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La nostra storia parte ii: com’è nato chokkino
September 2001: I had just been dumped by Alex for the umpteenth time. I was heartbroken love has always been my Achilles’ heel. My friend Ale suggested we spend a week at the seaside in Pietra Ligure.
I didn’t know that part of Liguria, and I was instantly fascinated: fishing villages, crystal-clear water, and best of all sandy beaches without pebbles! One day Ale said, “Today I’ll take you to see my favorite beach.” We hopped on the scooter and headed toward Savona. We went through the Varigotti tunnel, and as soon as we came out, I couldn’t believe my eyes: a golden sandy beach, turquoise sea, and behind it a dramatic cliff, the Malpasso. It was love at first sight.
September 2001: I had just been dumped by Alex for the umpteenth time. I was heartbroken love has always been my Achilles’ heel. My friend Ale suggested we spend a week at the seaside in Pietra Ligure.
I didn’t know that part of Liguria, and I was instantly fascinated: fishing villages, crystal-clear water, and best of all sandy beaches without pebbles! One day Ale said, “Today I’ll take you to see my favorite beach.” We hopped on the scooter and headed toward Savona. We went through the Varigotti tunnel, and as soon as we came out, I couldn’t believe my eyes: a golden sandy beach, turquoise sea, and behind it a dramatic cliff, the Malpasso. It was love at first sight.
In 2001 I was in my last year of university, and whenever I had the chance, I escaped to Malpasso it was like oxygen for me.
One morning I saw the guys dipping focaccia into cappuccino at breakfast and thought: “Wow! I have to try that.” There was only one problem: I hated the taste of coffee. So, I came up with a cocoa-based cappuccino: I poured chocolate syrup (the kind used for ice cream) into a cappuccino cup, thinned it with a little boiling water, added frothed milk, and dipped in the focaccia. Delicious! I called it Cioppuccino, and on May 10, 2002, I registered the name.
In 2001 I was in my last year of university, and whenever I had the chance, I escaped to Malpasso it was like oxygen for me.
One morning I saw the guys dipping focaccia into cappuccino at breakfast and thought: “Wow! I have to try that.” There was only one problem: I hated the taste of coffee. So, I came up with a cocoa-based cappuccino: I poured chocolate syrup (the kind used for ice cream) into a cappuccino cup, thinned it with a little boiling water, added frothed milk, and dipped in the focaccia. Delicious! I called it Cioppuccino, and on May 10, 2002, I registered the name.
REFLECTION N°1
REFLECTION N°2
REFLECTION N°1
REFLECTION N°2
– I worked in marketing at a snowboard company (another one of my passions)
– I worked in a small organic bakery, producing during the week and selling at organic markets on weekends
– I sold renewable energy contracts for Lifegate
– I worked at Enerpoint, where I met Cinzia and Daniela
In the years that followed, many things happened:
– I worked in marketing at a snowboard company (another one of my passions)
– I worked in a small organic bakery, producing during the week and selling at organic markets on weekends
– I sold renewable energy contracts for Lifegate
– I worked at Enerpoint, where I met Cinzia and Daniela
REFLECTION N°3
REFLECTION N°3
Through all those jobs, the idea of Cioppuccino never left me. It was always in the back of my mind. One day I thought: “To make Cioppuccino, I need a drink like coffee but made with cocoa.” So, I tried putting cocoa powder in a moka pot instead of coffee. It didn’t work: the cocoa was too fine, so the water couldn’t filter through. That’s when I realized the cocoa needed to go directly into the drink. So I heated water, poured it into an espresso cup, added a teaspoon of cocoa, and stirred. Disaster it was full of lumps, truly awful!
I started experimenting by adding the water a little at a time to avoid lumps. The problem was that by the time I was done, the drink was cold… But after countless attempts, I found the right balance between water and cocoa, and even though it was cold, it wasn’t bad at all! (I admit, at first I sweetened it.)
The name Ciocchino was born on November 10, 2011. Here’s a picture of my notebook where you can see all the names I brainstormed before arriving at Ciocchino. To make it more international, it eventually became Chokkino. Chokkino.
Through all those jobs, the idea of Cioppuccino never left me. It was always in the back of my mind. One day I thought: “To make Cioppuccino, I need a drink like coffee but made with cocoa.” So, I tried putting cocoa powder in a moka pot instead of coffee. It didn’t work: the cocoa was too fine, so the water couldn’t filter through. That’s when I realized the cocoa needed to go directly into the drink. So I heated water, poured it into an espresso cup, added a teaspoon of cocoa, and stirred. Disaster it was full of lumps, truly awful!
