Chip and Coco are the newest mascots in the promotional products industry, set to embark on many adventures throughout 2026 and beyond.
In one dreamscape, you’ll find them kayaking through a chocolate river; in another, they’re sailing a chocolate ocean on a giant bar of chocolate. The swirl of red, mocha and vanilla evoke calmness and whimsy, transporting you to a lazy summer of yesteryear, when you only needed sunshine and a snack to bring a smile to your freckled face.
Totally Chocolate Promo, formerly known as Chocolate Chocolate, aims to bring that nostalgic vibe to the promo industry. The recently rebranded company prides itself on sourcing premium Belgian chocolate, refusing to add compounds, fillers, waxes or other elements that fellow confectioners have been incorporating in recent years.
The food gifting supplier, which produces everything from the artwork to its sweet treats to totally customized packaging inside its Blaine, Washington-based facility, wants end users to relish the joy of receiving food. But it needs distributors to champion its cause.
Justin Walford
President/CEO, Totally Chocolate Promo
“Our ability to create totally custom chocolate and packaging provides us with the opportunity to go way beyond what most of our competition can create,” says Justin Walford, president and CEO of Totally Chocolate Promo. “The gourmet flavors, the texture and depth in our chocolate decoration – these add up to a complete package. And the best part is that we’re just scratching the surface of what we can do from an innovation perspective.”
Food For Thought
Dreams, of course, are open to interpretation. What others may regard as a bad omen, you might consider as an opportunity.
Walford often takes the latter view. Equipped with an executive MBA from Oxford University, the Canadian strategist has more than 20 years of B2B and consumer leadership experience.
- He’s been a portfolio manager at Everbranch Capital Group, executive vice president of marketing and e-commerce at water sports equipment manufacturer Pelican International and president and COO at jewelry brand Hillberg & Berk, among other roles.
Last May, Walford accepted the responsibility of leading Totally Chocolate and its promo division, excited by what he considered to be a solid operational base, strong market conditions and a supportive ownership group.
- Founded in 1988, Totally Chocolate is part of Ganache Brands, which is part of Founders Group of Food Companies, a partnership backed by private equity firm Tricor Pacific Capital.
- Totally Chocolate has approximately 40 employees, but staffing ramps up to north of 90 during the holiday rush.
Walford also recognized the company’s prime position to capitalize on recent trends, such as sustainability (nobody’s letting chocolate end up in a landfill) and the emerging preference for retail brands. In fact, one of the reasons that Chocolate Chocolate rebranded to Totally Chocolate Promo is that the name both leverages its parent firm’s reputation while distancing itself from any direct-to-consumer activity.
“Some of our competition has often used it against us that we have a retail side of our business,” Walford says. “But that can be a strength rather than a weakness. We maintain total separation of the businesses, the teams, the P&Ls, the CRMs, etc. However, we can take advantage of the retail reputation the brand is building outside of the industry as well.”
Furthermore, his hiring marked the start of what the company described as renewed commitment and investment in the promotional products channel. That’s now come to fruition, as the supplier has emerged with a new identity and fresh approach to the market.
“Our company has at times had an uncertain relationship with the promo industry, but we’re changing that,” Walford says. “We’re building a business and a brand that distributors find trustworthy.
“We want to become North America’s leading decorative chocolate company.”
Business Is Like A Box Of Chocolates …
Walford is the latest in a growing line of promo executives with retail industry backgrounds. He, like those who have transitioned before him, is eager to apply best practices from that space to this space.
“When I joined, I was surprised to see that most of our trade show materials, imagery and website hadn’t evolved for more than a decade,” Walford says. “We hadn’t added new multi-line reps, and we had vacant territories. We weren’t a preferred supplier of the large distributor groups. We were only attending a few trade shows, and we didn’t support our multi-line reps to go to regional trade shows.”
Despite the myriad challenges, Walford didn’t believe he had bitten off more than he could chew. His gumption fueled some of that confidence, and Kristina Beal filled out the rest. The 10-year industry veteran joined Totally Chocolate Promo as national account manager just a couple weeks before her new boss. She was recruited from fellow supplier NC Custom, a titan in the candy and chocolate gifting market.
Kristina Beal
National Account Manager, Totally Chocolate Promo
“It wasn’t on my bingo card to make a career change last year, but I had to do it,” says Beal, who has a BBA from Bob Jones University, where she majored in marketing management and minored in family and consumer sciences (food is a tenet of the curriculum).
“It was an opportunity to take a brand to a whole other level. The company hadn’t recently had a proactive sales leader for the promo industry, so taking on that challenge has been exciting. It’s the vibe of a startup but with all of the operational aspects being rock solid.”
Walford and Beal hit the ground running, revitalizing the stagnant business with three new multi-line rep groups (and on the hunt for a fourth, in the Rockies). And, along with the name change, the rebrand consisted of a total makeover. The company launched a new website with vivid imagery and an updated logo, all designed by full-time artists on the payroll.
“We’re serious professionals, but it’s chocolate, so we want to have fun,” Walford says. “We’re trying to find ways to bring to life the brand and the emotion food gifting can create for our customers and their end users.”
No Appetite?
Now that Walford and Beal have made the necessary internal adjustments, they’re focused on a new challenge: changing distributor behavior.
Food gifts accounted for only 1.3% ($346 million) of promotional products sales in 2024, according to the Advertising Specialty Institute. By comparison, T-shirts accounted for more than 16% of industry sales, followed by drinkware (10.4%) and polos (9.5%).
