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Regina Hall
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Podcast Host
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Regina Hall
Hi, everyone. It's Regina hall and Teyana Taylor here. Let us give you one reason after another to see our new movie. One Battle after Another. Here we go. Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro. It's a great story. Action, laughs, thrill, you got some heart. And badass women. That's us. That's a pretty good list. That's so many reasons why you need.
Podcast Host
To catch one battle after another. Now playing only in theaters.
Bernard Calibo
From Paul Thomas Anderson.
Charlie Mack
Rated R under 17 on middle without parent. Hold up.
Podcast Host
Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. It's the world's most dangerous morning show. The Breakfast Club. Charlemagne. The God Envy and Jess aren't here, but Lauren laros is here. Our guy Charlie Mack pulled up, right? Listen, man, you know Charlie Mack. He keeps. He keeps something going on.
Charlie Mack
Keeps something going.
Podcast Host
And Charlie Mack said he wanted to bring us some chocolates.
Charlie Mack
Absolutely.
Podcast Host
Talk to us, Charlie Mac, what is.
Charlie Mack
This Premium chocolate, fine chocolate. Got my man Sheed here. She is the CEO.
Podcast Host
What's up?
Charlie Mack
She of Bernard Chocolate, A family, very historical family called the Kalibu family. Okay, talk to him. Come on, talk to him. She give it to him?
Bernard Calibo
Yeah, yeah. We came from Canada. We're about to launch our products here. Here in the United States, we do fine chocolates. We, we bought a company, me and another person back in 2018. But it's a fifth generation chocolatier. His family's been doing chocolate since 1911. Everything that we do is organic, natural, premium products, premium ingredients. We do a lot of community work out and back in Canada in terms of not just like, you know, being a company that is profit driven, but we also focus on a lot of, you know, giving back to the community and making and making sure that we're being impactful in what we do as a cultural, in our organization.
Podcast Host
So this like, what, second, third generation?
Bernard Calibo
This is fifth generation. So. Yeah, yeah. So our guy here is Bernard Calabo. He's, he's a. So, so the brand here is. So we're launching new brands. We do, it's called, it's going to be called Bernard Just like, you know, we're, you know, building off his legacy, but, you know, so we bought an existing company with him. He's been doing chocolates for 40 years himself. He's in Canada. But, but like I said, he's a craftsman and everything that we do is premium.
Podcast Host
How'd you connect with Charlie Mac? Charlie Mac made you want to get into chocolate, Charlie.
Charlie Mack
You know what, I'm going to be honest with you. I always, like, I hear about, I've always been a candy guy, but I'm not a lot. I'm sad always like chocolate and then sugar, you know, again, diabetes is big enough. So for me, when he told me it was no like refined sugar in it, I was like, wow. And then he talk about the community aspect of it. So for me, that hit my heart, you know, I mean, I kind of pulled on my heartstring about like, okay, so we got a healthy dessert. Yes. I'm saying, if you will, a premium dessert. Because when you taste it, right, like the, you haven't tried it yet, but the gummy, the gummy, the chocolate gummy, it's a really rich kind of high end.
Regina Hall
You know, I don't even like gummies and I've been tearing these. You can't eat one.
Charlie Mack
You can't eat one. Yeah, right. So for me, I think the thing that really hit me was the Community aspect.
Regina Hall
Okay.
Charlie Mack
Anything that's going to kind of give back. And that's the thing he came to me with. At first I was like, okay, let's talk about it. And then, like I said, the sugar, we don't know in the community because we use sugar and salt so much, it's like it's killing our community. So for me it was like, no, no sugar. There's no, there's no sugar. Correct.
Bernard Calibo
Yeah. Well, no, no, no processed sugar. We don't use sugar.
Charlie Mack
Healthy options. And then there's so many benefits in terms of people having cancer and things like that in terms of what we're providing. So it's not just, I'm saying we give you chocolate, it's benefits from the infused situation.
Bernard Calibo
And so, and the reason, I guess with Charlie, the nice thing. So it was, it was through someone from some Will Smith's team. A friend of mine introduced me to Charlie a couple of years ago. Yeah, yeah, we've, We've, you know, been connected now for a couple of years. But, you know, now he's, he's part of our team and even our management team, like, we're, we're out there trying to, you know, connect with people, different people and, you know, from different spaces. So as we, you know, do things in the United States, both with our two companies, like the infused company and the regular chocolate company, that we're connecting with the right people and we're finding ways to, like, be, like I said, be impactful, like, you know, working with marginalized communities, inner city youth. I did, like, before I bought this company, I worked for the Prime Minister of Canada for three years as his main advisor for my province, which was Alberta. And so. But I've had different businesses my whole life. This is one that we bought eight years ago. I left that job when I bought this company just because it was a thing. But I guess when whatever we do, like we're trying to do, you know, I feel like even in the United States, like, we're doing cannabis, but I feel like, you know, the, you know, economic empowerment, trying to work with communities that don't get the opportunities that others do and so try to be. And so we don't have, like, all the answers on how we're going to do it. So we came with Charlie and even that was part of the reason we wanted to meet with someone like yourself and talk about ways that we could, you know, be involved and actually be. Be impactful, not just say, hey, we do this just because it sounds good for marketing purposes. But actually focus on the impact and let the, the, you know, the money and the revenue will drive in itself and it'll come and you know, everyone can, can, can make some, some profit. But I feel like there's, there's more to, to business and to, to doing things in life than that.
