We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Beata Lerman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Beata, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea and an inspiration behind Sinless Treats came form a deep desire to have a premium chocolate that one can enjoy in any amount and not have ANY regrets. This started way back into my graduate and even the undergraduate degree days. The only way I would survive the exams, was on a consistent diet of seafood and chocolate. Really it’s all I ate every time I would be under the immense stress. But eating lots of chocolate had its cost. The sugar spikes and drops took a toll on my focus and productivity, not to even mention that I would be avoiding the weight scales during that time. As it turns out, eating chocolate and not gaining weight, was not only my dream, but a dream of most women under streaas, especially in business and corporate decision making roles. As for me, I did my first graduate degree in Biochemistry, and then went on to to the second one in Immuno-oncology. Because of my background I was very good in inventing things that were not there before. at MD Anderson Cancer Center I co-invented immunotherapy for Lymphoma, and currently hold two patents for it. Through my work with cancer I realized that sugar in our processed food was the easy food for the tumors, and investing in cancer prevention was a really good way to avoid one day becoming a patient myself. I made a decision to drastically reduce the amount of refined carbohydrates and sugars in my diet, and turned to wholesome metabolically healthy foods.
However, those stressfull times did not go away, and with not consuming any desserts or sweets anymore, I was really missing my chocolate. You see, chocolate was my antidote, my cure for stress. Millions of people are resorting to very unhealthy chocolate for exactly the same reason. So I decided to make a really clean, minimally processed chocolate from the premium ingredients and without sugar for myself, so I can still indulge without paying the ultimate price with my health. I went on and invented that chocolate, just as I invented the cancer treatmnet before, and it was transformational! Prior to this no one attempted to make the chocolate that would taste on par or superior to conventional but offer health benifits insted of being a health detriment. I started to take my chocolate to my friends, as gifts, and the feedback was always outstanding. People started to come to me and suggest that I build a business around it. After all a unique, unorthodox new chocolate that can be consumed in unlimited amount without causing harm was very enticing not only to me. Eventually I gave in to the market demand, and to my own curiosity and created Sinless Treats chocolate. Our focuaas was always on quality. We make our chocolate from most exclusive cacao beans from the original DNA cacao trees grown only in the rain forrests of Ecuador and Costa Rica. We sweeten our chocolate with health promoting inulin fiber and real stevia leafs. We have a unique recipe that turns this 4-ingredient, minimally processed chocolate into a premium tasting product that easily rivals the most decadent belgian chocolate in the head-to-head tastings. We go by two fundumental medical principles: Do no harm; and Let food be thy medicine!
Now we make not only the chocolate, but elegant, sophisticated chocolate gift boxes, branded corporate gifts, premium chocolate bars, and signature Gift Baskets, and edible chocolate bouquets. Our chocolate creations are a great way to share emotions of indulgence, happiness, gratitude, elegance, high-fashion, vitality, wellness.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
When people hear the words gourmet chocolate, 9 times out of 10 their response is “I love chocolate!” or “Chocolate is my favorite thing!” or “I’m the biggest chocolate addict in the world”. Well, the world has a lot of chocolate addicts! I am one of them. The only difference is, I can’t eat the conventional chocolate made with sugar and low quality cacao beans. Being a top cancer scientists myself, In 2019 I was diagnosed with a cancer, a cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and as a part of my recovery I fully gave up sugars, and with it, to my huge disappointment, chocolate. Although I could live without most sweets, and some I adapted to a more keto-friendly way of making, there wasn’t any really great, delicious and at the same time “clean” chocolate on the market, so I had to invent it. Few companies challenge the status quo to bring truly life changing products to market, which will be impressive on all levels of senses without sacrificing the quality of experience people expect from indulging chocolate. I was motivated to beat my cancer, and I want to see a healthier, happier world. I wanted to share my love and passion for premium gourmet chocolate and health through the most exceptional and innovative chocolate gifts. That’s how Sinless Treats Chocolate was born.
The mission of Sinless Treats is Luxury, Innovation and Health. We want our chocolate to be a bold statement of status and care, of class and empathy, to create bonds and make lasting impressions while nourishing health and providing incredible indulging experience. I used my scientific knowledge to invent an exceptional product designed to improve, nourish, and also impress and indulge. I invite you on the journey of chocolate, health and luxury. Sinless Treats delivers Nature’s Luxury in Every Bite.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
With so many chocolate options on the market, you would probably ask, why did I choose to manufacture my own? That would be a great question, and there is a story behind that. It is worth noting that prior to starting making my own chocolate I did not know much about it. As you already know form my history, I stopped consuming sugar, so conventional chocolate with sugar and fillers like lecithin were not an option for me. Back then i though: “How difficult would it be to sweeten the chocolate with a natural sugar substitute? It can’t be that bad!”. what I didn’t know at the moment is that chocolate can only be sweetened during the manufacturing process. You can’t just take sugar and add it to a 100% unsweetened extra dark chocolate bar, because it would never dissolve to give the smoothness and the same quality of experience. I tried that anyway, and to my disappointment learned, that you can’t add the sweetener after the fact, not even in a powdered form, not through dissolving it in water, not through syrup. When all the above mentioned experiments failed, I realized that there is only one way, get a machine called a malinger, also known as a wet-grinder and use the granite mills on a granite plate to grind down the cacao nibs and the sweetener down to 15 micron particles which will give that velvety mouthful of the perfect piece of chocolate melting in your mouth. After getting the process down we had the challenge of finding the right suppliers of our cacao beans. All chocolatiers in the world know that the most flavorful cacao beans come from South America, but only a few are willing to accept a hefty price tag. For us it was a no-brainer! We didn’t want a genetically modified cacao beans from Africa, which may be produced through questionable ethical practices, and contain heavy metals like Cadmium and Lead that are further detrimental to health. So we went on the road and personally visited a few farms in three different countries, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Bolivia, and found the farmers with most clean, organic growing practices. It’s hard to overstate how these growing practices impact the taste and quality of the final product, but it does make all the difference. I was pleasantly surprised to see how gently these cacao fruits are handled from the tree to the stage of the dried beans, at which point we get them to our factory. From that point onward Sinless Treats is fully vertically integrated. Everything that is touching our chocolate and products made from it is produced at our factory to the highest possible standard. We make our own natural plant-based colorings that are used to color our chocolate pieces, and we make the fillings that go into our chocolate. Quality is the main reason for that, but this also helps us mitigate the risk of losing the key ingredient supplier in this very unstable economy.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I really feel that my experience in many different roles in biomedical field helped me build a reputation as a business owner. I know it doesn’t happen often when a successful scientist with inventions and publication in the top journals would leave a well-paid corporate 9-5 job to the future of uncertainty, 18 hour work days, and no pay (yet). I always joke that i take molecules that don’t play well together and make them play well together, and it is true in my past and present career. My former colleagues ask me if I miss science, but making a great food is as much science as it is art! But many customers are fascinated with my background, and it make the brand memorable. My constant striving for excellence in both science and business helps me build the reputation and report with people from all walks of life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sinlesstreats.us
- Instagram: @sinlesstreatschocolates
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SinlessTreatsHouston
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sinless-treats-desserts/
Image Credits
Irina Kozhemyakina