Captain’s Chocolate Company began with an Alaskan Salmon Fisherman who wanted a warm winter. That led him eventually to building a house in the Costa Rican mountains where he met Joel Sanchez, a Louisiana missionary turned Costa Rican beef farmer. Being the kind of guys they are, they had both become involved with local life and the indigenous tribes. Seeing that the tribes were having a difficult time financially spurred Captain Mark to come up with the idea of starting a chocolate factory. 

In the previous years, the local tribes had endured a fungus on their cacao trees that destroyed many orchards. At the same time, the local bean buyer slashed the price to well below market price. Getting their crop to market meant going down dangerous mountain roads in less-than-ideal conditions. In order to solve these challenges, Captain Mark purchased 10,000 seedlings for the tribes, distributing them to anyone who wanted to farm cacao. Once the trees started producing, Captain Mark started buying those beans, and currently pays the farmers well above fair trade prices (almost double!) To solve the issue of getting the beans to market, Captain Mark purchased a truck and started a pickup route, so that the farmers don’t have to worry about delivery. Now, even the smallest farmer can sell beans to Captain’s Chocolate.