I started experimenting by adding the water a little at a time to avoid lumps. The problem was that by the time I was done, the drink was cold… But after countless attempts, I found the right balance between water and cocoa, and even though it was cold, it wasn’t bad at all! (I admit, at first I sweetened it.)
The name Ciocchino was born on November 10, 2011. Here’s a picture of my notebook where you can see all the names I brainstormed before arriving at Ciocchino. To make it more international, it eventually became Chokkino. Chokkino.
In December 2011, I made a very important decision: I took a year off work. I was earning €3,000 a month at a photovoltaic company great salary, wonderful colleagues, a sector aligned with my values. And yet, I was deeply dissatisfied and unhappy. Truth be told, I was depressed, because I had always dreamed of creating products, of being an entrepreneur.
I started working on myself. It was hard and painful, but little by little I began to see a light at the end of that dark tunnel.
One day, the million-dollar question resurfaced: “What do you really want to do with your life?” Remembering the phrase “Choose a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” I looked at how I spent my time: I was obsessed with nutrition, which had been a source of problems for me since childhood (see Part I“Who I Am”). I read books, scientific studies, listened to interviews with doctors, researchers, and nutritionists, hoping to discover the secret to losing weight once and for all.
It didn’t feel like a burden I could spend entire days learning. So I told myself: “I want to work in this field. The idea of Chokkino is good. Let’s make it happen!”
And so, in late November 2014, I met Nicola, the owner of Biepi, the company that now produces Kaya, the machine used to make Chokkino in cafés.
In December 2011, I made a very important decision: I took a year off work. I was earning €3,000 a month at a photovoltaic company great salary, wonderful colleagues, a sector aligned with my values. And yet, I was deeply dissatisfied and unhappy. Truth be told, I was depressed, because I had always dreamed of creating products, of being an entrepreneur.
I started working on myself. It was hard and painful, but little by little I began to see a light at the end of that dark tunnel.
One day, the million-dollar question resurfaced: “What do you really want to do with your life?” Remembering the phrase “Choose a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” I looked at how I spent my time: I was obsessed with nutrition, which had been a source of problems for me since childhood (see Part I“Who I Am”). I read books, scientific studies, listened to interviews with doctors, researchers, and nutritionists, hoping to discover the secret to losing weight once and for all.
It didn’t feel like a burden I could spend entire days learning. So I told myself: “I want to work in this field. The idea of Chokkino is good. Let’s make it happen!”
And so, in late November 2014, I met Nicola, the owner of Biepi, the company that now produces Kaya, the machine used to make Chokkino in cafés.
REFLECTION N°4
REFLECTION N°4
I remember my first meeting with Nicola very clearly: after my presentation, he told me, “What you want to do is impossible. A machine can’t dose pure cocoa powder. Add sugar, like everyone else does!”
So, I added sugar and cornstarch to the recipe. It took ages to make the powder flow properly, but eventually I managed. Nicola and I modified one of his machines, originally used for barley coffee and ginseng.
When the machine finally worked, I opened my first company called Prima (not very creative, I know!).
But summer 2016 was a disaster: in the heat, the machine dosed the mix inconsistently, with a ±30% variation. Not good.
Then I had an idea: cafés use volumetric dosers for coffee (the lever type). Maybe that would work! I tried it with Nicola and it worked. And here’s the kicker: it even worked with pure cocoa only!
I remember my first meeting with Nicola very clearly: after my presentation, he told me, “What you want to do is impossible. A machine can’t dose pure cocoa powder. Add sugar, like everyone else does!”
So, I added sugar and cornstarch to the recipe. It took ages to make the powder flow properly, but eventually I managed. Nicola and I modified one of his machines, originally used for barley coffee and ginseng.
When the machine finally worked, I opened my first company called Prima (not very creative, I know!).
But summer 2016 was a disaster: in the heat, the machine dosed the mix inconsistently, with a ±30% variation. Not good.
Then I had an idea: cafés use volumetric dosers for coffee (the lever type). Maybe that would work! I tried it with Nicola and it worked. And here’s the kicker: it even worked with pure cocoa only!
REFLECTION N°5
REFLECTION N°5
And that’s when the real challenges began: problem after problem after problem… Cocoa is a very tricky ingredient: it isn’t soluble, so it needs energy to stay suspended in liquid; it doesn’t flow easily, so it wouldn’t come down from the cone; it sticks everywhere and eventually clogs the machine.
It was endless: problems, problems, problems.
