Conscious CPG voices: Oodaalolly’s chocolate fills store aisles—and Newtopia Now—with 'unfiltered joy'

How are “Conscious CPG” companies positioning themselves in today’s fast-changing consumer market—and how are they turning to the Newtopia Now as a vital new resource to advance their brand among key buyers and decision makers?

For this series, we asked the founders and leaders of 10 emerging brands who are exhibiting their innovations—many of them for the very first time at Newtopia Now—what factors drive their decisions today. Coming from diverse backgrounds, these entrepreneurs share at least one thing in common: The belief that gathering with peers, contemporaries, buyers, influencers, mentors, business leaders and others in an intimate setting is critical to learning about the marketplace, building relationships and growing your business and brand.

Hernan Lauber, founder and chocolate maker, Oodaalolly

Oodaalolly founder Hernan Lauber grew up in the Philippines, Switzerland and the U.S. When Hernan’s Swiss father opened a chocolate company in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1980s, Hernan spent his formative years working in his dad’s chocolate factory, “doing every horrible job no one wanted to do.” After studying engineering, working in manufacturing and life sciences, and living overseas for 10 years, Hernan and his family settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where, inspired by his father’s business and his Filipino roots, Hernan founded Oodaalolly. From the packaging to the product, Oodaalolly chocolate reflects deep cultural roots and traditional Swiss chocolate making techniques, all made in the U.S.

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Here's his story in his own words:

I returned to the family business, so to speak, when the bean-to-bar movement started growing. I learned chocolate making from my father. His company, Neuchatel Chocolates, still exists today. I started Oodaalolly as a side project. First, we had to source the beans and build the supply chain, and then we were doing “pop up” production in my father’s facility. We have only recently started scaling production in California.

Oodaalolly—inspired by a delightful phrase my young son would say to express unfiltered joy—presents a modern Filipino twist on classic Swiss chocolate bars. We source single-origin cacao from the Philippines and we make our own cocoa butter in a production facility in Richmond, California. We offer unique, differentiated flavor profiles, and our bars are made with milk chocolate, dark chocolate, sea salt, hot pepper, citrus and other tropical fruits. The cacao we source, as well as many of the ingredients we use, is organic, and we hope to certify our facilities in the future. We’re also exploring different plant-based milk options.

Related:Raaka never roasts the beans or burns the growers for its chocolate

Oodaalolly’s package design is based on traditional Filipino weaving patterns, but modified to include the Swiss flag. Though Filipino in origin, the design patterns are universal—you’ll see similar patterns in Aztec and South American indigenous designs. Also, because it’s a weaving pattern, it’s easier to get different color stories that make a connection to the ingredients. For example, our Dark Chocolate with Calamansi—a citrus grown in the Philippines—comes in a bright yellow, green and orange package design reflective of the special ingredients we use.

Newtopia Now is our first opportunity to exhibit to the industry. We have not done trade shows before this and we are excited to try it out. We’re attracted to the new format focused on retailers and buyers, and a simplified, standardized display area where we don’t have to bring all the exhibit gear and can focus on our product. We sell DTC and also have been growing well selling regionally in smaller boutique stores in the Bay Area. Now we want to work with more wholesalers and retailers across the country. That’s the main reason we’re going: to make those connections and build that network. We’re excited to introduce our brand to the national market at Newtopia Now.

Find Oodaalolly in Booth 838 in Thrive.

Newtopia Now, New Hope Network's new trade show, is set for Aug. 25-28 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. For more information and to register, click here.