It’s rich and creamy like a regular hot chocolate, but a Guelph business has added a surprising ingredient to its drink; bone broth.
“It’s definitely a first for everybody, I think everybody’s initial reaction is like, ‘Huh, I’ve never heard of that combination before,’” said Beckie Prime, the owner of Beck’s Broth, “It takes a bit of explaining to do, and a lot of open-minded people who do try it, they fall in love with it.
“It’s a product that once you try it, it has you coming back for more.”
Prime said she came up with the recipe last year while studying the Canadian School of National Nutrition to become a holistic nutritionist.
“A month after graduating, I opened up my practice right away,” said Prime. “Since I’m working towards the gut health realm of holistic nutrition, I was always recommending bone broth for my clients.
“That was something that was coming up again and again in their protocols. Since they have a sweet tooth like myself, and so I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to experiment with bone broth because it is so versatile.’”
With amino acids that aid in gut health, Prime explains bone broth can also help lead to a decrease in inflammation in the body, improve immunity levels and other health benefits.
“It can help heal any of that coarse membrane that can lead to leaky gut, which causes inflammation and whatnot,” said Prime of bone broth.
Besides bone broth, the drink contains cocoa and raw honey. Prime adds you don’t need to add any dairy to it, as the bone broth makes it creamy.
“The ingredients complement each other very nicely,” said Prime. “It’s very rich and chocolatey, and you get gentle notes of sweetness from the raw honey.”
After developing the recipe, Prime began sharing the drink with her clients and her family and friends. She was then encouraged by them to sell the product, and launched her business in November 2021.
Today, Beck's Broth operates out of the 10C Shared Space in Downtown Guelph and is available in four stores throughout Wellington County and Waterloo Region.
“It has been amazing. I never, in a million years, could've imagined that I would open up my own food product business,” said Prime.
Now a licensed holistic nutritionist, Prime said the knowledge from her practice compliments her business. As the only person working at Beck’s Broth, Prime did have to step back from being a nutritionist.
“It’s a ton of work, but I’m still able to tie in my holistic nutritionist knowledge,” said Prime. "On my Instagram page, I am constantly talking with the following, and people that reach out to me, I am still able to share the benefits and different ideas, and they come to me with the different problems that they are experiencing and I can help them that way.”
Attracting health conscious consumers, Prime mentions one group of customers the hot chocolate has been a hit with is young mothers.
“There’s only three ingredients into them, so mom’s don’t have to worry about feeding their kids artificial sweeteners or anything like that, so it’s been a huge hit,” said Prime, “which I wasn’t really expecting to get into target audience of young mothers, but it’s been nice.”
Prime adds her business has also received a lot of support from community programs. Beck’s Broth participated in the Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL) program from Innovation Guelph in January, where she received three months of mentorship.
“I was also offered a $5,000 grant, which helped tremendously with all of our startup costs, and helped us close the gap of cost in terms of recyclable packaging and zero waste,” said Prime, “so that was such a huge help in getting us started and helped us amplify our growth.”
On Monday, Beck’s Broth will be releasing another product which is a cold brew made with bone broth. Prime said she collaborated with Elora Coffee Roasters for this new item. As a nutritionist, she adds the coffee drink has been gentle on the stomachs of her clients.
“It’s a black coffee, but it’s really good,” said Prime, “and since it is a cold brew, you don’t get that diminishing, old coffee bean flavour after a couple of days.”
With a website also coming out soon, Beck’s Broth can be found online on Instagram and Facebook.
