Today we’d like to introduce you to Haris Car.
Haris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It all started with a trip to Peru in the summer of 2019. My girlfriend and I rented a car, driving from town to town, exploring and getting to know the local people. The thing that stood out to me most was that the people living in these towns were very poor, but you would be hard pressed to find anybody who was unhappy. Their hospitality was as if we were family members coming to visit. It was a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle nature of Los Angeles. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the first seed. I wanted to take back with me a long-lasting appreciation for the people we encountered.
At the ladder end of the trip, our last stop was a town called Arequipa. Walking and exploring the town, we stumbled upon a small artisan chocolate factory in the city center. We decided to do a fun chocolate making course with the chocolate maker, Adrian. I immediately fell in love and on the walk back to our apartment, I couldn’t stop talking about the chocolate. I was hooked.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, anybody that tells you starting a business is easy, is lying to you. I knew the moment I got on the plane back to LA that I wanted to learn to make chocolate and turn it into a business. At first, I had no idea what I was doing or where to start (haha). I eventually came across a man on the internet called John Nanci (Chocolate Alchemist), who literally teaches you all the basics of chocolate making. I struck gold. His influence in the craft chocolate industry is huge. Virtually all the bean to bar makers in the United States, either learned from him directly or indirectly.
I proceeded and purchased my first few lbs of cacao beans and bought a small melanger (chocolate refiner) and started making chocolate. At the time, I was balancing starting my chocolate business with my day job in sales, which led to some long days and nights. To say the least, the first few months were filled with ups and downs. By knowing the basics, anybody could learn to make chocolate, but the difficulty was making chocolate that is unique and you feel is worth people spending their hard-earned money on. Being a perfectionist, this was tough and it took a lot of batches to finally hone in on something I was ready to release and sell.
Once I knew I could make good chocolate, I started to research the business side of things such as legal, packaging, retail location, etc. Unfortunately, like the wine industry, great-tasting chocolate is not enough to keep you in business. You need beautiful packaging to catch the consumer’s attention. Being on a budget, I tried to recall as much information as possible from my high school illustrator/design course to design my packaging.
Overall, the road will always be bumpy along the way, but your passion and desire for your craft is what keeps you going. This was the case for me. I didn’t give up, even when there didn’t seem like there was an answer for a particular problem.
Car Artisan Chocolate – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a “bean to bar” chocolate maker based in Pasadena, California. I purchase cacao beans directly from operations around the world that produce high-quality beans and pay farmers premiums (above fair-trade) for their cacao. I then process those beans through various processes to finally end up in their final chocolate bar form. What distinguishes a chocolate maker from a chocolatier is a chocolate maker (like myself), makes chocolate starting with the cacao bean, whereas chocolatiers start with chocolate couvertures (pre-made chocolate).
Oftentimes as a culture, I find that we are very disassociated with where our food comes from. The reality is, chocolate is a commodity that has strong ties to forced child and slave labor around the world. Even when not the case, wages are extremely low in the commodity trade. Even with the typical “Organic”/”Fair-trade” chocolate found in general grocery stores, the brands very rarely make the chocolate themselves. They purchase low-quality chocolate couverture and mold it with their branding. Transparency is not something you’d typically find with this chocolate.
On the other end, each origin that I work with offers full transparency on their operations. This approach allows me to offer unique tasting chocolate that varies in taste based on the terroir of the origin, while allowing the farmers to earn a living wage. Like wine, different origins of cacao will have different and unique flavor profiles. Rather than mass-producing a product that is homogeneous in taste, each origin is highlighted by the terroir and post harvest processing at origin.
I am most proud of the deep connection and relationships I’ve been able to build with my customers and the people I do business with around the world. For me, it always starts with people. This is what sets me apart from others. We need to make money and grow to stay in business, but how we do it is even more important. Building bridges with people and having an impact with the LA community + communities at origin is something that is extremely gratifying and excites me looking into the future!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My first customer purchasing a bar. I will never forget that moment. All the hard work put into making sure I had the best tasting product and for somebody to try it and think it was amazing, meant the world to me. Still does.
Pricing:
- 60g bar, Kokoa Kamili, Tanzania, 70% Dark – $10
- 60g bar, Enliven – La Colonia, Nicaragua, 70% Dark – $10
- 60g bar, Ucayali River, Peru, 70% Dark – $10
- 60g bar, Oko Caribe, Dominican Republic, 70% Dark – $10
- 60g bar, Bejofo Estate, Madagascar, 70% Dark – $10
- 60g bar, Chiapas, Mexico, 70% Dark – $10
- 60g bar, Camino Verde, Ecuador, 70% Dark – $10
- Single-Origin Sampler pack (7-60g bars) – $59.50
Contact Info:
- Address: 2302 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA, 91107
- Website: carartisanchocolate.com
- Phone: 6265248090
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @carartisanchocolate
- Facebook: @carartisanchocolate
Image Credit:
Haris Car
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