Welcome to Chocolate Uplift craft chocolate brokering, consulting, and wholesale distribution!

New —

Here are the links to the CocoaTown webinar I was honored to hold on How to Work with a Distributor:  Webinar and About Valerie Beck [videos]

Details:

How to Work with a Distributor — webinar as part of the CocoaTown series:

Join Valerie Beck, Founder of Chocolate Uplift, called the Chocolate Auntie, as she takes us through the ins and outs of finding the right distributor and building a relationship that works for you and your business. She will guide us through the processes step by step.

Date: Saturday, September 11, 2021
Time: 10:00 am – 12 Noon Atlanta time (-4 GMT)
Topic: Working With a Distributor
Presenter: Valerie Beck, Founder of Chocolate Uplift, called the Chocolate Auntie 

Link to register – https://forms.gle/LYUvdDoax6wf1CcH8

Update — here are the slides from my webinar! I placed a great deal of information into the notes sections, so be sure to click Show Speaker Notes under View if you want to see everything!

Please contact me at valerie@chocolateuplift.com with any questions or for the latest prices, and scroll down for more details, photos, testimonials, and ideas. Thank you!

As a chocolate distributor and broker and all-around chocolate collaborator, I help bean-to-bar chocolate brands get onto shelves. Before that, if needed, I help them get ready to get onto shelves.

I sell wholesale, and arrange for upscale retailers, coffee shops, and chefs to purchase wholesale and to carry top ethical craft chocolate brands made in the US or elsewhere.

Here are my bios, in case you’d like to know about my background, Harvard education, past career as a lawyer, and how I came to be a chocolate services professional such as by founding Chicago Chocolate Tours [video montage!] and more over 15 years ago! I have loved and studied chocolate all my life.

If you are a craft chocolate maker, depending on your goals,

• I can help you get your chocolate into the right shops and boutiques or onto the right websites for online sales.
• I can also help you get ready for distribution or for access to stores that match your ethos, with my consulting services such as
  • writing and proofreading,
  • brand strategy,
  • US import assistance, or
  • package redesign.
• It’s important that you know where your chocolate goes, and that we have a fit on all sides. My work is not transaction-based but relationship-focused.
• This relationship approach is why some makers call me “the chocolate Auntie” : ) and I feel very honored that they do!

Testimonial:

“We love working with Valerie and Chocolate Uplift as distributor and representative of everything OBOLO in the market.    We have shared people-centered values focusing on highest quality chocolate, fairness and sustainability.  Valerie goes the extra mile to make sure our chocolate is in the best retail locations and well represented.”

Testimonial:

“Valerie’s advisory has been of tremendous value for us! Her work ethics, moral values and broad knowledge + expertise on many and diverse aspects ranging from specialty cacao and fine-chocolate, to marketing and content creations, as well as her great understanding of the bureaucracy and regulations to import chocolates to the USA, and not least her awesome distribution network, makes her a great candidate for anyone seeking help from a consultant on these matters! We feel very fortunate to count with her as an active special advisor on our team!” 

Testimonial:

“Valerie is an exceptional human being that has taken the endeavor of promoting the chocolate craft movement based on her 5 S principles, Slavery free, Soy free, Sustainable, Small batch and Scrumptious!   Her vast experience in the field of bean-to-bar movement and her personal charm has helped many small batch producers from small countries, like myself (El Salvador), improve and reach global quality.” 

If you are a retailer, whether brick-and-mortar, online, or both,

• I’ll create and maintain your chocolate program, or
• provide multiple brands or just a brand or two if that’s what you need, 
• for your specialty market, cafe, wine shop, coffee shop, or other retail concept, or your hotel or other hospitality venture.
• You’ll have products by top chocolate makers, that align with your brand, and that your customers or guests will feel uplifted to discover!
• New: if you’re in Chicago or the area, you can pick up certain orders from me through free “curbside pickup” and receive additional free samples as a thanks for coming by, plus any of my Golden Age cookies I may have baked that day : ) Contact me at valerie@chocolateuplift.com to arrange.

Testimonial:

“Valerie provides everything that I could ask for from a broker/distributor. Her customer service is exceptional and I greatly appreciate her alerts to new brands and products that she knows I may like based on my quality standards and items that sell well with my customers, plus she wholeheartedly understands and respects my quality standards. Her response time to questions is quick and her responses are very thorough. I always gain insightful information when talking with Valerie and working with her is a pleasure.“

Testimonial:

“Valerie is amazing for her dedication to discovering world class chocolate from all over the world while maintaining the highest ethical standards for economic empowerment, sustainability, and health.“

Special packages or promotional opportunities include:

• Displays for Holiday, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day (the “Big 3” times of year for artisan chocolate!) —

• Chocolate from specific places, or made from cacao from specific countries such as Ecuador, Mexico, or Peru, or regional displays like this Midwest Moments selection —

• Woman chocolate maker displays —

• New product launches, or promotions to support places like Haiti or a specific cause —

• Retailer and brand promotions —

• Seasonal or color-themed displays —

• Recipe ideas —

The brands I work with meet my 5 Ss of first-class craft chocolate:

• slavery-free
• soy-free
• sustainable
• small-batch
• scrumptious!

I represent award-winning or otherwise high-reputation small-batch brands including those pictured here and more, at the same price to you as buying direct, but with my troubleshooting, recommendations, streamlined ordering of multiple brands, new product introductions, and social media support to provide exposure and drive demand. 

Contact me for more information or the full Chocolate Uplift portfolio and price lists.

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If I don’t love the quality, sustainability, or ingredients of a brand, I don’t represent it or recommend it. I share with you only what I love and trust in terms of flavor and source, so that you and your customers can love and trust it too.

​Backstory if you’re curious: my distribution and brokering started very organically. Running the original chocolate tours in cities across the US [video!], I started getting asked by chocolate shop and cafe owners on my tour routes to let them know of any interesting chocolate brands I came across that might be a good fit for their stores.

I also started meeting more and more chocolate makers who had an excellent product and needed introductions to top retailers, plus wholesaling, consulting, storage, and delivery.

By connecting retailers and makers, and driving demand with social media and email marketing, Chocolate Uplift brokering and wholesale distribution contains elements of consulting, to make sure the right bars are on the right shelves, to delight your customers, meet your goals, and enhance your brand, always with mutual respect and a win-win attitude.

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I look forward to discussing what I can do for you!

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You can contact me any time at valerie@chocolateuplift.com with thoughts or questions. I’d love to hear from you!

Your friend — or Auntie! — in chocolate,

Valerie

Valerie Beck

Founder/CEO Chocolate Uplift

valerie@chocolateuplift.com

Instagram @chocolateuplift