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Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to coast am on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Okay, let's get to our guest.

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Speaker 3: It was back in nineteen it was in the early,

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Speaker 3: no mid nineties.

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Speaker 2: It was in the mid nineties.

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Speaker 3: And as I was growing up in my life, I

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Speaker 3: always knew I was going to be in TV and film.

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Speaker 2: Never thought it was going to be radio. Never did.

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Speaker 2: But it's the best foundation of all of them. Absolutely.

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Speaker 3: But in the mid nineties, at one point I had

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Speaker 3: saved up my money and I went to the second

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Speaker 3: Hollywood at the time, which was Orlando, and I paid

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Speaker 3: rent for one full month and everything I needed to

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Speaker 3: just stay alive for a month. And my whole plan

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Speaker 3: was to audition, audition, audition. I was going to get

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Speaker 3: TV shows, I was singing at films, and the whole

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Speaker 3: lot was going on at that time. It was either

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Speaker 3: go to La New York or Orlando, and so I

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Speaker 3: went to Orlando. I lived in an area called winter Park.

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Speaker 3: At one point I went out to an audition and

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Speaker 3: the audition was for a game show, a quiz game show.

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Speaker 3: I'm not I don't even remember exactly the game show itself,

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Speaker 3: but I remember the guy of course that was holding

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Speaker 3: those auditions, and his name was Brad Yeayer, and he

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Speaker 3: and I hit it off during the auditions. And the

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Speaker 3: interesting thing was is I just felt like we were

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Speaker 3: just we were on the same page, and we became

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Speaker 3: friends through that. And he was always just one of

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Speaker 3: the nicest people in the world. And I remember that

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Speaker 3: anytime any of us went out anywhere, a whole group

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Speaker 3: of us, he would always to dinner. He would always

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Speaker 3: stand up, and he would pay for every one of

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Speaker 3: the women's meals. He didn't take care of the men.

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Speaker 3: He took care of the women. But he would stand up.

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Speaker 3: It didn't matter if it was three or fifty, he

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Speaker 3: would take care of the women's dinner. I'll never forget that.

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Speaker 3: In fact, as I moved on and went to different

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Speaker 3: place just to live and work and blah blah all

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Speaker 3: over the States, and him, Brad, he did the same thing,

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Speaker 3: went around and did things all over the world, and

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Speaker 3: along the way, I recognize how special that was.

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Speaker 2: Being from the South, you kind of expect that. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it's just the way it is.

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Speaker 3: That's how you're taught that the guys do that kind

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Speaker 3: of thing. But he always did everybody, every woman, and

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Speaker 3: as I moved around. I recognized that that wasn't happening,

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Speaker 3: and I recognized how special that was. And at one point,

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Speaker 3: not all that long ago, I caught back up with.

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Speaker 2: Him and I let him know.

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Speaker 3: I said, man, you ruined it for all the other

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Speaker 3: people along the way, because as I've traveled and lived

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Speaker 3: here and lived there, I've recognized that men don't do that.

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Speaker 3: They don't do that anymore, or they just don't do

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Speaker 3: that at all, where they stand up and say, hey,

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Speaker 3: I got all the women's meals and we're talking really

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Speaker 3: nice restaurants. It didn't matter. It didn't matter what the

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Speaker 3: restaurant was and the prices. It was just so wonderful. Anyway,

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Speaker 3: we've gotten back together and we've been talking for several

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Speaker 3: years again just like where we left off, and it's

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Speaker 3: just great to get to know him because he's just

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Speaker 3: always been that really good friend. And by the way,

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Speaker 3: he's into the things we are here on coast, he's

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Speaker 3: into those.

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Speaker 2: We'll talk about that tonight.

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Speaker 3: But it was so great getting back with him and

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Speaker 3: then learning what he's been doing and where he is now.

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Speaker 3: And that is our the real Willie Wonka. He is

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Speaker 3: a chocolate chocolate tear. I want to learn more about that.

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Speaker 3: But he just recently put out a book, Chocolate Covered Money,

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Speaker 3: Secrets of the marketing Genius who built the world's most

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Speaker 3: successful chocolate brands CEO of Godiva and Moore. We'll learn

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Speaker 3: that from him specifically, because he can say it much

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Speaker 3: more elegantly than me, and you should in the chocolate world,

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Speaker 3: at least the way he presents chocolate. And because of

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Speaker 3: his presentations of chocolate, he's gotten where he's gotten and

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Speaker 3: I'm so proud of him. So I won't tear up,

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Speaker 3: and he won't tear up, because if I go any further, Brad,

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Speaker 3: I will tear up. Thank you for being here tonight,

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Speaker 3: and welcome to Coast and cost am.

