A James Beard Award–winning chef is bringing his Haitian heritage to coffee and chocolate shelves—and the category just got more interesting.
Gregory Gourdet’s culinary pedigree runs deep: Top Chef alum, three-time James Beard Award winner, and operator of Kann, Portland’s Haitian restaurant that cracked North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025. Now he’s extending that vision beyond the dining room into two heritage-driven shelf products that reflect his family’s Caribbean roots and his commitment to flavor authenticity.
Kann Coffee is the result of a partnership with Deadstock Coffee, a Black-owned Portland roaster. The blend anchors Haiti-grown Blue Mountain beans—a varietal with genuine terroir credentials—and layers in cinnamon, star anise, and vanilla. This isn’t a gimmick flavor play; it’s a deliberate nod to how Haitian coffee culture actually tastes. For bars and restaurants looking to feature a coffee with real narrative weight, this works in cold brew, cocktail applications, and dessert components. At $28, it’s positioned as a premium retail and foodservice offering.
The Ranger Chocolate partnership yields two bars. The Caribbean blend combines Haitian cacao with mango, coconut, ginger, vanilla, and habanero—a heat-and-fruit combination that reads as intentional rather than trendy. The Passion Fruit bar pairs chocolate with passion fruit, coconut, and vanilla. The Caribbean bar’s Silver award and Best in Category finish at the 2025 International Chocolate Awards tells you the formulation has been vetted by actual craft chocolate judges, not just social media momentum. For buyers stocking elevated chocolate or sourcing ingredients for pastry and dessert programs, this is work worth paying attention to.
Here is The Proof
Gourdet isn’t licensing his name to commodity products—he’s collaborating with established specialty producers (a Black-owned roaster and an award-winning chocolatier) on flavor formulations that reflect genuine Caribbean culinary tradition, backed by competitive recognition in craft categories.
What makes this relevant to the broader beverage and food buyer community is the absence of compromise. Gourdet could have attached his name to anything; instead, he’s betting on authentic flavor and partnership with producers who already understand their category. That restraint, paired with measurable competitive results, is what separates chef-driven products worth stocking from celebrity endorsements collecting dust on the shelf.
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