Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to coast am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's get to our guest.
Speaker 3: It was back in nineteen it was in the early,
Speaker 3: no mid nineties.
Speaker 2: It was in the mid nineties.
Speaker 3: And as I was growing up in my life, I
Speaker 3: always knew I was going to be in TV and film.
Speaker 2: Never thought it was going to be radio. Never did.
Speaker 2: But it's the best foundation of all of them. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: But in the mid nineties, at one point I had
Speaker 3: saved up my money and I went to the second
Speaker 3: Hollywood at the time, which was Orlando, and I paid
Speaker 3: rent for one full month and everything I needed to
Speaker 3: just stay alive for a month. And my whole plan
Speaker 3: was to audition, audition, audition. I was going to get
Speaker 3: TV shows, I was singing at films, and the whole
Speaker 3: lot was going on at that time. It was either
Speaker 3: go to La New York or Orlando, and so I
Speaker 3: went to Orlando. I lived in an area called winter Park.
Speaker 3: At one point I went out to an audition and
Speaker 3: the audition was for a game show, a quiz game show.
Speaker 3: I'm not I don't even remember exactly the game show itself,
Speaker 3: but I remember the guy of course that was holding
Speaker 3: those auditions, and his name was Brad Yeayer, and he
Speaker 3: and I hit it off during the auditions. And the
Speaker 3: interesting thing was is I just felt like we were
Speaker 3: just we were on the same page, and we became
Speaker 3: friends through that. And he was always just one of
Speaker 3: the nicest people in the world. And I remember that
Speaker 3: anytime any of us went out anywhere, a whole group
Speaker 3: of us, he would always to dinner. He would always
Speaker 3: stand up, and he would pay for every one of
Speaker 3: the women's meals. He didn't take care of the men.
Speaker 3: He took care of the women. But he would stand up.
Speaker 3: It didn't matter if it was three or fifty, he
Speaker 3: would take care of the women's dinner. I'll never forget that.
Speaker 3: In fact, as I moved on and went to different
Speaker 3: place just to live and work and blah blah all
Speaker 3: over the States, and him, Brad, he did the same thing,
Speaker 3: went around and did things all over the world, and
Speaker 3: along the way, I recognize how special that was.
Speaker 2: Being from the South, you kind of expect that. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's just the way it is.
Speaker 3: That's how you're taught that the guys do that kind
Speaker 3: of thing. But he always did everybody, every woman, and
Speaker 3: as I moved around. I recognized that that wasn't happening,
Speaker 3: and I recognized how special that was. And at one point,
Speaker 3: not all that long ago, I caught back up with.
Speaker 2: Him and I let him know.
Speaker 3: I said, man, you ruined it for all the other
Speaker 3: people along the way, because as I've traveled and lived
Speaker 3: here and lived there, I've recognized that men don't do that.
Speaker 3: They don't do that anymore, or they just don't do
Speaker 3: that at all, where they stand up and say, hey,
Speaker 3: I got all the women's meals and we're talking really
Speaker 3: nice restaurants. It didn't matter. It didn't matter what the
Speaker 3: restaurant was and the prices. It was just so wonderful. Anyway,
Speaker 3: we've gotten back together and we've been talking for several
Speaker 3: years again just like where we left off, and it's
Speaker 3: just great to get to know him because he's just
Speaker 3: always been that really good friend. And by the way,
Speaker 3: he's into the things we are here on coast, he's
Speaker 3: into those.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that tonight.
Speaker 3: But it was so great getting back with him and
Speaker 3: then learning what he's been doing and where he is now.
Speaker 3: And that is our the real Willie Wonka. He is
Speaker 3: a chocolate chocolate tear. I want to learn more about that.
Speaker 3: But he just recently put out a book, Chocolate Covered Money,
Speaker 3: Secrets of the marketing Genius who built the world's most
Speaker 3: successful chocolate brands CEO of Godiva and Moore. We'll learn
Speaker 3: that from him specifically, because he can say it much
Speaker 3: more elegantly than me, and you should in the chocolate world,
Speaker 3: at least the way he presents chocolate. And because of
Speaker 3: his presentations of chocolate, he's gotten where he's gotten and
Speaker 3: I'm so proud of him. So I won't tear up,
Speaker 3: and he won't tear up, because if I go any further, Brad,
Speaker 3: I will tear up. Thank you for being here tonight,
Speaker 3: and welcome to Coast and cost am.
