Bean To Business

Bean to Business: Spilling the Beans

What does it really take to run a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in a small Texas town?

Bean to Business is a weekly show hosted by Dan McCoy and Melanie from Hill Country Chocolate in Fredericksburg, Texas. Each week, we use our chocolate factory as the backdrop to talk about what it really takes to run a small business — from marketing and social media to using AI, managing cash flow, and everything in between. No filters. No fluff. Just the real stories behind building a business from the bean up. Whether you're a chocolate lover, a small business owner, or someone figuring out how to grow your own thing, there's something here for you.

New episodes drop every week.

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What We Talk About

Bean to Business uses Hill Country Chocolate as the platform, but the conversations go way beyond chocolate.

Craft Chocolate

How bean-to-bar chocolate is actually made. Where cacao comes from. What makes craft chocolate different from the mass-produced stuff on store shelves. The mistakes we've made, the things we've learned, and why we think this process matters.

Running a Small Business

The real stuff nobody talks about — marketing, social media strategy, using AI in a small business, cash flow, hiring, and all the things that come with running a manufacturing and hospitality operation. We share what's working, what's failing, and what we'd do differently. These aren't lessons that only apply to chocolate. If you run any kind of small business, this is for you.

Fredericksburg & the Texas Hill Country

Dan has lived in Fredericksburg for nearly 30 years. Melanie grew up here. We share what locals actually know about the area: where to eat, what to do, when to visit, and the things most tourists miss.

Read the Full Episodes

Every episode becomes a full article on our blog with show notes, detailed breakdowns, and answers to the questions we cover on the show.

Browse All Bean to Business Episodes

Tools & Resources

These are tools we actually use to run Hill Country Chocolate. We only recommend things we work with ourselves.

Title

RocketTools.io

AI-powered content intelligence system and digital marketing tools we use for content creation, SEO, and brand strategy.

rockettools.io

Claude by Anthropic

The AI assistant we use daily for everything from content planning to business strategy.

claude.ai

Klaviyo

Our email and SMS marketing platform. How we stay connected with customers and drive repeat sales

klaviyo.com

Riverside.fm

How we record high-quality podcast and video episodes remotely.

riverside.fm

Buzzsprout

Where we host this podcast. Simple, reliable, and distributes to every major platform.

buzzsprout.com

EditGPT

The AI editing tool we use for content proofreading and spell checking.

editgpt.app

Meet Dan & Melanie

Dan McCoy

Dan McCoy has lived in Fredericksburg for nearly 30 years. Before starting Hill Country Chocolate, he spent his career in healthcare leadership, corporate turnarounds, and strategic communications. He brings that same operational mindset to building a chocolate factory from scratch.

Melanie

Melanie grew up in Fredericksburg and knows the Hill Country inside and out. She handles the day-to-day production at Hill Country Chocolate and brings the local perspective that makes Bean to Business more than just a business show.

They run the business together. They're not married. That's actually one of the most common questions they get — and yes, they did a whole episode about it.

Got a Question for the Show?

We love hearing from listeners. If you have a question about chocolate, running a business, or visiting Fredericksburg, send it our way — we might answer it on a future episode.