Todd Masonis, the co-founder and CEO of Dandelion Chocolate, started making chocolate as a hobby. He grew cacao plants at home and roasted beans in a toaster oven. Today, his chocolate is regarded as some of the best in the world.

“We didn't intend to start a company; we just started making chocolate, and before we knew it, we had a factory,” Masonis told me when we met in December. Today, Masonis is best known for his chocolate abilities.

“Growing up, I ate a lot of chocolate. I wouldn't say I had a sophisticated palate!” he confessed. “I ate my share of peanut butter cups and ice cream sundaes, but I always loved it.” Still, eating chocolate is his favorite part of the job. “Everyone always asks me if I ever get tired of chocolate,” he said. “No, I eat chocolate daily when we're doing taste tests on chocolate bars, confections, cakes, etc. That's fun, but it's also rewarding.” 

Sixteen years ago, Masonis sold his technology company, Plaxo, to Comcast for $170  million. He took a year to travel the world, notably to France, where he explored chocolate. 

Now, San Francisco-based Dandelion is a bean-to-bar company that emphasizes ethical sourcing and unique flavors. “Many producers we visit sell their beans on the commodity market and never get to meet or see where their chocolate goes,” Masonis explained. “Recently, we were in the Solomon Islands, and we gave our chocolate bar to some of the people who farmed cacao, and they were like, wow, they never tasted this. So it's fun to go full circle and connect back to the source.”

Dandelion releases a full sourcing report, one of the first of its kind, to show where their chocolate comes from. The report includes locations, quantities purchased, and information on individual farms. It states Dandelion’s commitment to ethical sourcing and sustainability.

Why does this matter? Most chocolate is not ethically sourced and involves child labor. But Dandelion makes sure its chocolate is clean and high-quality. “Just a couple of years ago, I didn't even really want to consider where chocolate came from,” Masonis admitted. 

Dandelion also cares quite a bit about making their chocolate taste good. Early on, when Dandelion built its first factory and cafe, it wanted to put everything on display so that consumers could learn about cacao’s origins, flavor profiles, and harvests. 

Chocolate can have a very complex flavor. “Large corporations have very different goals than Dandelion. Chocolate is a seed of a fruit, and that fruit has lots of genetic diversity,” Masonis said. “Flavor differences will occur when we source cacao from many different places. How much sugar you add will change things, and once you start making your chocolate, you see all the possibilities and all the flavors you have,” Masonis added. 

What are the requirements for finding a new source? “Cacao grows [in a] band, 20 degrees north and south of the equator. It’s a tropical area, so our chocolate comes from that band. We tend to work with many beans from Central and South America, which have heirloom genetics and unique flavors that still tend to be there,” Masonis mentioned. Dandelion starts with flavor but then ensures it meets the company values of trust, reliability, and ethical. 

Dandelion doesn’t want to stop growing. “Many people have never even tried good chocolate, so we think there's a lot of room in the world for people to learn more about it,” Masonis noted. Dandelion Chocolate wants to be part of a global movement that provides a better lifestyle for farmers so they get paid more for their quality cacao. Masonis also thinks the craft chocolate movement will help disrupt the bigger guys. 

Masonis’s hobby has turned into a big - and fun - job. It’s not” ‘just chocolate,”’ he said, but a set of challenges he embraces. He’s done nearly all parts of the process, from making chocolate, working on machines, building and marketing a business, and traveling to cacao farms all over the world.

“Every day for me is quite a bit different,” he said, but the hardest part is staying focused. “So many distractions and little things can go wrong every day. This machine breaks, or there's some challenge, and you just have to stay focused and level-headed.” 

Masonis concluded by saying that if you're curious about something, follow that passion. For him, it's gratifying to work with a great team passionate about the same thing.