Seattle Firm Bites into New Chocolate Market

EXCLUSIVE REPORTS

M. Sharon Baker
Contributing Writer

Local firms bite into new chocolate market

To chocoholics it may seem like chocolate dissonance: indulge and get healthier simultaneously. But two Seattle area companies are joining forces to create what they are touting as a healthy chocolate bar.

In November, Seattle-based Biomed Comm Inc and Woodinville-based Elegant Gourmet will launch a candy bar that they claim will calm nerves, increase memory and focus, and even curb appetite. Those health benefits, Biomed officials say, will come from homeopathic proteins, which are added to the chocolate.

By launching the bars, Biomed and confectioner Elegant Gourmet become the second in the nation to launch "healthy chocolate."

This month, candy giant Mars Inc. is launching its CocoaVia line of chocolate bars, which contain cholesterol-lowering plant sterols from soy that studies indicate significantly reduce LDL, or "bad," cholesterol levels and promote healthy circulation.

Both efforts are trying to cash in on new research that has shown that chocolate -- particularly dark chocolate -- is rich in flavonoids, which act as natural antioxidants, combating the damage oxygen does to the body.

Biomed Comm and Elegant Gourmet aren't resting on chocolate's antioxidant properties but are adding Biomed's homeopathic proteins to organic and regular chocolate, said Barbara Brewitt , the former National Institutes of Health scientist who founded the small biotechnology company. Biomed asserts its proteins help regulate cell growth and enable cells to better communicate with each other.

The protein in the chocolate bars signals cells inside the body to begin making and repairing cells, a process that sparks internal rejuvenation, Biomed officials said. They work like Biomed's patented cell signalers, which contain the same protein and come in pill form.

Biomed officials have said HIV (AIDS virus) and autism patients are buying the cell signalers in pill form, as are baby boomers who are looking to stave off aging. Because they are homeopathic products, the cell signalers don't require a prescription.

However, Biomed has put them through clinical studies. Biomed claims that test subjects taking the cell signalers reported increased memory and focus, decreased appetite, relief from stress and headaches, and more energy, among other benefits.

"What (Biomed and Elegant Gourmet are) doing is right on trend and point," said Barbara Zatto , Northwest regional sales manager for the Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut. Callebaut is supplying the chocolate for the bars. "American consumers want a refined upscale taste, and are becoming more interested in nutraceuticals," Zatto said. Nutraceuticals are nutritional substances that some believe can be used to help maintain optimal health and functioning, to restore balance and to relieve symptoms of disease.

Named Chocolate Calm, Chocolate Clarity and Chocolate Cheer, the bars will be available from Biomed and Elegant Gourmet and several natural food and organic stores in mid-November, said Scott Byhre , Biomed's director of sales.

Already for sale is a bear-shaped figure that the companies have named Cocoa Joy. It's available to everyone, but is finding its largest audience so far among children afflicted with autism.

Byhre estimates the new bars will cost around $4.50 each, but final pricing has not been set.

Biomed executives hope people buying its chocolate will experience the benefits of its cell signalers, and then also buy its homeopathic products.

"I think this will easily double our sales," said Brewitt, adding Biomed Comm's revenues were about $1 million last year. "International companies are now trying to license our products, and the chocolate just adds a whole new dimension to our product mix. Our intellectual property allows us to diversify into many markets, and chocolate is only the first of many, many applications."

Elegant Gourmet's chief executive Louisa Davis said her company, which makes 300 kinds of cookies, hard candy and other confections, is just starting to approach local grocery stores and other mainstream customers. The two companies are splitting the revenues.

Printed portion reprintted from the seattle@bizjournals.com - October 7, 2005 print edition • Contact: 206-583-0701