Park City-based LOCOCO is on a mission to deliver delicious hot cocoa without compromising health.

“In a town where we’re surrounded by cocoa, we don’t want to drink it because it makes our tummy ache because it’s full of sugar,” said Anna Bloom, the CEO, founder and formulator of LOCOCO. “Every ski slope, every chalet has cocoa in it. But it’s really preserved as this indulgence and drink for kids.”

Bloom wanted to find a way to enjoy hot cocoa again and knew she needed to create her own version, inspired by her dad.

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“My dad is really into craft cocktails. And one of his things that he did during the pandemic was make one original craft cocktail a night. I think he made it to 200 nights,” said Bloom. “I sort of took that same idea of creating a lab out of my kitchen, figuring out and tinkering with different ingredients in that same way.”

Bloom knew there had to be a way to make a healthy hot chocolate because the core ingredient, cacao, is considered a superfood.

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“Cacao is very healthy for you. It’s good for you. It’s a better, gentle pick me up compared to other types of beverages, and it really works with your body to balance its energy,” said Bloom.

Bloom didn’t have any background in chocolate, but she knew how to research and had met plenty of entrepreneurs as the business editor for The Park Record in her earlier career in journalism, she said. That and a natural pallet birthed LOCOCO three years ago.

The company did pretty well in its early days, thanks to local supporters and friends, said Bloom. In 2023, it was recognized by Food & Wine Magazine in their top picks for hot cocoa mix, deemed “Most Spike-able” for its complex flavor.

“The depth of spice in this hot chocolate makes it a fabulous companion to a bit of booze: It has enough oomph and personality to stand up,” the article said.

Shortly after the review, Bloom was introduced to Romie Mangini-Fisher, the lead chocolatier at Montage Deer Valley. Mangini-Fisher recognized the promise of LOCOCO’s recipe and decided to help polish the recipe.

“We went back ingredient by ingredient and tried to increase the potency and the quality and value,” said Bloom.

Aside from having attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Mangini-Fisher’s background in nutrition also made collaborating with LOCOCO a natural fit.

“Most of the time I work with a lot of sugar, which is why this project was so exciting,” she said. “We’re going to make this taste super good, but it’s not going to be an unhealthy experience.”

Unlike most hot chocolates, LOCOCO is dairy-free and packed with adaptogens without losing the indulgent taste. Its formula cuts down to one third of the drink’s usual sugar content by using a blend of monk fruit and coconut sugar, said Bloom. There is also a subtle kick from a cinnamon-spice mix that adds to its complex sweet-and-spicy flavor.

When made with water, coconut milk powder ensures LOCOCO is still creamy, but it is most popular when made with oat milk. It’s also best with a foam, said Bloom, so they also sell an electric frother. 

The LOCOCO mix also includes four functional mushrooms, which don’t affect the taste, she said. This is another way cocoa is good for you, rather than just “not bad.”

The mushrooms “work with the body to bring it into balance in different ways,” said Bloom. “So Lion’s Mane, it’s really good for your brain health, neuro health and focus. Cordyceps, a lot of athletes use it. It’s good for circulation, it’s good for performance.”

The other two mushroom types, Chaga and Maitake, are considered anti-inflammatory.

As an overall experience, LOCOCO is reminiscent of the original form of cacao as drinking chocolate, said Bloom.

“The original way that the Olmecs and Maya, thousands and thousands of years ago, would have drunk it is they would have added some spice, but no sugar,” she said. “But they did care about foam, which is very interesting. So they would use ceramics to go back and forth to create a foam, which was a really big part of drinking it.”

As a chocolate lover, Mangini-Fisher said this return to form is one of the best parts about LOCOCO.

“In some way, she found the modern way to come back to the beginning. You have the foam and you have the kick, and all this beautiful stuff that eventually got lost with the addition of sugar and sugar and sugar, sugar, sugar,” she said. “Now we’re coming back to like, ‘This is the real flavor of cacao. And this is how it was originally served.'”

Earlier this month, LOCOCO earned the top five stars ranking in five categories at the 10th annual Hot Chocolate Awards held by the International Chocolate Salon. The judges panel gave them four stars in richness and most unique, and three-point-five stars for texture, ingredient combination, and taste.

Participating during this year’s Sundance Film Festival also brought them more exposure, said Bloom.

“We served over 1,400 cups of LOCOCO at Sundance, across three lounges — the cannon lounge, the impact lounge and a lounge here that was a celebrity gifting suite (called) the NFP inspired gift lounge,” she said. 

They were also picked by Ketel One Vodka, the official vodka of Sundance 2024, as an ingredient in one of their festival signature cocktails, “The Dessert Menu.” This drink mixes LOCOCO with Ketel One Vodka, topped with a coconut-banana-chai whipped cream.

“It’s been fun to see the different applications. You create a thing and you don’t know where it might take you or how people use it. Some people are putting it in their oatmeal, smoothies. There was one shop that was using it in chia pudding,” said Bloom. Some people also add it to their coffee, she said. 

Ultimately the goal is to make hot chocolate a daily drink again without compromising health, said Bloom, although she laughed while acknowledging the irony in her healthy product being considered a good pairing for alcohol.

While she works full time in tech on branding and design, Bloom said her personal project with LOCOCO fits her strengths in a lot of ways.

“I’ve always been excited about being a part of innovation, which I feel like LOCOCO is sort of cutting edge, especially with the mushrooms, which is a new concept,” she said. “It’s something that has to be explained. People are just starting to get used to it, which reminds me of the work I do in tech — how do you explain anything to people? How do you get them to get it and adopt it and integrate it into their lives?”

“Imagine how amazing it is when someone tells you you can start your morning with hot cocoa? That’s my dream come true,” said Mangini-Fisher with a laugh.

LOCOCO can be purchased by the cup from The Corner Store at the base of Park City Mountain, Park City Deserts, Hugo Coffee at Kimball Junction and Park City Gardens’ Cafe. For more information: lococomagic.com.