And that’s when the real challenges began: problem after problem after problem… Cocoa is a very tricky ingredient: it isn’t soluble, so it needs energy to stay suspended in liquid; it doesn’t flow easily, so it wouldn’t come down from the cone; it sticks everywhere and eventually clogs the machine.
It was endless: problems, problems, problems.
REFLECTION N°6
REFLECTION N°6
When I realized the machine finally worked, I decided to launch Live Better. I was terrified, but also over the moon. It was a dream I had carried for years: creating a company that made delicious yet healthy products!
Finally, problem after problem, by mid-December 2017 we had the first prototype of Kaya still far from perfect. Problem was: on January 20, Sigep, the most important bar trade fair in Italy, was starting.
When I realized the machine finally worked, I decided to launch Live Better. I was terrified, but also over the moon. It was a dream I had carried for years: creating a company that made delicious yet healthy products!
Finally, problem after problem, by mid-December 2017 we had the first prototype of Kaya still far from perfect. Problem was: on January 20, Sigep, the most important bar trade fair in Italy, was starting.
We only started installing machines in September 2018. We went from bar to bar with Kaya in a trolley. Honestly, we had no idea what we were doing… but somehow, we managed to install nearly 300 machines in 3 months!
But there was a problem: baristas aren’t great salespeople. They’re used to giving customers exactly what they ask for “A coffee, please” so Chokkino sales were very low. So, we decided to attend fairs, hoping customers would taste Chokkino and then ask for it in cafés. In March 2019 we joined the “Fa’ la cosa giusta!” fair in Milan. We had a tiny booth where we gave out free Chokkino samples. For three days, people were enthusiastic and kept asking: “How can I make this at home?”
We only started installing machines in September 2018. We went from bar to bar with Kaya in a trolley. Honestly, we had no idea what we were doing… but somehow, we managed to install nearly 300 machines in 3 months!
But there was a problem: baristas aren’t great salespeople. They’re used to giving customers exactly what they ask for “A coffee, please” so Chokkino sales were very low. So, we decided to attend fairs, hoping customers would taste Chokkino and then ask for it in cafés. In March 2019 we joined the “Fa’ la cosa giusta!” fair in Milan. We had a tiny booth where we gave out free Chokkino samples. For three days, people were enthusiastic and kept asking: “How can I make this at home?”
REFLECTION N°7
REFLECTION N°7
REFLECTION N°8
REFLECTION N°8
Once we launched, we realized Instagram was the perfect way to sell the Home-Kit Chokkino era Instagram perché ci dava la possibilità di spiegare il prodotto. La risposta è stata immediata: hanno cominciato ad arrivare gli ordini, validando la nostra ipotesi che Chokkino andasse a rispondere ad un reale bisogno: avere un’alternativa al caffè.
Piacere di conoscerti Elena..ma iogià ti ho conosciuta ramite il sito di vendita QVC qualche anno fà..l’avevo preso per Natale….avevo già acquistato tutto il kit..lo avevo finito..ma sinceramente non avevo trovato o almeno capito il senso di questo cacao..invece oggi che sono in quasi menopausa..mi sono sentita tutti i giorni molto scarica..stanca ..un pò giù di morale..e quindi cercavo un modo per riprendere la mia naturale allegria..però sensa far uso di farmaci..integratori..cose varie insomma ..e un giorno guardando un video sul cacao..hanno iniziato a dire quanti minerali ha…e allora…sentendo sempre il bisogno di dolce..o comunque qualcosa di gustoso..(che non sia un panino con la mortadella che adoro!!)ho pensato che sccome è una fonte di minerali che mi fa tralatro stare bene..perchè non ricercare quel caco buono..puro..che avevo già provato?..ed eccomi qui..primo ordine fatto..e devo dire che prorio adesso me lo sono preparato..e sono le 18 di pomeriggio…adorooo
Grazie Moira!
CIao Elena vorrei segnalare una piccola alternativa di carne grass fed,di loro produzione,manzo e maiale.
Così da agevolare chi vive nella zona di Firenze.
Antica Macelleria i Dini
Via Mortuli 12 rosso Firenze
http://www.anticamacelleriadini.it/
Grazie.
Ciao grazie mille!
Si Elena è stato utile è bellissimo poter leggere come è nato chokkino e devi essere super fiera e felice di te stessa perché sei riuscita a realizzare il sogno della tua vita! Ti auguro di poterne realizzare ancora tanti perché te lo meriti proprio! Un’abbraccio Lucy.
Grande donna!sei una persona di una sensibilità meravigliosa
Sonia