"In some way, shape or form you can relate everything back to that one simple cacao bean." - Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl CEO of BLYSS
Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl and the adventures in the business of chocolate
Pure energy is probably the mildest description one can associate with Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl, who often is referred to as Lyss from Blyss. Blyss happens to be name of her chocolate company and is perhaps is a subtle interpretation of the magnitude of Alyssa's career, which oddly enough, can be simplified by a single cacao bean!
The origins of the business start in Papua New Guinea, as Alyssa represents the third chapter of this family business which she herself describes as a social entrepreneurship set-up. Though born in Australia, she is currently based in Munich. With a network spread across the planet her business is not just focused on chocolate, rather it delves into the source of chocolate which is the cacao bean.
"After my father had retired, he and I developed the idea of building a chocolate company like no other. He took this idea and quite literally travelled the world looking for the perfect bean, I would often receive in the post samples of cacao from various parts of the world. What I thought was just an idea, he took very seriously, until he found what we were looking for in Ecuador," she says.
Almost a hundred years on from her when her grandfather first started the now successful enterprise, there have naturally been challenges.
"In the very beginning my grandfather changed his core farming business to being multi-diversified, moving from rubber to coffee to both. When we started we went mainstream and produced chocolate bars. It didn’t work and so I developed a commercial ideology around the bean itself, which is what took us to the next level," she adds.
The business of chocolate with BLYSS
Which leads us to her business formula:
"The idea is taking the cacoa bean from Ecuador and creating an original Virgin Chocolate. The originality behind the chocolate allows it to be served in combination with other food and drinks, it not only compliments the food or drink but makes it an additional must have." Note from editor: you can try for yourself but stocks are sold out quickly due to the high demand and its originality.
"The social enterprise allows us to bridge the gap between our Ecuador plantation owners and the world, allowing us to help sustain their business by giving the world this special chocolate." With quality control and administration handled in Germany she proves the logic of her global network and that location is irrelevant when individuals or employees are based where their skills are.
Like her grandfather, she diversified her approach as well. Her business model is not just about the cacao bean but she has become the business itself.
"From my experiences in operating the business, I started to develop a knowledge base and this is where I developed the CacaoAcademy and ChangeMakerLand. These use the core concepts of the chocolate industry and business, which has been successfully used in education institutions and corporates. In some way, shape or form you can relate everything back to that one simple cacao bean."
Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl and the adventures in the business of chocolate
Her career is also quite interesting and started off in the corporate sector after graduating from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. This led her to the telecommunications industry in Germany and before she knew it she found herself engulfed in the wonderful world of chocolate. There seems to be constant movement with Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl. She even participates in Ironman triathlons, but fuelled by a natural energy of course!
So perhaps her business model doesn’t quite start with the cacao bean but rather with the natural energy that is Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl.
Side note just in case you are confused about the difference between “Cacao” and “Cocoa” as the FirstStep.me team were here is a note from Alyssa - “The cacao bean is the original name. Cocoa is a processed version of cacao. As we don’t heat over 50 degrees centigrade, it is not considered processed, therefore it is ‘virgin’, raw and cacao.
About: Connect with Alyssa Jade McDonald-Baertl on Twitter @LyssLand and visit Lyss.land to find out more about her chocolate adventures!