Podcast Host
And it's not cannabis in this one. Cause Lauren then had about eight of them.
Bernard Calibo
Yeah, there's no cannabis in this, so.
Podcast Host
No, we. Great.
Charlie Mack
No, you're not eating just one.
Regina Hall
I would have been so stuck.
Bernard Calibo
Yeah, so, so we, we, we, we don't, we don't. Because of the federal legalization rules, we don't bring them over the border like that. But we, we do make them in New York. We have a facility in Warwick where we make cannabis edibles. And we're going to be launching next month under. So, so our chocolatier's name is Bernard Calibo. The regular chocolate is going to be called Bernard and then the cannabis edibles will be called Bernie. It's more of a playful, It'll be a playful brand, an impactful brand. So we look forward to that next month, to launching that.
Podcast Host
You want to try the pretzel?
Regina Hall
Yeah, I want to try the chocolate cover.
Podcast Host
Charlie Mac. Charlie about to have his own chocolate factory.
Bernard Calibo
Charlie the chocolate factory.
Charlie Mack
You know, about diversifying, we have to do that, right? Absolutely. And at this stage in our life, I'm saying we got to understand that everybody's not going to be will Jay Z. Right. So we gotta look at business in a different degree and we got to perform. Same thing about us. A lot of things are kept from us, you know, in terms of business, but there's a lot of different opportunities. So for me, seeing a person like yourself, like Lauren, like myself, to do something in the space of chocolate, like something that we used every day, all day. That's right, right. But we never thought about ownership and never thought about again from the space of, okay, you make money, but then when you make the money, do you give back? For me, every time I'm saying whatever is I do in life, what's the give back? That's just what it is for me, you know, I mean, if I don't see a road back to giving back to my community, then I really don't want to do that. Because it doesn't matter to me that you're able to go out here and the mask, you know, great wealth and okay, so now what are you doing with it? That's real, you know, I mean, so. And again, we're Going to do it, I'm talking about in terms of financial, but then at the same time helping people out, just going through anxiety, like you said, in terms of sleeping. Right. So when she. She says it stabilizes them, you know, I mean, so he finds ways for him. And a lot of creative people, I'm saying they done with things, anxiety and things. Like this is a situation where still I don't go. I don't go through it per se, but I work in this, in a space where a lot of creatives. And so to me, I'm like, it's another way for us to kind of help them out and assist. We're going to go talk with a couple of people. So we came together, just kind of bear gifts and interact with people and see what you think about them.
Podcast Host
Thank you.
Charlie Mack
You know what I mean? Not trying to sell it, but more so like, what do you think about it?
Regina Hall
Honestly, it's good. I don't do gummy bears, but these milk chocolate covered gummy bears, I would eat these. I would actually buy these. And I love chocolate covered pretzels. This is my favorite. It's so good. Okay, well, y' all got another bag?
Charlie Mack
Well, are we gonna give you a whole camera? So what you do is you bring a sample in because you don't know. Because I look down the lobby and I'm like, okay, so is this community out here with the books and things like that? Or is it like. I'm saying you could kind of like, is it y' all books out there? Because a lot of times people come here, I'm sure they bring you a lot of stuff, and you come in, you're like, wow, okay.
Regina Hall
If his book.
Charlie Mack
Charlemagne is that this. These gummies won't be sitting here. These gummies don't go for. You won't be sitting there for Eddie yesterday. I'm just gonna grab it. But we got some fatty too. But I'm just saying a lot of some people bring you products and they'd be sitting over the corner, you'd be like, okay, they were here the last time I came. So I don't want that. You know, I want some. I'm saying that people actually. I'm saying this is what I would actually utilize. I would pay. She said I would pay for it. You haven't tried it yet. But no, we want to bring something in the community, in the space that utilize it, but helps people out as well.
Regina Hall
Is it in grocery stores or online or.
Bernard Calibo
Well, so in Canada, we're across Canada. Here we're going to be doing it online through Amazon. So we'll be, we'll be launching our regular chocolates in the United States in about what, four months. And the cannabis will be available in dispensaries across New York state.
