Years ago, gear and food supplier Dan Pearson and his stepson Brian Horsely discovered an extremely rare variety of cacao — so rare that it was declared extinct around 100 years before their discovery. Known as Nacional, this cacao is now used to make the premium-grade, critically-acclaimed Fortunato No. 4.

Horsely moved to the Peruvian jungle and built a cacao processing plant upon the amazing discovery, then co-founded Fortunato No. 4 with Pearson. The duo then partnered with Franz Zeigler, a Swiss chocolate expert, to learn how to process the cacao into a product that pastry chef Roger von Rotz calls "the Rolex of chocolate."

Fortunato No. 4 was once exclusively available to 5-star chefs and top-of-the-line chocolatiers, but in 2020, they began selling direct-to-consumer via their website. The name Fortunato is a nod to the location that led Pearson and Horsely to their discovery, since the area was on property owned by Peruvian farmer Don Fortunato.