Curious Business: Insights for B2B Growth

Building a Rebellious Brand with Fatso's Ella McKay

Oct 15, 2025

Ella McKay, founder of the unapologetically indulgent chocolate brand Fatso, shares her journey from brand marketer to entrepreneur. She discusses the provocative name as a rebellion against guilt and restriction in the chocolate world. Ella emphasizes the importance of ethical sourcing from Colombian cacao farmers and navigating the complexities of retailer relationships. With a hands-on approach, she highlights the balance between gut instinct and analytics, and her ambitious plans for making dark chocolate exciting again.

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INSIGHT

Provocative Positioning Cuts Through Noise

Fatso positions itself as a rebellion against restriction and ultra-processing to bring unapologetic indulgence to dark chocolate.
The provocative name was chosen to start conversations and cut through a crowded market.

ANECDOTE

Product Before Name

Ella developed the product concept first: chunky dark chocolate with nostalgic inclusions, then chose the name.
FATSO was one of about 30 names and felt like the clearest expression of the brand idea.

INSIGHT

Ethics Built Into Sourcing

Ethical sourcing was a founding principle after watching exposés on cacao industry corruption.
Ella chose Colombian cacao partners to ensure taste and fair pay rather than contributing to exploitative supply chains.

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In this episode of the Curious Business podcast, we meet Ella McKay, founder of Fatso. The provocatively named chocolate brand is bringing unapologetic indulgence to dark chocolate and putting ethical sourcing at its core. Ella shares the story of her journey from corporate marketeer to entrepreneurial risk-taker, and provides invaluable insights into effective business strategy and how to use consumer research.

If you’re building a brand in a crowded market, you’ll learn how being provocative and staying true to your values helps you cut through the noise. Sometimes you need to break the rules to make an impact. Hear how Ella established partnerships with cacao farmers in Colombia and why she believes gut instinct, learning by doing, and calculated risk-taking trumps analytics, especially for small businesses trying to innovate and challenge.

Tune in to hear all about:

The story behind the provocative brand name
Building ethical supply chains with Colombian cacao farmers
Navigating retailer relationships and learning when not to take ‘no’ as an answer
The production disaster that nearly derailed everything
Plans for new formats and products, and making the dark chocolate category sexy
The skills and training that best prepared her for the challenges

This episode is perfect for founders, brand builders, food entrepreneurs, and anyone who believes business should be built on passion, ethics, and a healthy disregard for doing things the conventional way.

Buy online from Delli Market:
https://delli.market/collections/fatso

Buy online from Holly & Co:
https://holly.co/storefront/fatso

Buy online and read more about Fatso ‘from farm to face’:
https://sofatso.com/shop/

Find your nearest retailer :
https://sofatso.com/stockists/

To buy the book ‘Thanks For The Feedback’ (recommended in the podcast):
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9780670922635 (affiliate link)

And visit the Curious Business bookshop:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/curiousbusiness (affiliate link)

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My name is Stephen Morris. I help start-ups and scale-ups gain clarity, take action and ignite real momentum in their marketing and pipeline generation. If you'd like to know more, book a discovery call or sign-up for my monthly newsletter - The Prompt.