Podcast Host
So they can't go order just now.
Bernard Calibo
You could from our Canadian site. We could come from our Canadian site. But we'll be doing, you know, with, with, you know, just all the challenges and shipping across the border with the tariffs and everything. So we're, you know, in, in about three months, we'll be, the, the regular chocolates will be fully operative in the United States.
Podcast Host
Well, thank you for bringing us.
Charlie Mack
Appreciate you, bro.
Podcast Host
Chocolate. Appreciate you, appreciate you, appreciate you.
Charlie Mack
I appreciate you.
Podcast Host
Thank you, man. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. Check out the new season of Reasonable Doubt now screaming on Hulu. Louisiana's most successful attorney, Jack Stewart defends a young actor accused of murder. Follow Emma Yahtzee, Coronaldi, Morris Chestnut, Joseph Sikora and guest stars Cash Doll and Lori Harvey as they fight their personal battles in the spotlight of the year's most sensational trial. In the pursuit of justice, every move counts. Reasonable Doubt Season 3 now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
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Regina Hall
This is an iHeart podcast.
Date: September 26, 2025
Show: The Breakfast Club
Host: Lauren LaRosa (standing in for DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, and Charlamagne Tha God)
Guests: Charlie Mack (Producer/Philanthropist), Shoaib Rasheed (CEO, Bernard), Bernard Callebaut (Chocolatier, legacy family)
This engaging episode of The Breakfast Club spotlights the launch of a new premium chocolate brand, "Bernard," by fifth-generation chocolatier Bernard Callebaut and CEO Shoaib Rasheed, joined by cultural influencer Charlie Mack. The discussion intertwines the artistry of fine chocolate, social impact, healthy ingredients, and business empowerment within communities, especially marginalized groups and inner-city youth.
Roots of Bernard Callebaut Chocolates
Quote:
"His family's been doing chocolate since 1911. Everything that we do is organic, natural, premium products, premium ingredients." — Shoaib Rasheed (02:36)
Charlie Mack’s Involvement
"Every time I'm saying whatever is I do in life, what's the give back? That's just what it is for me." — Charlie Mack (07:11)
Social Impact Mission
Quote:
"Trying to work with communities that don't get the opportunities that others do...not just say, hey, we do this just because it sounds good for marketing...Let the impact be first." — Shoaib Rasheed (05:30)
Health-Oriented Sweets
"We don't use sugar...No processed sugar." — Bernard Callebaut (04:37)
Expanding into Edibles
"The regular chocolate is going to be called Bernard and then the cannabis edibles will be called Bernie. It's more of a playful...an impactful brand." — Bernard Callebaut (06:37)
Taste Test Reactions
"I don't do gummy bears, but these milk chocolate covered gummy bears, I would eat these. I would actually buy these." — Regina Hall (08:33)
Ownership and Representation
Quote:
"A lot of things are kept from us, you know, in terms of business, but there's a lot of different opportunities...when you make the money, do you give back?" — Charlie Mack (07:11)
Mental Health and Wellness
Where to Buy
"Here we're going to be doing it online through Amazon...in about four months...the cannabis will be available in dispensaries across New York state." — Bernard Callebaut (09:33)
On Health and Community:
"We use sugar and salt so much, it's like it's killing our community. So for me it was like, no, no sugar." — Charlie Mack (04:23)
On Business with Purpose:
"If I don't see a road back to giving back to my community, then I really don't want to do that." — Charlie Mack (07:22)
On Taste:
"I don't even like gummies and I've been tearing these...You can't eat one." — Regina Hall (04:13)
On Strategy:
"We're not trying to sell it, but more so like, what do you think about it?" — Charlie Mack (08:29)
| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------| | 02:19 | Introduction: Charlie Mack & chocolate launch | | 02:36 | Brand origin and legacy — Bernard Callebaut | | 03:42 | Charlie Mack’s involvement and personal journey | | 04:13 | Product health benefits and Regina’s taste test | | 05:13 | Social impact, prior careers, and brand mission | | 06:31 | Clarification: no cannabis in current sample | | 06:37 | Cannabis edibles coming soon ("Bernie" brand) | | 07:11 | Business empowerment, ownership, and giving back | | 08:33 | On product reception and community utility | | 09:33 | U.S. availability timeline (Amazon, dispensaries) |
This episode delves into the fusion of legacy, innovation, and social purpose as the "Bernard" chocolate brand prepares to enter the U.S. market. Through personal anecdotes and taste tests, Charlie Mack, Shoaib Rasheed, and Bernard Callebaut highlight how high-quality, healthier chocolates can serve both as a delightful treat and a catalyst for community empowerment and social impact. The conversation is lively, insightful, and full of purpose-driven business wisdom.