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Speaker 4: Well. Thank you for that warm sentiment. Connie, it's nice

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Speaker 4: to get here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it. Here you are. This is Brad Yader,

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Speaker 3: and Brad you you know what tell me your road

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Speaker 3: to success? You and I met in winter Park, Florida.

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Speaker 3: Not Winter Park, Colorado, winter Park, Florida. I lived right now.

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Speaker 3: You went to Rollins College. I live right next to that.

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Speaker 3: But you and I met when you were holding auditions

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Speaker 3: for a game show.

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Speaker 4: Yes, the game show actually was Bigo, which I had

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Speaker 4: the rights to very briefly. And here's a fun fact, Connie,

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Speaker 4: to this day, I'm still the biggest winner in the

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Speaker 4: history of NBC daytime for game shows. I was on

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Speaker 4: Let's Make a Deal. There was it MGM Studios or

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Speaker 4: or Universal in Orlando.

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Speaker 2: At the time. Yeah, I think it was Universal Universal.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I think during the pandemic then

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Speaker 4: Let's Make a Deal is still on CBS and they

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Speaker 4: had the Tournament of Champions and I was invited back,

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Speaker 4: so yes, yeah, he didn't make it as far. This time.

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Speaker 4: I was playing against the woman who had filmed the

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Speaker 4: pilot of Let's Make a Deal with Monty Hall back

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Speaker 4: in nineteen sixty one. They found both of us.

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Speaker 3: Wow, okay, but you were on some other game shows too.

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Speaker 3: You're like known for all this game show stuff.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Back in the day when I had the time,

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Speaker 4: I was on every game show you could name, the

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Speaker 4: Pyramid and Shopping Spree and I can't even remember what.

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Speaker 2: Was the show. I was on the cover of US.

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Speaker 4: Magazine for one of those programs, one with Chuck Barriss

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Speaker 4: at the time, he was right, the.

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Speaker 2: Don Show, the Donk Show. It was you did not.

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Speaker 4: It was the one where there was a panel of people.

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Speaker 4: I can't even remember the name. I have to pull

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Speaker 4: the magazine.

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Speaker 2: Now, what's my line to tell the truth?

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Speaker 4: One of those?

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Speaker 1: Yes?

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Speaker 2: Okay?

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Speaker 4: Oh three the cloud, that's three.

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Speaker 2: The crowd? Oh three is the crowd?

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Speaker 4: Did?

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Speaker 2: Did you? Didn't you do Jeopardy? Or no?

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Speaker 4: No, didn't do Jeopardy?

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Speaker 2: Dude, you would have been good at that.

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Speaker 4: Probably my shows are a little bit more nonsense because

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Speaker 4: that's kind of my personality.

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Speaker 3: Oh okay, okay, okay, okay, Well I still wish George

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Speaker 3: Nory was, you know, the host of Jeopardy. I think

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Speaker 3: he'd been great at that. He'd been great at that.

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Speaker 3: He'd been perfect at that. He was so phenomenal, Absolutely absolutely,

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Speaker 3: he'd just been perfect. Okay, So so you did you did?

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Speaker 3: Let's make a deal. Also then with Wayne Brady.

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Speaker 4: Yes, I did. I did the first version with Monte

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Speaker 4: Hallam and the second one with Wayne Brady.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 3: And Wayne he went to sac University in Orlando, WIV Yeah,

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Speaker 3: improv university. Yeah, yep, I went there too, and that's

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Speaker 3: what it was known for. But it's like, oh yeah, Wayne, Wayne,

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Speaker 3: Wayne went here, you know, so so he got a

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Speaker 3: big name.

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Speaker 2: Really quickly in our area. So that was really cool.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, so what happened with the Bingo game that

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Speaker 3: you know?

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Speaker 2: That's where we met. Do you remember that.

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Speaker 4: I remember I was doing consulting at the time. I

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Speaker 4: was Cadiga, was a sponsor back in those days when

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Speaker 4: you knew me in Florida.

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Speaker 2: That was decades ago.

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Speaker 4: I was Gogo was sponsoring game shows and it was

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Speaker 4: product placement, you know how these prizes and the manufacturers

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Speaker 4: can contribute cash. And oh, we were co developing game

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Speaker 4: shows with some of the networks and at the time

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Speaker 4: they put me in charge of that. Because Godiva's main

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Speaker 4: office was in Brussels, then of course we happened to

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Speaker 4: have a factory in Philadelphia, and then my offices were

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Speaker 4: in Florida. I've since moved to California, of course, because

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles really is where the action is in luxury

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Speaker 4: chocolate now. But Goodiva, for those people who don't know,

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Speaker 4: is a really upscale brand of super premium Belgian chocolate.

