Episode 07

"I Built This Business For My Daughter" with Thereasa Black

Welcome back to the Duck Pond Podcast, where we bring on founders, creatives, and brilliant minds to get behind the scenes on how to bring a product onto store shelves, covering branding, marketing, packaging, and the hard stuff in between.

Today we’re featuring Thereasa Black, founder of Bon AppéSweet, a date-sweetened, plant-based chocolate brand rooted in devotion, integrity, and flavor. Thereasa built Bon AppéSweet after serving in the U.S. Military, deploying away from her daughter. She vowed she’d never leave her again—and turned that promise into a brand that crafts artisanal chocolate bars made with just 3–4 ingredients (cocoa powder, cocoa butter, dates), with zero added sugar, dairy-free, and fair trade.

We’ll dive into:

How Bon AppéSweet positions itself in the better-for-you chocolate space

The pivot from her gelato beginnings (Amore Congelato) into chocolate, and what drove that shift

What it takes to scale a socially minded, clean-ingredient dessert brand built on mission and community

Her path to landing in Whole Foods, Walmart, and broader retail, and how she handles that pressure

Marketing, packaging, and distribution lessons from a “dessert with a cause” brand

✨ Learn how Bon AppéSweet is redefining dessert — serious structure, sweet but pure.