We've got a few things to celebrate: enjoying the last days of summer, along with our our newest Antidote, the two Big Kid Milk Chocolate bars. Oh, and we turned six this month! For six whole years we’ve been dedicated to potent delicious chocolate that is low on sugar; a bar that’s as delicious as it is healthy and as healthy as it is sinfully delicious. A chocolate that is gratifying in small pieces and nourishing and energizing when eating the whole bar at once. One that is made directly in Ecuador where we source all the cacao.
As Antidote turns six, I wanted to thank all of you—the early adopters of a new breed of chocolate in this country—for making it happen with your appreciation, support and purchases. I’ve always been a bit ahead of the times, even when I was in advertising and design for twenty years before launching this chocolate adventure. I’m glad you’ve followed us in this! Over the years we’ve noticed how many more people every day develop a palate for quality, flavor and less sugar. Although there are good alternatives to white sugar, in the end sugar is always sugar and we believe in less sugar and more cacao. Or no sugar at all with your favorite Raw 100% Antidote. (this one, only for the strong at heart)
Even though these ideals are inherently European, I never could have launched Antidote in Austria, where I’m from. Therefore I have a deep, personal gratitude to the people in this country who have been celebrating my talents and ideas. I arrived in New York roughly 16 years ago with my design portfolio under my arm to find a job during the recession in 2010. Art directors said “you are very talented”, and throughout the next years working in design studios and advertising firms I was called “big Red” when I walked in the door. When I first launched Antidote, my friends welcomed the idea (although some couldn’t believe it) and eagerly assisted in tasting and rating my samples and throwing an official launch party. The first official batch was done and sold in many places in NYC. Fast forward one month and I proudly bring some bars back home to my family in Austria. I sit together with my sister and my parents to have them try. My mum thinks it would be better if there were some liquor in it. She was a respected chef and famous for her alcohol drenched cakes - Schwarzwalder-Kirsch and Sacher Torte. Growing up, the cakes we ate were delicious but never kid friendly! My younger brother walks in the door and says with a smirk: “Why do you all look so bitter? Did you eat some of Red’s bitter chocolate?" Laughing in the room, and next my older brother joins the tasting of the first five 84% bars that I launched, commenting dryly: “Well, this chocolate you have to sell in the drug store." Thank god for their humor–although their feedback wasn’t too inspiring at that time. Of course by now their palates have also become more refined and now Antidote gets hidden and hoarded immediately before someone else can get their hands on it.