Abstract

Vosges Haut-Chocolat (Vosges) is a luxury chocolate brand that uses unusual combi-nations such as spices, herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, and nuts in its products. The company was founded by Katrina Markoff (Markoff) in 1998. She put to good use her travel expe-riences and culinary training in chocolates to create unusual chocolate flavors. She included flavors from all over the globe like Japanese wasabi, Italian taleggio cheese, Indian curry, and Mexican ancho chili. Within a decade, Vosges had grown from an in-house chocolate manufacturing business, into a multimillion-dollar enterprise with stores in Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas. Markoff, known for her creativity and business acumen, has a passion for the community and she took up social causes for the welfare of the woman. With her entrepreneurial skills, Markoff was successful in positioning Vosges as a premium chocolate brand and was looking at making her mark in the global market.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the issues and challenges in building a start-up business and sustaining it over time
• Understand how Katrina Markoff built Vosges over the years
• Understand the issues and challenges faced by an entrepre-neurial venture particularly, pertaining to maintaining its innovation
• and Understand the role played by Katrina Markoff in the success of Vosges.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Innovation, Small business, Gourmet chocolate industry, Marketing, Positioning, Distribution, Promotion, Luxury Chocolates, Katrina Markoff, Vosges Haute-Chocolat