Speaker 4: Well. Thank you for that warm sentiment. Connie, it's nice
Speaker 4: to get here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it. Here you are. This is Brad Yader,
Speaker 3: and Brad you you know what tell me your road
Speaker 3: to success? You and I met in winter Park, Florida.
Speaker 3: Not Winter Park, Colorado, winter Park, Florida. I lived right now.
Speaker 3: You went to Rollins College. I live right next to that.
Speaker 3: But you and I met when you were holding auditions
Speaker 3: for a game show.
Speaker 4: Yes, the game show actually was Bigo, which I had
Speaker 4: the rights to very briefly. And here's a fun fact, Connie,
Speaker 4: to this day, I'm still the biggest winner in the
Speaker 4: history of NBC daytime for game shows. I was on
Speaker 4: Let's Make a Deal. There was it MGM Studios or
Speaker 4: or Universal in Orlando.
Speaker 2: At the time. Yeah, I think it was Universal Universal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I think during the pandemic then
Speaker 4: Let's Make a Deal is still on CBS and they
Speaker 4: had the Tournament of Champions and I was invited back,
Speaker 4: so yes, yeah, he didn't make it as far. This time.
Speaker 4: I was playing against the woman who had filmed the
Speaker 4: pilot of Let's Make a Deal with Monty Hall back
Speaker 4: in nineteen sixty one. They found both of us.
Speaker 3: Wow, okay, but you were on some other game shows too.
Speaker 3: You're like known for all this game show stuff.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Back in the day when I had the time,
Speaker 4: I was on every game show you could name, the
Speaker 4: Pyramid and Shopping Spree and I can't even remember what.
Speaker 2: Was the show. I was on the cover of US.
Speaker 4: Magazine for one of those programs, one with Chuck Barriss
Speaker 4: at the time, he was right, the.
Speaker 2: Don Show, the Donk Show. It was you did not.
Speaker 4: It was the one where there was a panel of people.
Speaker 4: I can't even remember the name. I have to pull
Speaker 4: the magazine.
Speaker 2: Now, what's my line to tell the truth?
Speaker 4: One of those?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 4: Oh three the cloud, that's three.
Speaker 2: The crowd? Oh three is the crowd?
Speaker 4: Did?
Speaker 2: Did you? Didn't you do Jeopardy? Or no?
Speaker 4: No, didn't do Jeopardy?
Speaker 2: Dude, you would have been good at that.
Speaker 4: Probably my shows are a little bit more nonsense because
Speaker 4: that's kind of my personality.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, okay, okay, okay, Well I still wish George
Speaker 3: Nory was, you know, the host of Jeopardy. I think
Speaker 3: he'd been great at that. He'd been great at that.
Speaker 3: He'd been perfect at that. He was so phenomenal, Absolutely absolutely,
Speaker 3: he'd just been perfect. Okay, So so you did you did?
Speaker 3: Let's make a deal. Also then with Wayne Brady.
Speaker 4: Yes, I did. I did the first version with Monte
Speaker 4: Hallam and the second one with Wayne Brady.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: And Wayne he went to sac University in Orlando, WIV Yeah,
Speaker 3: improv university. Yeah, yep, I went there too, and that's
Speaker 3: what it was known for. But it's like, oh yeah, Wayne, Wayne,
Speaker 3: Wayne went here, you know, so so he got a
Speaker 3: big name.
Speaker 2: Really quickly in our area. So that was really cool.
Speaker 3: So yeah, so what happened with the Bingo game that
Speaker 3: you know?
Speaker 2: That's where we met. Do you remember that.
Speaker 4: I remember I was doing consulting at the time. I
Speaker 4: was Cadiga, was a sponsor back in those days when
Speaker 4: you knew me in Florida.
Speaker 2: That was decades ago.
Speaker 4: I was Gogo was sponsoring game shows and it was
Speaker 4: product placement, you know how these prizes and the manufacturers
Speaker 4: can contribute cash. And oh, we were co developing game
Speaker 4: shows with some of the networks and at the time
Speaker 4: they put me in charge of that. Because Godiva's main
Speaker 4: office was in Brussels, then of course we happened to
Speaker 4: have a factory in Philadelphia, and then my offices were
Speaker 4: in Florida. I've since moved to California, of course, because
Speaker 4: Los Angeles really is where the action is in luxury
Speaker 4: chocolate now. But Goodiva, for those people who don't know,
Speaker 4: is a really upscale brand of super premium Belgian chocolate.
