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Harvard grad starts a 'riot'

Farnoosh Torabi | Special to amNewYork

December 31, 2007

Sarah Endline, right, works with fair-trade farmers in South America to make Sweetriot's cacao nibs. (Handout)

While the typical Harvard Business School graduate may head towards a lucrative career in investment banking, Sarah Endline started a riot.

In 2005 the 36-year-old founded Sweetriot, a NYC-based for-profit small business that promises healthy, delicious dark chocolate cacao nibs and a commitment to social consciousness and responsibility to customers everywhere. Sweetriot is currently in 1,500 stores nationwide, including Whole Foods and Pier 1 Imports. To spread the word, Endline and her fellow rioters take to the streets and events with sweet messages of supporting diversity and acceptance, all while delighting passers-by with their chocolate sweets. "The goal is really to build a multi-million dollar business," says Endline, who plans to triple her staff in 2008. "It's about getting our message out there and meeting more consumers that want to be part of this riot."

To further live up to the business' social mission, Endline and her team work with fair trade farmers in South America. The business also has several partnerships with non-profit organizations, including The Reciprocity Foundation, which assists the homeless and high-risk youth and GenArt, a group that supports emerging artists, among other organizations.

"I was really captivated by this idea of weaving social values into a profitable business," says Endline, whose work is inspired by the founders of fellow socially driven companies like The Body Shop and Ben & Jerry's. "It had to be a product I loved and could work on 24 hours a dayI just think candy and chocolate is an interesting platform and vehicle to connect with peopleI love the smiles it brings to people's faces. It's hard to do that with detergent or toilet paper," Endline laughs. Plus, the market for dark chocolate, Sweetriot's specialty, is escalating. A recent study by Mintel International shows dark chocolate sales climbing close to 50 percent to $1.88 bullion between 2003 and 2006, thanks partly to news regarding its cardiovascular benefits. Sweetriot's nibs are full of antioxidants, and free from gluten and dairy. The treat is also popular with weight watchers - a one-ounce tin is just 140 calories.

Before Harvard, Endline worked as a middle manager at internet search giant Yahoo. "I had a great job, a convertible, an apartment overlooking the [San Francisco] Bay I thought to myself, 'for some people this is the American dream, but this is not my idea of what I should be doing in the world.'"

Dark Side of Chocolate?

Editors at The Lancet, a British journal, recently shattered previous studies linking chocolate consumption to lower blood pressure and a happy heart. According to their research, the antioxidants in chocolate, aka flavanols, are often taken out by producers because flavanols make chocolate taste bitter. Sweetriot, meantime, promises its chocolates are full of anti-oxidants.