Katrina Markoff

In 1998, Katrina Markoff launched Vosges Haut-Chocolat from a tiny kitchen in Chicago.

She had just returned from training under Ferran Adrià at El Bulli and traveling through Southeast Asia and Australia.

She was searching for meaning.

She found it in cacao.

Her early truffles were inspired by a necklace from the Nagaland tribe.

22 pieces of chocolate, each tied to a “soul” story.

She founded Vosges with an SBA-backed loan, opened her first retail shop a year later, and started selling exotic combinations no one had seen before...

Chocolate and wasabi. Paprika truffles. Chocolate-covered bacon. Lavender white chocolate bars.

Her slogan: “Travel the World Through Chocolate®”.

Vosges grew to 9 boutiques, sold in every Whole Foods, Neiman Marcus, and luxury food store you could name.

Her packaging was baroque.

Her flavors were bizarre, mystical, unforgettable.

And the world noticed…

Fortune 40 under 40.

Bon Appétit’s Food Artisan of the Year.

Named by Food & Wine as “The innovator in chocolate to lead the US through the next 30 years”.

And Woman Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine & American Express.

Vosges was also named one of the Top 10 Chocolatiers in the World by National Geographic.

But in 2019, her world collapsed.

Her husband, Jason, went into septic shock.

Doctors told her to say goodbye.

She refused.

He survived… but lost all four limbs.

While raising two kids and caring for Jason full-time, she kept Vosges alive. Barely.

COVID hit. Retail stores closed. Revenue plunged.

She pivoted hard, shut down stores, cut costs, and moved the business online.

Vosges survived. Sales grew 100% in one year.

But she had changed.

After decades of scaling, success, and survival, Markoff wanted something different.

Not just chocolate.

Ritual. Healing. Imagination.

In 2023, she launched Ultima Materia, her ACDBE-certified business that partners on food and chocolate concepts in airports.

And in 2024, she left Vosges entirely.

Walked away from the brand she built for 25 years.

Then launched a new one, Violet Flame Chocolate, in just five months.

No outside capital. No partners. Just her.

Chocolate made with Lion’s Mane mushrooms, Okinawan black sugar, wild-grazed milk from the Andes, organic sprouted red walnuts, and rose water from Bulgaria.

Sourced from Ghana, Ecuador, Grenada, Papua New Guinea.

Blended with botanicals, elixirs, and ingredients chosen for their “divine signatures.”

Tied to a daily ritual called Cacao Spiritus, a 10-minute chocolate meditation to reconnect with intuition, courage, and self-trust.

She’s also launched L528, LLC, and has plans for more ventures rooted in brand storytelling, experiential marketing, and soulful food.

“Chocolate has always had a soul. I’m just finding new ways to express it.”

And she does it all while raising her kids, helping her husband walk again with prosthetics, and building rituals designed to heal people through their senses.