Chocolate good for you?
By RYAN FLINN
Hour Staff Writer
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NORWALK -- Eating chocolate every day is good for you. Just ask James Walsh, president and CEO of Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate Brands in South Norwalk. Sitting in his office Thursday afternoon, Walsh described how the chocolate in his new product, the "Z-Carb" bar, contains nutrients that help reduce heart disease.
"Absolutely -- these things are good for you," Walsh said, holding up the Z-Carb bar.
He's not the only one promoting this point of view. According to a study led by researchers at Pennsylvania State University, moderate consumption of tea and chocolate can be healthy. The study, released in January of 2002, states that a review of 66 published studies supports the view that consuming moderate amounts of flavonoid-rich foods derived from plants, such as tea and chocolate, can be associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. Cocoa and chocolate can be rich sources of flavonoid and flavonoid-related compounds with strong antioxidant effects that can lower heart risk factors. Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton, professor of nutrition and lead author of the review, said in a press release, "Since tea, without milk or sugar, contains no calories, it's an ideal way to add antioxidant flavonoids to your diet without increasing your weight. Having a chocolate cookie that also contains fruit and nuts along with the tea, if consumed in moderation, can be a heart healthy snack."
Just as nutritionists have recently advocated drinking a glass of red wine a day, so too should chocolate be included in a healthy diet, Walsh said. But launching any new food product can be difficult, especially when the field is crowded with well-funded competitors. But Walsh is not worried. He compared the candy bar market to the beverage industry.
"Coca-Cola and Pepsi dominated the market for so long," Walsh said. "They didn't care about small brands like Snapple and SoBe." But as Snapple and South Beach Beverage Company, or SoBe, proved, a good product can attract a following without the marketing power and dollar amounts that large companies can put behind their own products. What inevitably happens is that these companies get bought out or merge. Pepsi purchased SoBe, and Walsh expects that if his company's chocolate bars are successful, HVC Brands will be purchased by a larger food company.
Walsh's personal journey as an advertising executive to an owner of a high-end chocolate company is a long but interesting story. At age 30, Walsh, who admired the millionaire businessman Howard Hughes, was burned out. He decided to take a white water rafting vacation in Chile to take a break from business. While on the trip, Walsh sustained a severe head injury when his raft hit a rock, and to make matters worse, he could not get to a hospital immediately.
"I was writing a death letter to my not-yet-born daughter on a river bank in Chile," Walsh said. He did manage to find his way to safety and recover, however, and decided to make the most of the "second chance" that he was given. After meeting with an executive from Hershey in 1986, Walsh moved to Hawaii to try his hand at growing cocoa plants. In 1993, he incorporated HVC Brands and sold an expensive cooking chocolate to chefs and restaurants. Walsh was approached by Norwalk-based SoBe last year to develop a promotional chocolate bar. The two companies worked together to produce the confection, which made its debut in August of 2002 with four varieties -- Drive, Energy, Power and Tsunami. Following the successful launch, Walsh wanted HVC to build up its own name in the industry separate from SoBe, and hopes that the Z-Carb bar will do it. But its task is not without difficulties. Not only must it convince consumers that eating chocolate is healthy, but that its bar is better than the competition.
Z-Carb bars, priced between $1.49 and $1.99, can be found in 7-Eleven stores, and should be in other convenient stores and retail chain stores in the fall. The first main target of the product is dieters following the Atkins plan, which allows followers to eat meat and fatty foods while avoiding carbohydrate-rich foods such as bread and pasta. The bar has zero "net effect" carbohydrates, yet can give dieters a sweet treat.
Other target markets that HVC is aiming for with its Z-Carb bar are "women who want to be slim but indulgent," Walsh said, men that are looking for "functional" snacks, as well as diabetics that want to eat non-diabetic food.
Eventually, the company hopes to make eating its product a lifestyle choice.
"This no-carb thing is huge. But you crave something indulgent," said William Meissner, vice president of marketing for HVC, who was hired away from SoBe by Walsh after the two collaborated on SoBe's entrance into the candy bar segment. The Z-Carb bar is typically 85 percent chocolate, much higher than other candy bars that typically contain under 20 percent. The more chocolate, the healthier, Meissner said. The chocolate itself is produced in Allentown, Penn. And yes, Meissner has heard all the jokes from friends and family relating to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, especially because his first name is William. But the jokes do not deter him from boasting about what he expects HVC Brands to do to the market.
"What we are all about is revolutionizing the chocolate business," Meissner said. "My idea is that we will be the industry leader by mid-fall next year." He said Z-Carb bars taste much better than other low-carb snacks, and do not cause gastro-intestinal problems. To highlight this point, inside HVC's office in South Norwalk, warning signs are posted all over depicting a stick-figure running to the toilet with the word "Maltitol" overhead, with a bright red slash through the entire drawing.
"Our competitors use Maltitol, which is a laxative," said Meissner. Some companies use Maltitol as a sweetener, while HVC uses "Splenda" a no-calorie sweetener derived from natural sugar that can be consumed by diabetics. Splenda is not a laxative.
Mary Mulry, a Colorado-based senior director of product development for the health food store Wild Oats, said in the past few years, consumers have flocked to functional snack foods such as Power Bars. Originally meant as a nutritional supplement for serious athletes, these products did not rate high on taste. But as the makers of these products realized that a much broader segment of the population were interested in healthy snacks and meal replacements, they began improving the taste aspect.
"We have seen more indulgence in flavor. The original Power Bars were purely functional, and they didn't necessarily taste good," Mulry said. "Now, there's more variety, and more bars coated (with sweet toppings)." Mulry has also seen consumer interest grow for the low-carbohydrate diet. To accommodate customers, Wild Oats carries a number of products that are low in carbohydrates.
"Certainly people are coming to us for low carb products," Mulry said. "We are looking at this diet closely." Ryan Flinn is the business editor. He can be reached at 354-1047.
"Chocolate good for you?"
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