Speaker 3: And how come it got so upscale? Whose fault was that?
Speaker 4: Well, there are some people who say that I had
Speaker 4: something to do with that.
Speaker 2: Actually, So tell us about your chocolate life.
Speaker 4: Well, to make a long story short, Connie, I'm the
Speaker 4: only American in history to have managed all three of
Speaker 4: the three largest Belgian chocolate companies, which are Godiva, Leonides
Speaker 4: and Casey Chocolateier. And just to point out to everybody listening, I.
Speaker 2: Own Casey Chocolate here.
Speaker 4: So the story is very interesting because really the odds
Speaker 4: were not in my favor, and so you know, when
Speaker 4: I pitched it that way to a publisher in New York,
Speaker 4: the very first publisher I went to bought it on
Speaker 4: the spot. They said, oh, that's actually compelling. It took
Speaker 4: four years to write the book, but it's about my
Speaker 4: long career in bringing the American public fine chocolate, because
Speaker 4: I really do have a passion for chocolate, but I'm
Speaker 4: talking good chocolate.
Speaker 3: When you were you graduated Rolands College. And is that
Speaker 3: a big business college?
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 3: I remember it being in like this small, wonderful you know,
Speaker 3: it's really tiny, but very.
Speaker 2: Very interesting. Was it a business Okay?
Speaker 4: So the business school that was quite prominent. And so
Speaker 4: right after college, my first job, believe it or not,
Speaker 4: was that working as the candy buyer at Federated department stores.
Speaker 4: I was in the management training program you may remember
Speaker 4: some of the names back there. Federated owned at the
Speaker 4: time Jordan marsh, Moss, Brothers, Burdines, and Bloomingdale's. So I
Speaker 4: in charge of stocking the shelves and procuring the product
Speaker 4: and the confectionery department. And back then, believe it or not,
Speaker 4: it's hard to imagine a time when Godiva wasn't everywhere,
Speaker 4: But in those days, Godiva was another up and coming
Speaker 4: brand that hadn't really found its footing yet. Okay, Because
Speaker 4: I was working with them on a daily basis, I
Speaker 4: kind of saw Godiva as a diamond in the rough
Speaker 4: and started polishing it up and thinking, oh, I could do.
Speaker 2: Something with this.
Speaker 4: At some point, Federated went bankrupt for the first time
Speaker 4: of many times, and that's when I went from buying.
Speaker 2: Chocolate to selling chocolate.
Speaker 4: I wound up working at Godiva for thirteen years.
Speaker 3: Did you get how did you get to the point
Speaker 3: of saying, okay, I'm working with you guys here I
Speaker 3: am I'm with Godiva, I see this diamond in the rough,
Speaker 3: I've got ideas, and then implementing them.
Speaker 2: How did you get to that point?
Speaker 4: Well, that was the tough part. I always insered myself
Speaker 4: a cheerleader for the Belgian chocolate industry. So I had
Speaker 4: to get in front of the decision makers and explain
Speaker 4: what my vision was, and that was to build a
Speaker 4: brand and not just sell chocolate, because anybody can make chocolate.
Speaker 4: But I'll never forget what I said to the owners.
Speaker 4: It was a brother and a sister, and I explained
Speaker 4: that they could follow me down the path to greatness.
Speaker 2: I knew exactly what to do.
Speaker 4: I just in my youthful exuberance, I said, look, you know,
Speaker 4: we can build stores and we can redo the packaging
Speaker 4: and everything will become great. Or you know, Godiva can
Speaker 4: follow the path of every other chocolate company in Belgium,
Speaker 4: which is basically you'll just be another chocolate company from Belgium,
Speaker 4: of which.
Speaker 2: They're all hundreds, right, right, right.
Speaker 3: But you you had, you you had a pretty cool
Speaker 3: plan with Godiva. You're like, really, it's a lifestyle.
Speaker 4: That's right, That's right. The whole point of Godva was
Speaker 4: to create the marketing illusion of an aspirational brand, and
Speaker 4: what that basically means is I wanted people to feel
Speaker 4: like they really needed Godiva and had to aspire to
Speaker 4: buy it because it was forty five dollars a pound
Speaker 4: even back then, and so that was a stretch for
Speaker 4: a lot of people's budgets, and we had to position
Speaker 4: the chocolate as a special occasion gift. It really became
Speaker 4: a gift more than a food that you would eat.
