Vince Garcia emanates warmth and welcoming energy—he’s someone who feels immediately like an old friend upon first meeting. One of the four cofounders of award-winning Kasama Chocolate, he has spent the last six years building the bean-to-bar artisanal chocolate brand from the ground up (and with no formal chocolate-making experience) with his business partners.He grew up on the north shore, the son of Filipino parents who immigrated to Canada in the 1970s. Roller hockey, soccer, and basketball were a big part of his childhood—it was in roller hockey where he met his long-time friends Stefan, Oliver, and Dom, who eventually became his future business partners, too. Working at a creative agency like DDB or Rethink had been Vince’s ultimate career goal as a young adult, until life presented another option after he inherited a family property in the Philippines that grew cacao beans. In this conversation, we discuss how cultural identity and being a bit of an outsider shaped his view of himself and the world; the genesis story of Kasama and its growth since launching in 2016; what the word ‘kasama’ means in Tagalog and the political charge it represents back in the Philippines; working with cacao bean farmers and the importance of building trust with them; the creative process for coming up with a new bar flavour; the difference between a chocolatier and a chocolate maker; why he and his business partners have been called ‘chocolate punks’; emerging trends in the industry; what he appreciates about his three business partners and his friendship with each of them; and more.

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