Thornfield had been making chocolate for seven years. Their audience was small but devoted — people who could articulate the difference between Madagascan and Peruvian cacao and had opinions about conching time. The challenge wasn't awareness. It was how to deepen the relationship with an audience that already felt close.
Founder Daniel Osei had identified six exceptional single-origin options from suppliers he trusted. Any of them would have made a great bar. The question was which one — and it occurred to him that the people most likely to appreciate the answer were exactly the people who should be part of making it.
Teaching before asking
We spent three weeks before the vote sharing origin profiles: the farms, the farmers, the fermentation methods, the flavour characteristics. Daniel recorded short audio notes from his tasting sessions. The community was being educated, not just entertained — and the quality of the subsequent discussion reflected that.
“People weren't just picking a flavour. They were picking a relationship — with a farm, a region, a way of growing cacao. That's what made the result feel meaningful.”
The winning origin — a small cooperative in the Piura Valley, Peru — wasn't Daniel's first choice. He'd expected the Dominican Republic farm to win on the strength of its flavour notes. Instead, the community was drawn to the Piura Valley's story: a multi-generational cooperative that had recently transitioned to organic farming under difficult circumstances.
Daniel sourced the full available allocation — nearly double what he'd originally planned. The bar sold out. The repeat purchase rate for voters was 38 percentage points higher than Thornfield's baseline. Several community members have since visited the farm.