A Toronto chef and a veteran entrepreneur are launching a new chocolate manufacturing venture they say will give Canadian chefs and bakers an alternative to buying from large foreign conglomerates.
Chef Brandon Olsen and entrepreneur Michael Held plan to take As We Do Chocolate to market in July, positioning the company as a premium, Canadian-made supplier focused primarily on the business-to-business market.
Olsen said professional kitchens across the country have long relied on a small group of U.S. and European industrial chocolate producers, leaving little room for domestic options or product customization.
“All chefs, restaurateurs, bakers, anyone that uses chocolate in the B2B space, they’re forced to buy from U.S. and European conglomerates,” he said in an interview. “Why can’t there be a Canadian company going after the Canadian B2B market?”
The founders say that gap in the market, combined with demand for higher-quality ingredients and closer supplier relationships, underpins their business strategy.
As We Do has launched a Kickstarter campaign with a funding goal of $100,000. The Kickstarter will offer early supporters various rewards, including limited product pre-sales and unique “Chocolate for Life” packages. Proceeds from the campaign will support the final setup of the company’s 15,000–20,000-square-foot factory in Toronto, which is scheduled to open to the public in September 2026.
Focus on quality and customization
As We Do Chocolate will manufacture chocolate using cocoa, cocoa butter and sugar, eliminating additives such as soy lecithin, sunflower lecithin and palm oils commonly found in industrial products, Olsen said.
“If you look at industrial chocolate, they’re filled with lecithins … palm oils,” he said. “What sets us aside is not only being a Canadian manufacturer of chocolate, but also the quality, using a good bean, getting rid of all that extra stuff, and getting back to what chocolate is.”
Beyond ingredient sourcing, Olsen said the company intends to differentiate itself by offering flexibility to professional clients. Large multinational suppliers often require substantial minimum orders before altering product specifications, he said.
“With conglomerates, you have to spend at least a million dollars before they even think about changing their lines,” Olsen said. “You don’t have to commit to a large quantity to get what you’re looking for.”
The company will distribute its product through the same channels restaurants and food-service operators already use, working with established distribution partners. In addition to its B2B focus, As We Do Chocolate plans to operate an e-commerce platform and retail component at its factory, and to sell through higher-end boutique shops.
“As much as we want to be fully B2B, we also want to be accessible to home bakers and people who just love chocolate,” Olsen said.
From law and digital health to food manufacturing
Held, 54, brings a background in corporate law, strategy consulting and digital health entrepreneurship to the venture. A law and MBA graduate, he previously worked in mergers and acquisitions and securities law at a major Canadian firm before moving into consulting. In 2004, he founded a digital mental health company that he grew over more than two decades, taking it public in 2021 at a valuation just under $500 million.
“My passion lies in building and scaling businesses,” Held said. “I’ve spent the last 22 years … starting and doing everything, and then 22 years later, you’re still doing the stapling, but managing hundreds of people.”
He said the chocolate venture reflects a desire to build something he is personally passionate about, alongside a partner he respects.
“I want to spend the rest of my time doing something I’m super passionate about, working with people I love,” Held said. “I love building.”
Olsen, who has worked in the culinary industry for 42 years and began cooking at 14, described himself as a serial entrepreneur. This will be his third chocolate company and roughly his 10th business venture overall, including restaurants and other food concepts in Toronto.
He previously worked at The French Laundry in New York, where he said he developed a deep interest in chocolate.
“That’s where I actually fell in love with chocolate,” Olsen said. “I was hooked.”
Building relationships with chefs
The two met during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Olsen was operating a business offering in-home dining experiences as restrictions allowed. Held said they quickly formed a friendship and began discussing the possibility of building something together.
The name As We Do Chocolate emerged during a business trip to New York for a chocolate conference, Olsen said. Over dinner on their final night, the pair toasted their partnership.
“I said, ‘As we do,’” Olsen recalled. “And it was just like, that’s the name.”
While product quality is central to the company’s pitch, Held said relationship-building is equally important to its strategy.
He said conversations with dozens of chefs revealed frustration with distant suppliers and a desire for closer ties.
“One chef said, ‘I just want to be able to shake the hands of the person making the ingredients that are going into my offering,’” Held said.
“I think we’re at a time where people are trying to create better relationships, know their people, have trust, be listened to and collaborate, not just be told how their business is going to work when it comes to ingredients that are so important.”
Held said the company intends to position itself as both supplier and partner, adapting products over time based on feedback from chefs rather than dictating specifications.
“Some of it will be that the chocolate is great,” he said. “But some of it will be that we shake hands, talk and discuss how our product evolves as a journey instead of dictating it.”
For Olsen, the venture represents an effort to create a Canadian alternative in a category he believes has long lacked one.
“We’re here to fill a void in the Canadian landscape,” he said.
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