Maverick Chocolate Co.
Paul Picton, Owner of Maverick Chocolate Co.
Maverick Chocolate, known for their award-winning chocolate, was born out of Paul and his family’s love of chocolate. Paul, co-founder of Maverick Chocolate, was an aviation engineer for 30 years before taking on chocolate making. He travelled frequently and, as a thank you for staying home with their children, would always bring home chocolates from all over the world for his wife, Marlene.
“I was trying to find unique and interesting presents and chocolate fit the bill,” Paul said. “I’m just glad she wasn’t into diamonds.”
Paul said he would research where to find the best chocolate anywhere he was traveling and considered himself a “chocolate hunter”. Through his travels, Paul often found himself splitting his time abroad and at home.
“I had an apartment in Berlin too, so I kind of lived in two places,” Paul said. “I would open up the suitcase and airport security would literally only see stacks of chocolate and two bags of Italian espresso beans.”
When his time as an aviation engineer came to an end, Paul took on his new venture in chocolate making. Paul said there were no other places in Cincinnati selling craft chocolate and saw an opportunity. With his family’s help, Maverick Chocolate was born. Since opening at Findlay Market in 2014, Maverick Chocolate has now won five Good Food Awards, tying them for fourth in the United States. But, according to Paul, the first and second place winners no longer produce chocolate.
“The day we opened, we all but sold out,” Paul said. “We started off strong, and in the first year we won a Good Food Award with our “513 Fahrenheit Bar”, and an international chocolate award, so that put Cincinnati on the chocolate map.”
With more than half of their employees being family, Maverick Chocolate takes the meaning of family-owned business to another level. “We’re a family in the deepest sense, pretty much all our employees are related,” Paul said.
Keeping families together is one of the most important aspects of his business according to Paul. He said when buying cacao for his business, he works directly with small farms and co-ops around the world. He also mentioned that 80 percent of the world’s chocolate is produced through child slave labor and wanted to make a difference in the chocolate industry and be an alternative.
“I dont think it’s any secret in the agricultural world that if you can keep the farmers and the farming families together, then that is better for everyone. When the kids leave the farms and go into the cities, usually there are no jobs. So that tends to lead to more crime and create a whole bad cycle,” Paul said. “If we can make farms and farm life interesting and financially viable, then we win. Farms that I've gone to visit in Peru and Dominican Republic love being able to work with chocolate so for us that was very important. We wanted whatever we were doing to still have that social impact, that philanthropist attitude.”
In addition to making an impact abroad, Paul has also made a huge impact locally at Findlay Market. When looking for ingredients, Paul said he actively collaborates with different merchants around the market. He has bought coffee beans from Deeper Roots, spices from Colonel De Gourmet Herbs & Spices, passion fruit for truffles from The Arepa Place, herbs from Madison’s, nuts from Dean’s Mediterranean Imports, and more.
“We’re very much tied to the Findlay Market community. We want to have the market grow,” Paul said. “We’re here on earth for a short time, how do we make it as enjoyable as possible? If we can work with people that we love or that we know and get along with then that is as good as you can ask for.”
Published June 2021