The business was founded by Dr. Gunars Valkirs, a former biotech entrepreneur, who retired to Maui with his wife after the company he helped found was sold for a substantial sum. Valkirs’ father had been a farmer in Europe prior to WW2 and after being displaced as a result of the war and finding himself in San Diego, he continued his passion for farming with an orchard of citrus trees.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Valkirs, who had bought a home in Kapalua on 3 acres, began to plant cacao trees there as part of a field trial in the state which was seeking to determine what growing conditions were suitable for cacao. He later leased 50 acres of land in a more viable location in West Maui and his cacao farm which now consists of over 8000 trees, had its first harvest in 2018.

With the extremely high production costs of cacao beans, Valkirs decided to make and sell chocolate as a way to turn the farm, which had started as a hobby, into a viable business. And the focus of the business would be to give back to the Maui community; MKEC was established with the vision of donating 100% of its net profits to the non-profit community.