When this couple launched Green & Black's in 1991, they already knew about the food business. They tell Sarah Hanson how they went about creating one of the country's leading chocolate brands

Craig Sams The idea for Green & Black's came almost accidentally. I was looking for a new peanut supplier for the peanut butter we produced under the Whole Earth Foods brand, the company my brother Gregory and I founded in 1967. I had just had to turn down some that weren't good enough. The same farmers growing these peanuts also grew cocoa beans and asked if I would be interested in buying that instead. We were sent some chocolate samples made from the cocoa beans and it was the greatest chocolate we had ever tasted.

Josephine Fairley I nagged Craig to do something with the chocolate. I knew we had a fantastic product and that there was massive news potential. It was a product that would bridge the organic and the gourmet. The only problem was that we couldn't make it under the Whole Earth brand because of its no-sugar ethos. Craig said: "If you're so interested, why don't you do it?" We didn't have any budget for it so I invested £20,000 of my own money, which came from the sale of my house.

CS It wasn't difficult to set up the new brand. I had already done all the risk and hard work in the 1960s and 1970s when I started up Seed, a macrobiotic restaurant in London, and the Whole Earth natural foods store. By the time we set up Green & Black's, Whole Earth Foods was doing very well. We already had a sales force, warehouse, office and a good relationship with the bank.

JF There were still challenges. Don't launch a chocolate product in the summer, for starters. We had to get a refrigerated storage cabinet and the product sat there for six weeks before we could launch. Growing as fast as we did was incredibly challenging. You never get paid as fast as you need the money to grow. But if the demand is there, you have to do it. You can't say to supermarkets that you have no stock. We managed to get some cash from the bank, and then in 1999 through private equity.

CS We had a triple first-mover advantage: we were the first in the UK to market a product with 70 per cent cocoa solids, we were the first ethical and Fairtrade product, and we were organic. But people didn't know what 70 per cent cocoa meant, and the term "organic" was a bit cranky—not yet mainstream. We had to fight against a lot of prejudice and ignorance.

JF I continued to work as a journalist. We couldn't afford to take any money out of the business to pay me so I needed another income. I came up with the name (Green meaning organic and Black meaning high cocoa solids), and did the marketing and the PR. Craig did the business nuts and bolts. It helps to be married to the person you're in business with—you trust them implicitly.

CS Even though Jo and I come from different backgrounds, we've always been on the same wavelength. We complement each other effectively most of the time.

JF We knew that at some point the business would be sold or floated, and we sold to Cadbury Schweppes in 2006. Cadbury has a dear place in British hearts. It prides itself on its commitment to corporate social responsibility. I couldn't have thought of a better home for Green & Black's. I wasn't worried about the brand losing its values; Cadbury knew what it was buying into and why. Sir John Sunderland, chairman of Cadbury, said to us that if we ever thought the founding principles and ethics of the brand were being compromised, we should tell him.

CS We sold at the right time. All the big chocolate companies were buying our competitors or launching their own similar products. Green & Black's needed to go to Cadbury in order to fight back.

JF When we first sold, I had four months off. Not only did I get really bored but I became really boring! Then in 2005, we took over Judges, a bakery in Hastings, East Sussex, and before I knew it I was bagging up hot cross buns. Last June, we opened a health centre. These were both funded with money from the sale of Green & Black's. We didn't buy a yacht or a new house. It's fun making things happen. I run on adrenalin—it's my drug of choice.

CS I love business, I love creating things. I get tremendous satisfaction seeing a business going into profit and acquiring a constituency—it's like winning votes in politics. It's great working in an environment where you can make a difference in the world and make money at the same time.