CLAYTON, Mo. — While a graduate student at Washington University in the summer of 2019, Cam Loyet had to give a 10-minute presentation on a topic of his choice. Two hobbies of his came to mind: Golf and chocolate.
Loyet opted to talk about the latter, specifically choosing to discuss the chocolate company he co-founded with his wife, Haley Loyet, in 2016 while they were undergrads at Illinois Wesleyan University. The company — Honeymoon Chocolates — at the time had fallen by the wayside as Loyet pursued a career in accounting.
But during that presentation, he whipped up a batch of chocolate for his audience. He hasn't stopped yet.
“That (presentation) was the beginning of pushing Honeymoon again,” Loyet said.
Since then, Honeymoon Chocolates has grown to sell its products in nearly 100 retail stores nationwide. Earlier this month, it opened a new factory and retail store in Clayton as part of an effort at both expanding its nationwide footprint and elevating its brand locally.
Honeymoon began in a college dorm room with the goal of making a healthier version of chocolate. The company, which won a 2021 Arch Grant, manufactures and sells “bean to bar” chocolate that includes no refined sugar and is sweetened using only raw honey. Honeymoon provides part of its proceeds to honeybee research and says it sources its honey from beekeepers.
While at Illinois Wesleyan, the Loyets used the shared kitchen of Cam’s four-person dorm suite to make the chocolates. Cam Loyet stored his chocolate-making equipment and ingredients in a 5 by 8-foot closet in his dorm room.
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