It is thanks to a clever marketing campaign on social networks, where they bluntly reveal the underbelly of entrepreneurship, that Jake Karls and his two partners managed to place their Mid-Day Squares healthy chocolate snacks on the chessboard of ‘a brutally competitive market.
The chocolate bar category represents a $140 billion global market, shared by big players like Nestlé, Mondelēz, Hershey, General Mills and Kellogg’s. These multinationals take almost 80% of the shares.
How can you carve out a place for yourself in such an environment? Jake Karls, 30, his sister and brother-in-law believed in their chances of success in 2018 when they handcrafted 80 chocolate bars a day in a small condo in Montreal.
“We cooked from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the evening and we delivered ourselves to our customers, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.,” says the former actuarial student.
Their 14,000 square foot factory, located in Lachine, now produces 90,000 bars daily. The little secret of their product? Healthy ingredients, no preservatives, no palm oil, available in four flavors, says Mr. Karls.
With around a hundred points of sale in Canada and more than 8,000 in the United States, Mid-Day Squares will achieve a turnover of between 25 and 30 million this year, almost double last year.
“We took huge risks,” says Jake Karls. We always remained ourselves. Authenticity, transparency, audacity are the driving force of our company and our leadership style. »
An example ? The three entrepreneurs took a perilous path by revealing everything they experienced and went through, as they progressed in their adventure.
“We talk without taboo about what we do for the company, our failures, our challenges, even the legal battles we are going through,” says the man who defines himself as the company’s “rainmaker” ( rainmaker), a role he sees as “the one who creates relationships, takes care of communications and marketing”.
The campaign quickly went viral, he points out. Mid-Day Squares has 128,000 followers on Instagram and 224,000 on TikTok.
This special relationship between the company and its customers has fueled interest in their products, Mr. Karls believes.
His ultimate dream? Building a new chocolate empire. “We want to be global! », he says.
Still between two plane flights, Jake Karls keeps a cool head. He is particularly keen to maintain strong ties with his two partners, his sister Lezlie Karls Saltarelli, 33, and Nick Saltarelli, 35.
“We made an important commitment, that of consulting a psychologist together every week,” he says. The pressure is so high! We must maintain good communication and good links. So one to two hours a week, we consult our psychologist, online or in person. This is an excellent investment since it is an investment in our mental health. »
