Years ago, Ella Livingston traveled to Japan where she tasted such exquisite chocolate, her whole world would change.

What intentionality. What beauty. This was something worthy of a bow.

In 2018, still tasting the echoes of that Tokyo chocolate, Ella launched Cocoa Asante out of her home kitchen.

The high school math teacher turned chocolatier + entrepreneur hoped to create a chocolate and bonbon experience supported by a bean-to-bar process unlike any other in the US.

That first year?

"I made $660," she once said.

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Ella never quit. One year turned to two then three; now, nearly seven years after producing her first luxury chocolates, her Chattanooga-based chocolate brand is poised to catapult itself into seven-figure deals with multinational impact.

Today, Cocoa Asante announces the conclusion of its capital campaign that raised a stunning amount of funding in very little time, with nearly all of it from local investors.

"We finished at $1.585 million," said Ella. "We ended up raising the majority from local investors."

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It began slowly. And, for a time, barely at all.

"It took 19 months to get our first 'yes'," she said.

The campaign began in 2024. In December 2025, Launch TN promised $250,000. Then, the floodgates opened; within several months, Ella had reached her target: $1.585 million.

"It took about three months from our first 'yes'," she said. "We closed rapidly."

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Offering artisan chocolate that's "almost too pretty to eat," Cocoa Asante sells luxury chocolates and bonbons in stores and online, frequently sourcing from regional producers, especially Black-and-women-owned businesses.

Cocoa Asante's chocolate prioritizes a bean-to-bar process that ethically sources chocolate beans from Ella's home country: Ghana, one of the world's top chocolate producers. The Asante name reflects her family's ancestry and tribal presence there.

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Now, Cocoa Asante will use its new funding in four significant ways:

Hiring a larger team.

Boosting ingredients, supplies and technology.

Moving to a new location. (Yes, still in Chattanooga.)

And, most of all, shifting production to a co-manufacturer.

"Bonbons we will still do internally," she said.

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Partnering with a larger co-manufacturer will allow Cocoa Asante to fulfill bigger orders. Ella will begin by pursuing larger contracts — "seven figure contracts" — within airline and hospitality industries.

Before Cocoa Asante's capital campaign, this had been theoretical only. Ella had been in talks with a "major airline," but Cocoa Asante's limited production had been unable to meet such needs.

The Ashland Terrace facility quadruples as ground zero for production, office space, recipe creation, order fulfillment and, well, everything else.

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Now, the larger contracts will allow a self-funded expansion into retail.

"We want to be able to do retail right," she said.

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It was during a trip to Japan that Ella first tasted a level of artisan chocolate she'd never experienced before. Something was born inside; returning home, she launched Cocoa Asante while still teaching high school math and signing up for every accelerator and incubator class, launch pitch and Youtube tutorial she could find.

She had a desire and vision: chocolate created from goodness. From Chattanooga to Ghana, she'd pay living wages while sourcing beans harvested from her family's home in Ghana, all producing chocolate with the highest level of precision and taste.

Then, her unicorn moment. In 2023, Instagram influencer Keith Lee declared: Cocoa Asante is a "9.5" out of 10.

"Delicious," he said.

Her chocolates went viral overnight: $24,000 of orders in 24 hours. More than $100,000 in one month. Instagram posts with six million views. In two weeks, she'd fulfilled more order than the entire year prior.

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Over time, growth slowed. Without an adequately-sized facility and team, larger contracts stalled; the margins were slim because fulfillment was such a labor-intensive process.

Welcome to the small business dilemma: which comes first: the chocolate or the bonbon? How do you scale for larger growth if you don't have the resources to do so? In 2024, Cocoa Asante came this-close to shutting down.

"If we did not grow rapidly, I knew I would have to start to close Cocoa Asante down," Ella said.

She doubled-down, shifting her savings then retirement into the business.

'There was nothing left. I pulled everything just to keep the doors open," she said.

She launched the new capital campaign confident of Chattanooga's ability to launch a business. But is this the place to scale one?

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The campaign was a long shot: a difficult economy, and as a Black woman, Ella faced ever larger odds and obstacles.

"In 2025, less than 1.5 percent of all [venture capital] dollars ... went to women-owned or women-led companies," she said. "For Black women at the time, the estimate was less than .2 percent."

A local foundation provided mentorship while also letting its own community know: you may want to pay attention to her.

"A lot of those supporters were very familiar with us and had been customers for years," she said.

Many of them turned into investors.

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"It's harder in a weird way when you know you're fundraising," she said. "You're putting yourself out there in a different way. You're really selling the value of a future, not necessarily a product. You are selling your ideas and dreams and it's easier to internalize those 'no's' and question: am I even doing the right thing?"

Turns out: yes.

And, is Chattanooga the right place to scale Cocoa Asante?

Also: a big yes.

Ella tells the story of one local woman who called one day to invest.

I love what you're doing, she told Ella. My husband and I would like to invest $100,000.

At the time, Ella wasn't actively approaching this family as investors. She scrambled, thrilled, but caught off guard:

"Yes!" she replied. "I can meet you and bring you a pitch deck and show you our numbers and ... "

Ella, the woman said. We don't need a pitch deck. You don't need to do a hard pitch to us.

The only thing that needs to be hard is the shell of your bonbons.

We believe in you. We love what you're doing and who you are.

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Ella began to cry.

"I felt poured into," she said.

Then, the woman continued: whatever happens, you're going to be able to overcome it.

We would be honored to invest. Would you have us? Would you allow us to invest?

"It flipped," she said. "I was so blown away."

Weeks later, and more weeks later, Ella hit bumps in the road. Her instinct was to reach out for counsel, advice or help. Instead, she remembered: you can do this. We believe in you.

"She's right. I was able to tackle it myself," she said.

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Now, Cocoa Asante enters its second chapter: nearly $1.6 million in funding ready to propel it into its best years as a multinational brand.

"I dream big," Ella said. "We're going to do it. But I didn't know how."

What intentionality.

What beauty.

This is something worthy of a bow.

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.

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