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Speaker 3: And how come it got so upscale? Whose fault was that?

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Speaker 4: Well, there are some people who say that I had

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Speaker 4: something to do with that.

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Speaker 2: Actually, So tell us about your chocolate life.

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Speaker 4: Well, to make a long story short, Connie, I'm the

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Speaker 4: only American in history to have managed all three of

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Speaker 4: the three largest Belgian chocolate companies, which are Godiva, Leonides

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Speaker 4: and Casey Chocolateier. And just to point out to everybody listening, I.

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Speaker 2: Own Casey Chocolate here.

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Speaker 4: So the story is very interesting because really the odds

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Speaker 4: were not in my favor, and so you know, when

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Speaker 4: I pitched it that way to a publisher in New York,

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Speaker 4: the very first publisher I went to bought it on

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Speaker 4: the spot. They said, oh, that's actually compelling. It took

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Speaker 4: four years to write the book, but it's about my

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Speaker 4: long career in bringing the American public fine chocolate, because

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Speaker 4: I really do have a passion for chocolate, but I'm

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Speaker 4: talking good chocolate.

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Speaker 3: When you were you graduated Rolands College. And is that

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Speaker 3: a big business college?

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Speaker 1: Is that?

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Speaker 3: I remember it being in like this small, wonderful you know,

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Speaker 3: it's really tiny, but very.

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Speaker 2: Very interesting. Was it a business Okay?

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Speaker 4: So the business school that was quite prominent. And so

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Speaker 4: right after college, my first job, believe it or not,

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Speaker 4: was that working as the candy buyer at Federated department stores.

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Speaker 4: I was in the management training program you may remember

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Speaker 4: some of the names back there. Federated owned at the

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Speaker 4: time Jordan marsh, Moss, Brothers, Burdines, and Bloomingdale's. So I

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Speaker 4: in charge of stocking the shelves and procuring the product

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Speaker 4: and the confectionery department. And back then, believe it or not,

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Speaker 4: it's hard to imagine a time when Godiva wasn't everywhere,

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Speaker 4: But in those days, Godiva was another up and coming

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Speaker 4: brand that hadn't really found its footing yet. Okay, Because

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Speaker 4: I was working with them on a daily basis, I

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Speaker 4: kind of saw Godiva as a diamond in the rough

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Speaker 4: and started polishing it up and thinking, oh, I could do.

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Speaker 2: Something with this.

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Speaker 4: At some point, Federated went bankrupt for the first time

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Speaker 4: of many times, and that's when I went from buying.

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Speaker 2: Chocolate to selling chocolate.

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Speaker 4: I wound up working at Godiva for thirteen years.

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Speaker 3: Did you get how did you get to the point

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Speaker 3: of saying, okay, I'm working with you guys here I

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Speaker 3: am I'm with Godiva, I see this diamond in the rough,

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Speaker 3: I've got ideas, and then implementing them.

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Speaker 2: How did you get to that point?

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Speaker 4: Well, that was the tough part. I always insered myself

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Speaker 4: a cheerleader for the Belgian chocolate industry. So I had

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Speaker 4: to get in front of the decision makers and explain

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Speaker 4: what my vision was, and that was to build a

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Speaker 4: brand and not just sell chocolate, because anybody can make chocolate.

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Speaker 4: But I'll never forget what I said to the owners.

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Speaker 4: It was a brother and a sister, and I explained

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Speaker 4: that they could follow me down the path to greatness.

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Speaker 2: I knew exactly what to do.

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Speaker 4: I just in my youthful exuberance, I said, look, you know,

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Speaker 4: we can build stores and we can redo the packaging

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Speaker 4: and everything will become great. Or you know, Godiva can

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Speaker 4: follow the path of every other chocolate company in Belgium,

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Speaker 4: which is basically you'll just be another chocolate company from Belgium,

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Speaker 4: of which.

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Speaker 2: They're all hundreds, right, right, right.

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Speaker 3: But you you had, you you had a pretty cool

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Speaker 3: plan with Godiva. You're like, really, it's a lifestyle.

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Speaker 4: That's right, That's right. The whole point of Godva was

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Speaker 4: to create the marketing illusion of an aspirational brand, and

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Speaker 4: what that basically means is I wanted people to feel

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Speaker 4: like they really needed Godiva and had to aspire to

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Speaker 4: buy it because it was forty five dollars a pound

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Speaker 4: even back then, and so that was a stretch for

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Speaker 4: a lot of people's budgets, and we had to position

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Speaker 4: the chocolate as a special occasion gift. It really became

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Speaker 4: a gift more than a food that you would eat.

