Meet Chris Roeder | Direct Trade Specialist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Roeder and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
It’s little known and fascinating that chocolate at its origin comes from a fruit tree that is only found 20 degrees north and south of the equator.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Naked Cacao was started to fill a gap in the direct trade, responsible commodity sourcing industry by helping provide a more accessible platform for smallholder farmers in deeply impoverished countries to reach the United States market. Cacao farming is a highly labor intensive industry with often times exploitative tactics by multinational suppliers that force down profit margins for farmers. With Naked Cacao, I wanted to seek out these smallholder farming groups and provide them a direct route to US based chocolate makers, significantly increasing their margin.

It was incredibly rewarding to travel to countries like Uganda, Dem. Republic of Congo and Madagascar to meet with these farming groups and understand their particular challenges, what life is like at origin, and ultimately what can be done to provide more equity to improve the lives of the community. Spending time with these groups at origin provides an entirely new perspective. If more people were able to peek into these dynamics, I think there would a better understanding of where our food comes from and a great focus on improving supply chain transparency.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well I recently moved to Austin, TX, so including BBQ and breakfast tacos would be required! I would hit the following spots:

Breakfast tacos at Veracruz
BBQ at La Barbecue
More tacos and coffee at Cosmic Coffee
Take a quick swim to cool off at Barton Springs, then paddle board around Ladybird Lake
For dinner some classic tex-mex at Matt’s El Rancho
Then grab a drink at an Argentinean speakeasy Milonga Room
And finally see live jazz at the Elephant Room

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am lucky to be part of a family on entrepreneurs, spanning across various industries, that helped provide inspiration to create your own career path. Ultimately I think what stops a lot of individuals from starting a business and taking a leap is fear of failure. I’ve been luck enough to surround myself with people who embrace this challenge and draw energy from it.

Instagram: @nakedcacao