It doesn’t seem likely that the food gift category increased in market share last year, either.
- In the first nine months of 2025, searches for “food” were down 32% from 2024, according to SAGE, PPAI’s technology partner.
- Meanwhile, searches for “cookies” were down 28% and searches for “candy” were down 12%.
- Conversely, interest in “cocoa” resembled a roller coaster: searches were up 15% in Q1, down 32% in Q2 and up 20% in Q3.
“I find so many distributors who don’t feel comfortable selling food gifts,” Beal says. “They feel it’s risky because it could go bad or melt. Sometimes, it’s also about visualization. Distributors can visualize an end user’s logo on a shirt or hat or pen, but to visualize it engraved in chocolate, it’s a struggle for them.”
Another issue is lack of expertise, according to DJ Furgason, vice president and director of Lithia, Florida-based distributor CEShoppes Powered by Proforma. Food gifting was his company’s entrée into the promo industry – CEShoppes used to drop ship gift baskets with decorated ribbon to clients.
- Shortly after joining the promo market, the firm added Chocolate Chocolate as a preferred supplier, pitching its product line year-round rather than just during the holiday season.
“We have met only a few other distributors that like to promote food,” Furgason says. “Most just don’t seem to know as much about the food gift category as they do about imprinted items or embroidery.”
DJ Furgason
VP & Director, CEShoppes Powered by Proforma
‘You’re Leaving Money On The Table’
It’s important to specify that the obstacle is distributors, not end users. After all, the $42 billion consumer and corporate food gifting market is poised for average growth of 5.2% annually through 2028, according to Packaged Facts.
- Expect Gen Z to drive that growth, as 58% prefer food and beverages as their favorite promo product (second only to apparel), according to PPAI Research.
End users are buying food gifts from somewhere – just not from promo distributors. “You’re leaving money on the table,” Beal says. “If your clients are asking for trade show gifting, show the cookie or wrapper bar. If they’re asking for executive gifts, show our towers. Throw a food gift in every presentation, and then your clients will realize they can go to you for everything.”
As part of the rebrand, Totally Chocolate Promo will be educating distributors throughout 2026 and beyond, hosting “lunch and learns” and webinars to break the stigma surrounding food gifting. The first webinar, appropriately titled “The Power of Food Gifting,” is scheduled for February 6 and aims to teach viewers how and why food can boost their bottom line.
Beal has already converted one distributor. Jessica Woolum, national account director at Juice Marketing, PPAI 100’s No. 74 distributor, usually wouldn’t pitch food gifts unless clients mentioned them. That changed once she tasted Totally Chocolate Promo’s products.
“I recently did some chocolate bars with a new client for a conference, and they were a huge hit,” Woolum says. “As far as pitching to clients, I try and lean into the variety of add-ons and unique options available. But the real estate available for decorating between the bar itself and the full wrapper is something you can’t find in a lot of other products, so I try and use that when my clients have more messaging they want to get onto a product.”
Jessica Woolum
National Account Director, Juice Marketing
It’s not all sweet talk, though. Beal is quick to provide studies and scientific journals explaining the emotional impact that chocolate, candy and other food can have.
“When we eat our comfort food, our hypothalamus releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter,” writes nutrition consultant Kristin Klinefelter, MS, RDN, LDN, in “The Brain Science Behind Comfort Foods,” a 2024 article from The Association of Nutrition and Foodservice Professionals.
“Dopamine tells our body that it can expect a reward. Dopamine can impact our body by improving digestion, blood flow, memory, focus, mood, sleep and stress management skills. Simply thinking about our comfort food can trigger a dopamine release and begin a cycle of motivation and reward.”
“You may be wondering at this point,” Klinefelter continues, “if eating comfort foods is harmful for our health. If a comfort food simply brings a smile, happy feelings, good memories or positive emotions, it is a healthy experience!”
Kristin Klinefelter, MS, RDN, LDN
Nutrition Consultant
Comfort, nostalgia, happiness – that’s what Walford aspires the brand to be synonymous with. “The industry has been biased, and understandably so, toward impressions as a major marketing metric,” he says. “But we also want to make sure people are thinking about how impactful connections are that are made with promotional food items.”
A New Smorgasbord
Although the rebrand officially launched on December 30, Totally Chocolate Promo’s coming out party is at The PPAI Expo 2026.
Booth No. 1149 – created by Woodridge, Illinois-based supplier Orbus – will be designed with the new branding, along with a backdrop featuring Chip and Coco tailored for your social media needs. Even the Totally Chocolate Promo team will be all decked out in the new colors, including branded sneakers from Sock101, PPAI 100’s No. 92 supplier.
“The promo industry is so great to collaborate with – everybody is excited for our rebrand,” says Beal, adding that while cookie samples will be available, you may be required to follow the brand’s social media platforms to receive the treats this year.
RELATED: 10 Reasons Why You Can’t Miss The PPAI Expo 2026
Walford says the company will be showcasing 15 new products at the promo industry’s largest and longest-running trade show, including the announcement of a partnership with fellow chocolate supplier Lindt, which will contribute its renowned truffles to Totally Chocolate Promo’s gift boxes. Additionally, the firm will be introducing a reduced freight cost program for customers on the East Coast.
Ultimately, the supplier wants a bigger piece of the promo pie – and it’s willing to stay in the kitchen for as long as it takes.
“To be trusted with reinventing the brand and moving it firmly in the direction of supporting promo is a real privilege,” Walford says. “We can’t wait to share the new brand with you!”
