Your name: Rovin Singh

Year the company was started:  2020

Where are the products made?

Vaughan, Ontario

What is the ‘key ingredient’ that makes your product line special? 

Monk Fruit Juice Concentrate
→ A natural, zero-calorie sweetener derived from the luo han guo fruit. It provides clean, sweet taste without raising blood sugar.
Chicory Root(Inulin)
→ A prebiotic fiber used for bulking and texture, inulin also supports gut health by feeding beneficial bacteria. It helps replicate the mouthfeel of traditional chocolate without added sugars or synthetic fillers.

What motivated you to start your company and create the products that we see today? 

I started Mode Chocolate because I was tired of choosing between chocolate that tasted good and chocolate that was good for me. The so-called healthy options were either loaded with sugar alcohols, left a bitter aftertaste, or were filled with artificial ingredients. No one felt good eating that chocolate. I wanted something that delivered real indulgence, without the sugar, without the junk, and without compromising on taste or quality. Mode was born out of that frustration.

What are your company’s core values?

1. No Compromise
We never settle between taste and health. Mode delivers both.
2. Simplicity
Fewer ingredients. Clear labels. Real food you can feel good about.
3. Transparency
No secrets, no gimmicks, just clean, honest chocolate.

If you could tell a retailer three things about what makes your brand different, what would they be? 

• All the Pleasure, None of the Sugar.
  Mode delivers rich, satisfying chocolate that rivals premium conventional brands but with no added sugar, no sugar alcohols, and no aftertaste. It’s a true craveable treat that doesn’t feel “diet” or compromised. It’s how chocolate should be made.
• Clean Label Meets Functional Ingredients
  We use monk fruit and inulin, no erythritol, no artificial sweeteners, and no filler
  fibers that cause digestive issues. It's gut-friendly, diabetic- and keto-conscious, and built for the growing segment of ingredient-savvy consumers.

• A Growing White Space in Better-For-You Chocolate
  Mode sits at the intersection of premium indulgence and clean wellness, not “healthy-ish candy,” and not bitter dark bars. We’re uniquely positioned to appeal to the growing segment of wellness-minded millennials and sugar-conscious snackers, while still enabling them to continue to enjoy delicious chocolate.

What are some challenges you’ve had to overcome to bring your business to its current state?

One of the biggest challenges was formulating chocolate that’s genuinely craveable without using sugar or sugar alcohols. Most ‘sugar-free’ products on the market either taste artificial or upset your stomach. I have IBS, and none of that was good for me. I wasn’t willing to compromise on flavour or how it makes people feel. It took countless iterations to get the balance just right, so we could deliver a clean label and indulgent experience consumers actually love.
Another major hurdle was finding the right suppliers. Sourcing high-quality, gut-friendly ingredients at scale, without blowing up our cost structure, was not easy. I had to navigate minimum order quantities, variations in cocoa taste, and the countless sugar substitutes out there.
Scaling production brought a bunch of new challenges. Ensuring consistency in quality, texture, and flavour across batches. Especially with sensitive ingredients like Monk Fruit, it took time, testing, and a lot of hands-on oversight.
And honestly, breaking through consumer skepticism has been a challenge in itself.
People hear ‘sugar-free chocolate’ and assume it won’t taste good. So a big part of building Mode has been about education, transparency, and delivering a product that changes people’s minds the moment they take a bite.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside of work, I love hitting the gym and balancing that out with yoga to reset
mentally. And of course, I’m always sampling chocolate, Mode or otherwise! It’s part passion, part quality control, and part just pure enjoyment. I’m a chocolate addict.