Our Sweet Story

Marcie starts her career after college as a chemist at a Fortune 100 company in Cincinnati, Ohio. After four years of beauty care and food science research, it was time for another adventure. She feels guided to move to San Diego. Without a job, place to live or any friends in the area, Marcie arrives in Mission Valley in March of 1999. She is determined to start a new life for herself .

Marcie takes a job where she helps to create compounds to enhance the flavors of foods. She feels a growing restlessness with her career. It is at odds with her personal philosophy of achieving good health through natural and organic food. Marcie realizes that to be true to her beliefs she will one day need to put her energies toward a cause more in sync with her own lifestyle.

February 2004

Marcie tells her long-time friend Phil of her new café idea: An establishment specializing in unusual teas and organic dishes – a unique place where everyone involved would do what they loved to do and have fun doing it.  Phil, an entrepreneurial spirit himself with a passion for healthy living, calls Marcie a few days later and says his dream is to be a business partner.  A new company is born.

August 2004

Marcie takes a big step, saying farewell to her employer in order to plunge full time into the development of the new company.  The firm’s first office is a modest computer desk in her living room in the lovely seaside town of Solana Beach, CA.

February 2005

The company incorporates under the name Doorway to Discovery since this business is just that, a doorway to adventure and a discovery of our life's purpose. 

Spring 2005

Marcie decides that the best location for this unusual café would be Encinitas, a place of special meaning for her. 

Thanks to generous seed money from their families, as well as a big chunk of Marcie’s savings, Phil and Marcie begin what they expect will be the most exciting phase of their journey, the search for the perfect restaurant site.  They look in every corner, take every suggestion and follow every lead, but the right location just does not appear. 

December 2005

Marcie and Phil start to discuss other ways to combine their dream with the message of organic farming and supporting other cultures.  One evening while sitting on the living room floor, the inspiration comes…chocolate. 

Phil suggests naming the new business MarcieSweets.  However, Marcie wants to give the company a name with more spiritual meaning and asks her good friend Diana for her thoughts.  Diana guides Marcie to the realization that the company is an expression of who she is, and that a person’s name, since it’s given at birth, is sacred and the most spiritual name that the company could have.

Doorway To Discovery Inc. begins doing business as MarcieSweets.

Summer 2006

We begin attending festivals and developing our own organic chocolate products.  One day Marcie's good friend Brian grabs a handful of our chocolate chips in one hand and a handful of nuts in the other, alternately nibbling out of each hand.  This leads to an epiphany: Why not combine the two?

January 2007

MarcieSweets starts to flow; there are surprises around every corner -- generous people offering their talents and gifts, donations and media attention. 

We enter into the grocery arena, debuting at Seaside Market.  Here we introduce our C.A.R.ma and Perfect Synergy blends along with our 65% Peruvian Dark chips to grocery shoppers.  Our new line of Green Earth Chocolates is a hit.

It comes as no surprise that the first market to feature us on their shelves is in Encinitas.  We’ve come full circle. 

March 2007

MarcieSweets adds an exciting new element with Tree Refuge, a program to find and transplant local trees that otherwise would be lost to development.

April 2007

One evening Marcie is enjoying shopping with friends at Whole Foods market in La Jolla, California.  She meets a friendly employee there and casually asks, “How does one get a new product into Whole Foods?”  “Give it to me,” replies the kind man.  We learn in time that Doug is the store manager. MarcieSweets takes its place on the store's shelves in July 2007. 

December 2007

Marks the end of an exciting and eventful year for MarcieSweets. Green Earth Chocolates are now available across southern California. We started this company to Connect People through Chocolate, and we are very much enjoying doing just that.

To Our Special Friends

MarcieSweets would like to thank Diana Dayton for her spiritual guidance; Dagan for this amazing website, generosity and vision; Joe Molina for his business advice; Jay Watts for the beautiful flower symbol design; Brian Cleveland for his countless hours of giving and for leading the Tree Refuge team; Jeff Gelder for the kind media attention; Carlos for the amazing shots and countless smiles; Lance Taylor Harrington for his selflessness; Stephen Piadade for supporting us with kindness every step of the way; our families and friends for their love; and Sean Taylor for the inspiration.