Our Story
It started with a question about food, health, and what we choose to accept.
Rethinking Food
For most of my career, I studied how disease develops inside the body.
A PhD at Oxford. Research at UCSF. Years developing medicines and building
biotech companies. Most of that work focused on developing medicines to
treat disease after it had already taken hold.
Somewhere along the way, a question started to bother me.
Why do we spend so much effort treating disease once it appears,
while the everyday habits that shape our health get far less attention?
Food seemed like the most obvious place to start.
A cacao farm in Costa Rica changed how I saw chocolate.
In late 2025, I traveled to Costa Rica and visited a local cacao farm. Seeing cacao
pods at its source changed the way I thought about chocolate.
I learned that cacao is naturally rich in antioxidants and natural compounds that
support mood, focus, and cardiovascular health. It felt far removed from the
overly processed chocolate candy most people consume.
It reminded me that real chocolate, in its natural form, is one of the most
nutrient-dense indulgences that exists.
That trip stayed with me.
Chocolate was already part of my daily routine
Around that time, I started paying closer attention to my own health and daily
habits.
Like many people, I was trying to increase my protein intake. But most high-
protein foods felt like a compromise. Protein bars were often dry, highly
processed, or trying to imitate something else.
At the same time, dark chocolate had already become part of my daily routine.
Not as a dessert, but as a small ritual.
Cacao contains theobromine, a naturally occurring compound linked to mood
and focus. I noticed the difference early on. My mornings felt steadier. Sharper.
That contrast became hard to ignore.
Most high-protein foods sacrifice taste.
Most indulgent foods sacrifice nutrition.
What if chocolate itself could be improved?
For one year, my kitchen doubled as a lab.
I experimented with different ways to integrate protein directly into dark
chocolate, testing different protein types and formulations.
There were dozens of failed batches. Texture problems. Flavor imbalances.
Formulations that simply fell apart. 53 prototypes later, the formulation finally
started to come together.
The goal was to improve chocolate itself, not to make a protein bar.
Eventually, the formulation came together.
That became Marmels.
Why I Started Marmels
I started Marmels because I believe everyday food can be made with more intention. Not to replace the things we enjoy, but to make them better.
Marmels is built around three commitments.
Chocolate was the starting point.
The principle is bigger than one product.
This is where it begins.
