A Willy Wonka turn leads family physician to sweet spot

Making sidelines pay

Doctors who branched out beyond running their practice tell why they did it, how they did it, and what you should know before you do it.
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Name: Robert Steinberg, MD.

Specialty: Family medicine.

Location: Berkeley, Calif.

Business: Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Inc. The company manufactures and sells gourmet chocolate to consumers and restaurants.

Annual revenue: More than $5 million.

Why he started the business: Dr. Steinberg started researching chocolate in 1994 because he was interested in using it for cooking. After studying in France, he became fascinated with the European process of making chocolate and periodically shared his interest with John Scharffenberger, a friend and former patient who had been looking for something to do after selling his winery.

"Finally he said, 'Let's start talking about this more seriously,' " Dr. Steinberg said. "Also I began realizing that there wasn't any good chocolate being made in the United States. ... One thing led to another. We thought that there was a market for it. We didn't know whether it would succeed, but the idea on its own was persuasive enough that we thought it was worth a chance."

The two friends founded the company in 1996.

Why he keeps practicing: Dr. Steinberg shut down his solo practice in 1990 -- one year after he was diagnosed with lymphoma because "you can't run a practice when you don't know if you're going to be there one day or if you're going to have to take a month off, because patients depend on you."

But he still keeps his hand in medicine, spending eight hours a month teaching residents and seeing patients at a free clinic in San Francisco.

"I get a lot of pleasure out of teaching and seeing patients."

Words of wisdom: Scharffen Berger Chocolate is one of approximately a dozen chocolate manufacturers in the United States and the first new manufacturer in the last 50 years. "If you're going to do another business, look at doing something that you can become expert at, that makes you and the business special," Dr. Steinberg said. "If it's something that a whole bunch of other people are doing, then the likelihood of the business succeeding is lower because you've got so much more competition."