Today is National Chocolate Day and, to our delight, The Harlem Chocolate Factory is here to stay.  This high-quality, locally-manufactured and responsibly-sourced “chocolate cultural experience” is the creation of Jessica Spaulding, owner and founder, who has been living, breathing and eating chocolate for as long as she can remember.

In college she tried to start a chocolate business, but the lack of time and business knowledge prevented her from making it happen. Very disappointed, she filed away her dream for “sometime in the future,” yet she continued to collect experiences and flavors of the world throughout her trips to Europe and South Africa.

Fast forward to 2014, when she was at her neighborhood library checking out books on (what else?) chocolate, and she noticed a flyer for the StartUP! Business Plan Competition that the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) puts together, sponsored by the Citi Foundation.  The grand prize? $15,000 dollars.  A spark lit the fire again.

Jessica read all about the StartUP! Competition, watched all the videos, and looked up the previous winners’ businesses online. She attended an orientation session and decided to sign up for the upcoming competition.  It would give her “not only the business knowledge” she needed, but also “the certainty that the business advisors and mentors would tell the truth.” She wanted to make sure that her chocolates were really good, and not just a fantasy stemming from family and friends trying not to hurt her feelings.

Guided by her StartUP! instructors, advisors and her market research at the Business Library, where she utilized databases such as Mintel (a leader in consumer insights), she realized her idea was indeed a viable business. Everything came at lightning speed afterwards: she secured her domain name, set up a splash page and that very week she had an online order for $250 and an email asking “Can we come visit the Harlem Chocolate Factory?”

This has brought on enormous opportunities, yet it has been a whirlwind nonetheless. The Harlem Chocolate Factory can be found with a pop-up shop at Sugar Hill Market every Sunday in November, and Jessica is currently experiencing what many other entrepreneurs go through, which is learning to focus, evaluate and prioritize opportunities, given that all we have is 24 hours in a day.

Over the next few months her business will be incubated at the Hot Bread Kitchen, where she will learn how to create a production process and begin to scale.

Jessica’s proudest entrepreneurial moment so far came from winning the StartUP! Competition. Prior to that she felt that the business plan and her pitch were not good enough… and she recognizes that along with winning the grand prize, she won something much more important: the belief in herself, and the confirmation that it is indeed possible to start one’s own dream business. And entrepreneurs can make it happen with the help of the Business Library and its many advisors, mentors and business organizations that partner to give entrepreneurs the guidance they need.

When asked what she would tell other entrepreneurs about the StartUP! Business Plan Competition, she simply said “Just do it!” She knows that many people give up after the orientation session and their dreams just sit there for “some day,” but that day may never come if they don’t act. She says there is never an optimal time to start, so its a matter of believing in one’s self, not giving up, stop talking and start doing.

Our very best wishes for continued success to Jessica and the Harlem Chocolate Factory! 

Interested in participating in the next StartUP! Business Plan Competition? See the rules and eligibility and attend an orientation session.

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If you are interested in getting in touch with Jessica, here's her contact information:

Jessica Spaulding
Owner & Head Chocolatier
Harlem Chocolate Factory
harlemchocolatefactory.com
info@HarlemChocolateFactory.com
646-623-8027