Askinosie Chocolate

Founded: 2007
Home: Springfield, Missouri
Founder: Shawn Askinosie
Specialty: Small-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate
Known for: Direct Trade, farmer profit sharing and origin-specific chocolate
Visit Askinosie Chocolate

Chocolate With a Direct Connection to Origin

For Askinosie Chocolate, making chocolate begins long before cacao beans arrive at its small factory in Springfield, Missouri. The company has built its approach around direct relationships with the farmers who grow its cacao, connecting the quality of the finished bar with the people and communities at origin.

Founded by former criminal defence lawyer Shawn Askinosie, the company emerged during the early years of America’s modern craft chocolate movement. Today, Askinosie produces small-batch bean-to-bar chocolate while maintaining direct sourcing relationships with cacao farmers in several parts of the world.

From the Courtroom to Cacao

In 2006, Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal defence lawyer and turned his attention to making chocolate from scratch. The company began producing chocolate commercially in Springfield in 2007.

His daughter, Lawren Askinosie, later joined the business and became a part owner. Together, the father-and-daughter team has developed a company in which chocolate making, cacao sourcing and community programmes are closely connected.

Knowing Who Grows the Cacao

Central to Askinosie’s philosophy is its Direct Trade programme.

Rather than purchasing anonymous cacao through a conventional commodity supply chain, Askinosie works directly with smallholder farmers and farmer groups. The company says its cacao is fully traceable to the farmers with whom it works, and it regularly visits its sourcing regions to evaluate crops and discuss fermentation, drying and other practices that affect flavour.

Those relationships currently include cacao-growing communities in Ecuador, Tanzania and the Philippines. In 2026, Shawn Askinosie completed origin visits to both Davao in the Philippines and Mababu in Tanzania, continuing relationships that in some cases have lasted well over a decade.

Sharing More Than the Finished Chocolate

Askinosie’s sourcing model also includes profit sharing.

In addition to paying for cacao, the company shares a portion of profits with its farmer partners and provides financial information intended to show how the chocolate made from their beans has performed.

According to Askinosie’s latest transparency reporting, as of October 2025 it had shared more than US$175,000 in profits with farmers. Over the preceding 16 years, the company reported paying farmers an average of 54 per cent above world market prices and 43 per cent above Fair Trade prices.

The approach reflects an important part of the Askinosie philosophy: cacao growers are treated not simply as suppliers but as business partners whose agricultural knowledge directly influences chocolate quality.

Small-Batch Chocolate in Missouri

Back in Springfield, cacao is transformed into chocolate at Askinosie’s Commercial Street micro-factory.

The company produces a range of origin-specific bars, including chocolate made with cacao from Mababu, Tanzania; Davao, Philippines; and San José del Tambo, Ecuador. The collection ranges from dark chocolate to dark milk bars, alongside flavoured and collaborative creations.

The origin bars provide an opportunity to experience how cacao from different growing regions can produce distinctive flavours, even when transformed into chocolate by the same maker.

Askinosie’s 72% Mababu bar also provides a recent example of that relationship between farmer and maker. Chocolate produced with Mababu cacao earned recognition in 2026, including a Good Food Award and an Academy of Chocolate bronze medal for a barrel-aged variation.

Chocolate With a Broader Purpose

The company’s relationships with cacao-growing communities extend beyond purchasing beans.

Askinosie supports community development and educational initiatives in its sourcing regions, while its Chocolate University programme connects students from southwest Missouri with the chocolate business, cacao origins and international learning experiences.

Those programmes make Askinosie’s story unusual within American craft chocolate. The company’s social initiatives aren’t separate from its sourcing model; they developed from long-term relationships with the communities producing its cacao.

Where Craft and Relationships Meet

Askinosie Chocolate demonstrates that bean-to-bar chocolate can tell a story about much more than production technique.

The company controls the transformation of cacao into finished chocolate in Missouri, but much of its identity remains rooted thousands of kilometres away — with the farmers who cultivate, ferment and dry the beans.

For chocolate lovers interested in origin, transparency and the people behind cacao, Askinosie offers a distinctive example of how an American craft chocolate maker can connect the finished bar directly to those who helped make it possible.