Askinosie Puts Money Where It's Mouth Is

Monday, January 7 2008 (10:21AM) | Posted by Nicole Corwin | Commercial Street

Askinosie Chocolate is a small batch, bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer located on Commercial Street in Springfield, Missouri, sourcing 100% of their beans directly from the farmers. Shawn Askinosie, Founder & Chocolate Maker, shifted his focus after 19 years as a criminal defense lawyer. In search of re-wirement outside the courtroom, Shawn began baking.

His obsession with cupcakes turned into a passion for making chocolate from scratch. Now Shawn travels to regions of Mexico and Ecuador to work directly with the farmers and source cocoa beans for his chocolate. This allows the chocolate to be traced to the source and labeled Authentic Single Origin Chocolate. It also enables Shawn to profit share with the farmers, giving them a Stake In the Outcome™.

Shawn Askinosie returned home Friday after a long anticipated trip of sharing his first profits with the farmers in San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador, where he purchased his first beans. After paying above fair trade market prices for the beans, Shawn visited the farmers last week to give them their share in the success — 10% of net profits from the chocolate that was made with beans grown on their farms. Fulfilling a commitment of transparency, Shawn opened the books of the business so the farmers could see how the profit was calculated. Shawn began building his chocolate business on the foundation of Stake in the Outcome™, a program founded by Jack Stack, based on the principal that if workers share in the end success, they will hold a greater stake in the process along the way.

"This day was my best day so far in the chocolate business. By far,” said Shawn Askinosie while corresponding from Ecuador with his mentor Jack Stack.

Stake in the Outcome™ was originally established for employees in the workplace but Shawn took it “upstream” to the farms. “This is kind of a new form of partnership,” stated Stack when the program began a year ago. “I've always thought it was the solution between the haves and the have-nots. I've always thought the problem was distribution of wealth. This is a chance to, as they say, raise the river and raise the boat.” Shawn found that Stake in the Outcome™ is just as effective on the farms as it is in the workplace. “As we left, the farmers gathered around me and said that they had something to say. They told me that nobody had ever come to visit them and thank them, let alone share money with them. They said that they wanted to give us their "premier crop! and they wanted to sell to us again,” states Shawn. And the result is just as he had hoped—the opportunity to make higher quality chocolate with higher quality beans while sharing with the farmers who make it possible.

Keep eating chocolate, the farmers love you for it!

Visit www.askinosie.com