When your family owns a company older than the United States—founded in Paris in 1668 as chocolatier to King Louis XIV—you don’t just make candy. You guard a legacy. Dan Abel Jr., CEO and “Chief Chocolate Officer,” carries forward Bissinger’s centuries-old recipes while reinventing chocolate for a new age.

From childhood Valentine’s strawberry rushes to leading 150 employees today, Dan has lived inside the chocolate factory his whole life. But growth wasn’t all sweet. A multimillion-dollar expansion pushed the company into high-volume contract work, only to discover that mass production drained its soul. Dan’s decision to walk away from seven-figure deals restored the company’s heart—and reignited its growth.

Listen now to hear how a great, modern chocolatier leads craft and crisis, culture and commerce, family and future. See more @ MarkSpencerCook.com

Discover the hidden truth of leadership that Dan learned the hard way: scaling without soul is failure, no matter the numbers.

“Culture is the ingredient you can’t fake.”
“Hands-on leadership tastes better than corner-office theory.”
“Losing millions is safer than losing your soul.”
This is chocolate as calling, not candy.

Questions Explored:
• How do you run a company older than America?
• What happens when growth steals a business’s soul?
• How do you scale artisan craft in a mass-production world?
• What does a cocoa crisis teach about leadership and values?

Lessons Learned:
• Never compromise your recipe for profit.
• Ideal clients restore morale and culture.
• Hands-on leadership builds trust faster than strategy decks.
• Data obsession fuels innovation—but only when tied to craft.

Guest Links:
Website: https://bissingers.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-abel-jr-15541765/

Host Links:
Website: https://MarkSpencerCook.com
Consulting: https://WindfallPartners.com
YouTube: Bold Encounters, Mark Spencer Cook
All Socials: @MarkSpencerCook

Chapters:
00:00 From Paris to St. Louis
03:16 A family of modern candy makers
10:43 Why Dad risked everything to start fresh
19:48 Wholesale disruption and bold decisions
24:42 Losing soul in mass production
27:42 Walking away from seven-figure deals
33:49 Surviving the cocoa crisis
40:37 Why beans taste different around the globe
44:31 Chocolate tastings and the craft revival
49:44 The five-o’clock exit: family first
50:46 Advice for the next generation

Keywords: Dan Abel Jr., Bissinger’s, Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company, King Louis XIV, Paris chocolatier, cocoa crisis, artisan chocolate, family business, resilience, craft vs mass production, legacy leadership

Two “killer” goals beat the tale of the “big break” in your career. In this episode we finish our iconic interview with Daniel Ambrosi, an original AI artist, then we head to Lunds Fine Art Gallery to see his AI work and the stories behind each. Daniel is one of the only living artists with primary sales at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the same year…and a purchase by one of their top executives.

Daniel heads to London for even more iconic shows after. Daniel has been implementing it into his artistic process for a decade. He is a pioneering artist who merges centuries of traditional landscape art with his revolutionary skills with computer graphics. In collaboration with folks at Google and NVIDIA, Ambrosi has developed his radiant artistic style using AI-augmented images.

When Daniel takes us up to Lunds Fine Art Gallery in Park City, Utah, he shares the Lunds' art, other artist's work, including use of Led Zeppelin, and others, then work that's completely Daniel's.

Daniel takes every picture and painstakingly adjusts every single detail himself. The AI just helps get him over the finish line. And what a successful finish it is! Daniel has joined the short list of artists with primary sales at the prestigious Sotheby's and Christie's in their lifetimes. With all of that, his career is only just beginning.

Follow Ambrosi as he chronicles what led him to this point, and where he hopes to go in the future...

• How to make career pivots?

• How can we use AI to enhance our creativity?

• Who can we trust in our inner-circle of creatives?

• How long does it take to make it big?

• How to make money as an artist?

Lessons Learned:

• Take everything one step at a time

• We must balance discipline, patience, & gratitude

• Use tradition to influence the future

• Trust the experts

Behold and support Ambrosi's artist genius:

https://www.danielambrosi.com/Selected-Works

https://aiartists.org/daniel-ambrosi

https://x.com/danoramas

See more at: MarkSpencerCook.com/Podcast/

Links for Mark S. Cook: MarkSpencerCook.com | WindfallPartners.com

LinkedIn for Mark S. Cook: LinkedIn.com/in/MarkSpencerCook

Other Social Media: @MarkSpencerCook

Chapters:

0:0:00 Intro.

0:01:34 Genesis of a Career

0:06:28 Progressions in Work

0:10:21 Expert Recognition

0:13:46 Big Step. Big Leaps.

0:19:14 The Perfect Reference

0:24:35 Home to New York City

0:27:50 Switch Things Up: Lunds Gallery

0:35:32 Origin Story 2

0:42:30 Scrolling, Brilliant Masterpiece

0:45:41 A Perfect Example of AI Work

Keywords:

AI art, Dreamscapes, Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Google/NVIDIA collaboration, Lunds Fine Art, gallery.

While we're just discovering the impact of AI in our everyday lives, Daniel Ambrosi has been implementing it into his artistic process for a decade. He is a pioneering artist who merges centuries of traditional landscape art with his revolutionary skills with computer graphics. In collaboration with folks at Google and NVIDIA, Ambrosi has developed his radiant artistic style using AI-augmented images.

But don't let the AI fool you. This work is completely Daniel's. He takes every picture and painstakingly adjusts every single detail himself. The AI just helps get him over the finish line. And what a successful finish it is! Daniel has joined the short list of artists with primary sales at the prestigious Sotheby's and Christie's in their lifetimes. With all of that, his career is only just beginning.

Follow Ambrosi as he chronicles what led him to this point, and where he hopes to go in the future...

• How to make career pivots?

• How can we use AI to enhance our creativity?

• Who can we trust in our inner-circle of creatives?

• How long does it take to make it big?

• How to make money as an artist?

Lessons Learned:

• Take everything one step at a time

• We must balance discipline, patience, & gratitude

• Use tradition to influence the future

• Trust the experts

Behold and support Ambrosi's artist genius:

https://www.danielambrosi.com/Selected-Works

https://aiartists.org/daniel-ambrosi

https://x.com/danoramas

See more at: MarkSpencerCook.com/Podcast/

Links for Mark S. Cook: MarkSpencerCook.com | WindfallPartners.com

LinkedIn for Mark S. Cook: LinkedIn.com/in/@MarkSpencerCook

Other Social Media: @MarkSpencerCook

Chapters:

0:0:00 Introduction

0:01:20 Arts

0:5:20 Sotheby's

0:16:04 London

0:35:50 Gratitude

0:43:40 New York

0:50:17 Computer History

1:00:51 Lessons

1:04:00 Making money

Keywords:

Daniel Ambrosi, Dreamscapes, AI art, generative art, Google DeepDream, NVIDIA, Sotheby’s, Christie’s, contemporary art, Central Park Nightfall, Lunds Fine Art, gallery.