In this Q&A, DTC Daily speaks to Charlie Sutton, co-founder of health food company Broma, which specialises in a vegan alternative for chocolate sauce. Here, Charlie tells us how Broma has developed from London's Southbank food market, to launching their first range, and designing new products. 

Can you explain Broma, and how you got to where you are today?

We created Broma with a view to making truly delicious food that's all natural, ethical, sustainable and healthy. Our first product, a raw cacao chocolate sauce, was thought up when we realised a previous business idea we had wasn't going to work out and we had to go back to the drawing board. 

Oli was at home mulling a few ideas over when he decided to make himself a comforting healthy hot chocolate (something he’d been doing for years) using a similar recipe to the one we use now when he had a light bulb moment. He called Charlie. Broma was born.

Our recipe was then honed to perfection on London’s Southbank food market in December 2018 where we were using the sauce to make healthy hot chocolates. After some great feedback we decided to package it so people could enjoy our chocolate sauce in the comfort of their own home. So we’ve gone from being market stall traders to cycling all over London selling our chocolate sauce to whoever we can!

Why did you decide the time was right to introduce the world to Broma? 

There’s a big movement and increased awareness around consuming less sugar due to the  health implications. In the beginning we did a lot of market research into existing chocolate products and there simply wasn’t any other companies that offered a chocolate sauce using minimally processed premium ingredients. Using the best organic ingredients and processing them as little as possible is how we achieve such a nutrient rich and uniquely flavoured product. It’s starting to change a little now but still the vast majority of chocolate products on the shop shelves have refined sugar as their single biggest ingredient. We find this astonishing. 

What have been some of the biggest challenges you've faced (and overcome!) on your journey so far? 

We lived in different cities during the initial stages of setting up the business. You would not believe the amount of voice messages we sent each other! Thankfully we both now live in London and spend more time together. It really goes to show how important good communication is in business in order for it to move forward quickly and efficiently. One of our main distributors has also just burnt down but that’s another story...

You can buy Broma's products in-store, but also through your website. Why is having your own e-commerce shop an important factor for you guys? 

Consumers are more adventurous than they’ve ever been when it comes to online shopping. This means that more people than ever are making first time purchases of a product online that they have not previously seen in the flesh, so for a new product like ours, it’s really important. We also love selling our products as close to the customer as possible because this allows communication between us and our customers far easier and more direct. For this reason too, during Winter we run market stalls in London using our sauce to make hot chocolates and means we not only meet our customers in the flesh but get to hear directly what they have to say.  

What does the next 12 months have in store for Broma? How are you looking to expand?

We’d like to grow the service industry side of our business. One of the best uses for our sauce is making hot chocolates and we’ve always felt that in most cafes the hot chocolate offering tends to be slightly neglected. Our mission is to change this by bringing the humble hot chocolate into the 21st century! We‘re also releasing a new flavour to the range, a raw cacao chocolate sauce with orange, which will be coming out in November. We have lots of ideas for future ranges but it’s very important for us right now to focus on getting the first range just right before releasing another.