatment of women in
Afghanistan. In 2001, she partnered with V-Day, a movement to stop violence
against women. Since sponsoring V-Day, Vosges has created special truffle
collections and donates 25 percent of their sales to improving conditions for
women in Afghanistan, Mexico and even New Orleans.
Honored by being named Woman of the Year, Markoff hopes her company will be a
role model to others for sustainability. At the end of the day, though, she
credits her team with her company's success. "I have a very strong management
team that embraces the need for change," she says. "[Staying] innovative and
cutting edge is definitely challenging, but it's exciting at the same time.
That's why a lot of people want to work here--because it's a very exciting
place, and every individual here has the ability to make change."
This article was originally published in the January 2008 edition of
Entrepreneur magazine.
Way to Grow
Back by popular demand, OPEN from American Express and Entrepreneur's
"Women in Charge: Winning Strategies for Women Business Owners" conference will
be held in Miami Beach, Florida, on January 29, 2008. For more information, go
to
entrepreneur.com/womenincharge.