Meet a Dad: Doug Bouton, The Founder of Gatsby Chocolate | Greater Lansing Area Moms

 

If you’re a chocolate lover but not so sweet on extra calories, you’ll definitely want to know about our newest find, Gatsby Chocolate! Founded by Doug Bouton, the cofounder of Halo Top ice cream, Gatsby Chocolate is the lowest-calorie chocolate you can buy. And not only is it low-sugar, high-fiber and even keto-friendly, it tastes delicious – just like full-calorie varieties. We spoke to Doug, a Dad of three young kids, about his newest venture, fatherhood and more.

Want to try Gatsby Chocolate? Click here and use code LOCALMOMS50 for 50% off your first purchase

Can you please share a bit about yourself and your family?

I have three kids – Maxwell (5), Tessa (3), Easton (4 months). We currently live in the Chicago area. As a family, we try to do as much as we can outside (Chicago-weather permitting) like parks, playgrounds, and sports. We also love movies and regularly go to the theaters with the kids as well as have a family tradition of a Friday-night movie at home. The kids love it because they create their own customized candy and snacks bowl, and Jennifer (my wife) and I love it because we get to watch a movie. Win-win!

Great idea! Can you please share the back story of Gatsby Chocolate?

I’m the cofounder of Halo Top, which was one of the first ice cream brands to combine low-calorie with great taste. After selling Halo Top in 2019, I – along with a bunch of other Halo Top team members – were trying to figure out what to do next. We looked at different food categories and settled on chocolate because there were no other low-calorie chocolates; literally none. There were some low-sugar chocolates like Lily’s but even they still had almost as many calories as brands like Lindt, Ghirardelli, Hershey’s, etc. So we founded Gatsby Chocolate, which is basically the Halo Top of chocolate: 1/2 the calories, 1/4 of the sugar, but somehow still tastes just like decadent, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. We launched on January 1, after spending more than a year developing the recipe. We’re ecstatic with the result and can’t wait to share it with everyone.

What lessons from your experience with Halo Top have you used to help you launch and grow Gatsby’s Chocolate?

How long do you have? So many – from building and leading a team to how to build a brand to how to build a profitable business. We’ve taken so many lessons learned from mistakes made at Halo Top and are trying to do it better this time around at Gatsby. The entire idea is that, although there are no guarantees for success, what can we do and what decisions can we make to give us the best chance for success and the biggest margin for error?

How were you able to create such a low-calorie chocolate that tastes delicious?

The main thing is to not only cut the sugar but also to cut the fat. Chocolate has been made with cocoa butter for hundreds of years, and the industry really took it for granted. We wanted to look at that fresh and ask, could we not only cut the sugar but also cut the fat? Fat is 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per gram for sugar so that was a big breakthrough for us. Our ingredients are all-natural, and we use sugar replacements like allulose as well as fiber.

Who is your typical Gatsby devotee?

Our biggest demographic is young moms – the mom who is on the go, trying to balance kids, other family obligations, career obligations, you name it. They love eating chocolate and maybe eat a bit after lunch for a sweet treat, or a bit in the afternoon as a quick snack, or a bit after dinner for dessert. We hope that Gatsby Chocolate can give these superhero on-the-go moms all of the melt-in-your-mouth taste they deserve without any of the calories or guilt.

What is your favorite strange chocolate combo?

It sounds so weird, but I swear adding a bit of chocolate to your chili takes it to the next level. It can be your secret ingredient if you want to win the next chili cook-off!

What are you doing to celebrate Father’s Day?

Sleeping? I hope?

Do you have any fatherhood advice you’ve received that you’ve really used, or advice you give to new dads?

Go easy on yourself. 90% of it is just showing up.

What is your favorite way to pair chocolate and wine?

With a lot…and a lot. In all seriousness, I enjoy pairing our Sea Salt Extra Dark bar with any red you can get your hands on.

What do your family think of Gatsby Chocolate?

Oddly, my wife wasn’t an ice cream fan so she never enjoyed tasting the R&D pints of Halo Top. But she is a HUGE chocolate fan. It has been awesome using her as Chief Tasting Officer and actually having her enjoy our products and developing them. Her palate is incredibly good, and I use her all of the time!

What is your favorite product and why?

Our milk chocolate peanut butter cups are perfect in my opinion. They’re the perfect size, very snackable, only 50 calories, and so, so, so delicious.

Where can people buy Gatsby?

You can visit our store locator here and download a free coupon to try us in stores. We’re available at a lot of stores like Kroger, Hy-Vee, Ralphs, Fry’s, Mariano’s, Fred Meyer, Lowes, and Stop & Shop. You also can find us online at Gatsby Chocolate.

What’s next for the product line?

We’ve launched chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, and gems (which are like our M&M item). We plan to continue to innovate within traditional confectionery, chocolate, and dessert categories, bringing great-tasting but low-calorie options anywhere and everywhere we can.

Want to try Gatsby Chocolate? Click here and use code LOCALMOMS50 for 50% off your first purchase. 

This story is sponsored by Gatsby Chocolate and was originally shared by The Local Moms Network.

 

 

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