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Speaker 4: And I think that was the secret. We started getting

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Speaker 4: a lot of corporate orders and it became sort of

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Speaker 4: the go to gifts that you would get in malls.

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Speaker 4: I'm sure you remember back in the day when people

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Speaker 4: would go to the mall to buy Godiva. There were

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Speaker 4: retail stores and then mostly it was sold in department stores.

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Speaker 3: And when I knew you you were working for Godiva,

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Speaker 3: that's right on a person, absolutely, and you.

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Speaker 2: Know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: All I knew about you at that point was the

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Speaker 3: game show guy and doing the bingo thing and uh.

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Speaker 3: And then we would go on different things. I remember

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Speaker 3: we would get and go out on these outings. I

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Speaker 3: don't remember what they were. I just remember we ended

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Speaker 3: up having dinners and he would stand up and go,

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Speaker 3: I have all the women's meals, and you set the

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Speaker 3: bar and no one else has ever done that. And

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Speaker 3: I always remember between the times that we got back

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Speaker 3: together talking again. Uh, and got back in touch that

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Speaker 3: all that time empty time in between, I'd be like,

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Speaker 3: I'm wondering where that one guy, Brad is, What is

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Speaker 3: Brad up? What's he been doing? Because I miss him.

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Speaker 3: It was just so nice to have this southern gentle

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Speaker 3: you know, just a gentleman like do that.

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Speaker 2: It was always sweet and thank you for that. I

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Speaker 2: appreciate that.

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Speaker 4: It's funny the things people mentioned I mean to or

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Speaker 4: remember because that is just the way I operate.

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Speaker 2: You know, I know it, I know it.

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Speaker 3: That's you and Brad what you even said about Hey,

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Speaker 3: this is what I'm going to tell the chocolate people.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell him ho, I'm going to change the

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Speaker 3: world with them.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 2: That's It's just you. That's how you are, and I

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Speaker 2: love it. I love that about you. So you did.

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Speaker 3: You took a diva and made it a lifestyle and

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Speaker 3: a gift and n'turally important with my days in QBC

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Speaker 3: and HSN and infomercials and marketing products and stuff, boom.

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Speaker 3: A gift just like that, A gift, especially chocolates.

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Speaker 4: Everybody has a gift giving budget, and people all around

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Speaker 4: the world have gift giving obligations. They have to buy

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Speaker 4: something they may as well buy chocolate. We called it

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Speaker 4: a multi generational gift, which means that the diver could

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Speaker 4: be appreciated by everybody in the family, from the youngest

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Speaker 4: children all the way to grandma and you know, so

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Speaker 4: it was a real alternative to some of the other

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Speaker 4: gifts that people had been giving up until that time,

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Speaker 4: like liquor, for example. So it did well in all markets.

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Speaker 4: We did a lot of focus groups and marketing research,

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Speaker 4: and you know, it was about really really really good chocolate,

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Speaker 4: packaged beautifully and marketed well. And I think that was

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Speaker 4: the secret. Getting the distribution going was real tough at first.

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Speaker 4: I mean, you know, the heat in Florida. We had

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Speaker 4: to build refrigerated warehouses and buy refrigerated trucks. I mean,

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Speaker 4: it wasn't that easy. That's part of the reason.

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Speaker 2: Why it was really expensive.

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Speaker 4: Then there was also the seasonality, and I think about

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Speaker 4: you know, this season started around Halloween and Thanksgiving right

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Speaker 4: around now and peaked at Christmas, Valentine's Easter, Mother's Day,

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Speaker 4: Father's Day, but not so much going on during the summer,

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Speaker 4: really time to work on projects like the game shows.

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Speaker 3: Well that's true, that's true, But has that changed because

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Speaker 3: people just want chocolate.

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Speaker 4: Well, nowadays there's more chocoholics than alcoholics.

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Speaker 3: Is it a drugs? Have they found it to be

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Speaker 3: addictive as a drug?

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Speaker 4: They have done. They, meaning people who do surveys and research,

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Speaker 4: have determined that it's chocolate activates the brain and does

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Speaker 4: somehow how create sensory pleasures that become activated. I'm not

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Speaker 4: exactly sure the science behind that. We don't purport to

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Speaker 4: state any of this in our marketing materials, but there

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Speaker 4: does seem to be some I don't know in common belief. Yes,

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Speaker 4: chocolate's a feel good product, and when people consume it,

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Speaker 4: they also subliminally are thought to think that it's healthy.

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Speaker 4: Dark chocolate in particular has been around since theas tech times.

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Speaker 3: And I think people I think people just will have

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Speaker 3: any excuse to eat chocolate.

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