The idea for Raleigh-based luxury chocolate brand Spring & Mulberry came out of one of the worst days of Kathryn Shah’s life: A breast cancer diagnosis.
"Having such a profound experience at such a young age, it really opens your eyes to the world and the challenges you can face," she said.
Now five-years cancer-free, Shah is working to solicit investors for the candy brand she co-founded with fellow entrepreneur Sarah Bell. The goal is to get into high-end grocery stores and put Raleigh on the map as a candy brand destination.
But the consumer goods space is tricky. Brands fold all the time. In Raleigh, Without a Trace Foods folded last year. Hot beverage startup Mati Energy in Durham shut down in 2020, even after securing big name backers such as AOL cofounder Steve Case.
But Spring & Mulberry, which generated upwards of $400,000 in sales over the past six months and is looking to quadruple its revenue in the next 18 months – its chocolate bars start at about $15, with luxury gift sets priced at up to $75 – hopes to be the exception. Just 14 months into its launch and it’s in stores across the country – even scoring the attention of goop, the high-end lifestyle brand spearheaded by Gwyneth Paltrow.
And it’s doing it with dates – not processed sugar.
Entrepreneurial ambition
Shah, a native of Ann Arbor Michigan, always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur, having grown up in a founder family.
“It’s just part of my DNA,” she said. Even as a child she was brand building, crafting “TV commercials,” and making and selling her own soap.
After business school at Harvard University, she managed brand programs in New York for firms such as LVMH where she focused on Veuve Clicquot Champagne, and Pantone, where she led a global team of marketers.
But the plan was always to start her own company.
Shah and her husband loved to travel, particularly to the Middle East and his native India, where dates are a part of the culture. Fresh fruits, nuts and whole foods “are really elevated and luxurious,” she said.
“It’s way different than the way natural foods are presented in America in plastic clamshells or the bulk bins of grocery stores, and I always thought that was so interesting,” she said. “We’re elevating candy and chocolate and in other cultures they’re elevating fresh, whole foods.”
Then the cancer diagnosis hit, grinding it all to a halt. The diagnosis came with the medical advice that would inspire her company: Cut down on sugar for a better outcome, she was told.
The advice came as people kept sending her beautifully-packaged food gifts.
“I just realized I couldn’t eat any of them,” she said. “Why is there nothing in the market that’s beautiful, giftable, cool, chic, that you’d be proud of gifting but that’s also really delicious and nourishing? You could either get healthy food … or you could have cool, fun, awesome brands and really decadent treats but they’re really bad for you.”
The company
Shah and Bell met through a fellow entrepreneur. Shah’s background is marketing and Bell’s is in operations. And both “love and know the world of building brands,” Shah said.
Bell came to the Triangle from Alaska to attend Duke University. After a career in New York at firms such as Harry’s Inc and Bumble, she landed back in the Triangle, in part to be close to her sister, fellow entrepreneur Brooks Bell, who made Raleigh home after her own graduation from Duke.
Shah, lured to the Triangle by her husband, Neal Shah, CEO of CareYaya and a UNC-Chapel Hill alum, could understand – as she too, had been ready to leave New York. Together they took to the kitchen and started experimenting.
Those first days they were trying to figure out what the product would look like. Would it be date bites? Trail mix? Chocolate bars? By testing recipes with friends and family it was clear that “chocolate was the biggest hit.”
Today’s flavor offerings include combinations such as Mango Urfa Chili Black Lime and Lavender Bee Pollen Rose Petal.
Spring & Mulberry, which was initially bootstrapped, targeted small contract manufacturers in order to avoid excess inventory. But the approach came with a downside in the form of higher prices – something the company hopes to alleviate as it scales up and solicits its first growth capital.
“The reason we’re fundraising is because we are scaling up manufacturing, bringing down the cost of our goods by almost 50 percent,” Shah said.
Products launched in March of last year and were sold out by Mother’s Day. The firm re-launched for the holidays and is selling through its website and wholesale – without spending a single dollar on advertising, “and we’re doing it profitably month over month.”
The firm, named for the street corner Shah and her husband used to meet at when they first started dating, has started formally fundraising as it works to scale its production and target larger sellers such as grocery stores.