Katrina Markoff, the founder and former CEO of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, recently debuted her new brand, Violet Flame Chocolate. Markoff launched the line completely on her own, in five months, and the ingredients range from Lion's Mane to milk produced in small quantities in the Andes.
The brand also includes the creation of the Cacao Spiritus experience, a daily 10-minute ritual that is more than just tasting the chocolate. And as a thank you to Markoff's Chicago roots, Violet Flame Chocolate includes products only available in Chicago.
Candy Industry Senior Editor Liz Parker Kuhn recently talked to Markoff to learn more about her new brand.
Liz Parker Kuhn: What inspired you to create Violet Flame Chocolate? How did your background with Vosges help you in this endeavor?
Katrina Markoff: My entire life I have been a seeker. Seeking for the meaning of my life’s purpose has been the quest that propelled me to travel around the world. The search for the mysteries has drawn me to explore ancient ingredients and understand how creativity serves as a bridge to deeper self-connection. Over the last few years, I've felt an urge to go deeper. Every person has a divine spark inside that is meant to be expressed in this life. I found that I could connect to this voice when I engaged with my Active Imagination. I began to clearly hear my intuitive voice again and it led the way for what I knew I had to do next: share. I felt energized, inspired, and brave [enough] to trust myself to step out of my comfort zone and create my next chocolate brand.
LPK: What sort of ingredients does the chocolate include?
KM: Violet Flame Chocolates are handmade confections meticulously crafted with rarified ingredients, botanicals, and ancient elixirs. Our chocolate is sourced from Grenada, Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, and Ghana. A brilliant mahogany color, this chocolate bites with a snap and a clean, sharp break. Other magical ingredients include pistachios from rare Bronte trees, raspberries from Hauts-de-France region, Andes Mountain wild-grazed milk, organic and sprouted red walnuts from family farm in California, organic Lion's Mane, and Okinawan black sugar.
LPK: Can you talk about the creation of the Cacao Spiritus experience?
KM: Cacao Spiritus offers a powerful way to transform fears into fuel and connect with your true inner strength. This introspective journey is crafted to enhance focus and sharpen your sensitivity to energy, enabling you to discern the subtle vibrations of people and places. This heightened awareness guides you toward wiser, more intuitive decisions.
Each truffle tasting serves as a channel to eliminate fear-based decision-making and codependency, replacing it with self-trust. Chosen for their divine signatures, the ingredients transform each truffle into a conduit for personal connection, harnessing the wisdom of the ages. Through the ritual of tasting, we invite you on a journey through your senses to arrive at your heart's intelligence. In just 10 minutes a day, you can connect to your own Super Power.
LPK: Some of Violet Flame’s products are only available in Chicago – which products, and why did you decide to keep those to Chicago-only?
KM: Chicago is where I'm from and Chicago and is where everything started. This is my thank you to one of the best cities in the world. Chicago-only products include the Fresh Strawberry Chaos Ganache Boards
LPK: What’s next for the brand or for you?
KM: We strive to help our customers be purposeful with our exquisite chocolate gifts. Violet Flame Chocolate will also be giving back to inspiring charities that support building self trust through the imagination and community.
Related: Vosges Haut-Chocolat releases chocolate serenaded by Tom Petty music