Speaker 4: And I think that was the secret. We started getting
Speaker 4: a lot of corporate orders and it became sort of
Speaker 4: the go to gifts that you would get in malls.
Speaker 4: I'm sure you remember back in the day when people
Speaker 4: would go to the mall to buy Godiva. There were
Speaker 4: retail stores and then mostly it was sold in department stores.
Speaker 3: And when I knew you you were working for Godiva,
Speaker 3: that's right on a person, absolutely, and you.
Speaker 2: Know what I mean.
Speaker 3: All I knew about you at that point was the
Speaker 3: game show guy and doing the bingo thing and uh.
Speaker 3: And then we would go on different things. I remember
Speaker 3: we would get and go out on these outings. I
Speaker 3: don't remember what they were. I just remember we ended
Speaker 3: up having dinners and he would stand up and go,
Speaker 3: I have all the women's meals, and you set the
Speaker 3: bar and no one else has ever done that. And
Speaker 3: I always remember between the times that we got back
Speaker 3: together talking again. Uh, and got back in touch that
Speaker 3: all that time empty time in between, I'd be like,
Speaker 3: I'm wondering where that one guy, Brad is, What is
Speaker 3: Brad up? What's he been doing? Because I miss him.
Speaker 3: It was just so nice to have this southern gentle
Speaker 3: you know, just a gentleman like do that.
Speaker 2: It was always sweet and thank you for that. I
Speaker 2: appreciate that.
Speaker 4: It's funny the things people mentioned I mean to or
Speaker 4: remember because that is just the way I operate.
Speaker 2: You know, I know it, I know it.
Speaker 3: That's you and Brad what you even said about Hey,
Speaker 3: this is what I'm going to tell the chocolate people.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell him ho, I'm going to change the
Speaker 3: world with them.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: That's It's just you. That's how you are, and I
Speaker 2: love it. I love that about you. So you did.
Speaker 3: You took a diva and made it a lifestyle and
Speaker 3: a gift and n'turally important with my days in QBC
Speaker 3: and HSN and infomercials and marketing products and stuff, boom.
Speaker 3: A gift just like that, A gift, especially chocolates.
Speaker 4: Everybody has a gift giving budget, and people all around
Speaker 4: the world have gift giving obligations. They have to buy
Speaker 4: something they may as well buy chocolate. We called it
Speaker 4: a multi generational gift, which means that the diver could
Speaker 4: be appreciated by everybody in the family, from the youngest
Speaker 4: children all the way to grandma and you know, so
Speaker 4: it was a real alternative to some of the other
Speaker 4: gifts that people had been giving up until that time,
Speaker 4: like liquor, for example. So it did well in all markets.
Speaker 4: We did a lot of focus groups and marketing research,
Speaker 4: and you know, it was about really really really good chocolate,
Speaker 4: packaged beautifully and marketed well. And I think that was
Speaker 4: the secret. Getting the distribution going was real tough at first.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, the heat in Florida. We had
Speaker 4: to build refrigerated warehouses and buy refrigerated trucks. I mean,
Speaker 4: it wasn't that easy. That's part of the reason.
Speaker 2: Why it was really expensive.
Speaker 4: Then there was also the seasonality, and I think about
Speaker 4: you know, this season started around Halloween and Thanksgiving right
Speaker 4: around now and peaked at Christmas, Valentine's Easter, Mother's Day,
Speaker 4: Father's Day, but not so much going on during the summer,
Speaker 4: really time to work on projects like the game shows.
Speaker 3: Well that's true, that's true, But has that changed because
Speaker 3: people just want chocolate.
Speaker 4: Well, nowadays there's more chocoholics than alcoholics.
Speaker 3: Is it a drugs? Have they found it to be
Speaker 3: addictive as a drug?
Speaker 4: They have done. They, meaning people who do surveys and research,
Speaker 4: have determined that it's chocolate activates the brain and does
Speaker 4: somehow how create sensory pleasures that become activated. I'm not
Speaker 4: exactly sure the science behind that. We don't purport to
Speaker 4: state any of this in our marketing materials, but there
Speaker 4: does seem to be some I don't know in common belief. Yes,
Speaker 4: chocolate's a feel good product, and when people consume it,
Speaker 4: they also subliminally are thought to think that it's healthy.
Speaker 4: Dark chocolate in particular has been around since theas tech times.
Speaker 3: And I think people I think people just will have
Speaker 3: any excuse to eat chocolate.
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