Forum Activity for @Melanie Boudar

My company, Sweet Paradise Chocolatier will be exhibiting at the 2012 Philadelphia International Flower Show in March. The theme this year is Hawaii and 40 companies from Hawaii will represent our state in that pavilion. 10 or more will be flower companies but the rest represent our music, culture and food. I will be bringing lots of Hawaiian chocolate produced by myself as well as other companies.

I need to connect with some other chocolate lovers in Philadelphia that could possibly help work in our booth and help me with a few logistics.

If you're interested in supporting the Occupy Wall Street protesters and want to supply them with your chocolate, send them to me! I will receive packages of chocolate donations and bring them to the park in Lower Manhattan for people to eat!I will even take pictures and document your chocolate's impact.

If you're interested, send me a message and we'll get it sent and eaten by those people out there.

We are the 99%, too!

Yep, I've done a lot of courses there. The staff are great and very knowledgeable. I have been doing courses there consistently since 2006 - it's good enough for me to keep going back. Also depends what you want to get out of it. The course notes are basically recipes and methods which is great because it stops you having to write as you go. If you're attentive and detailed, you will get a lot of other tips and tricks as you work through the recipes which are worth writing down as you go. I've generally re-written my materials after the course to incorporate these notes. The instructors are also happy to share if you ask further questions during classes.

Class format is generally introduction and go through the recipes for the day. Then weigh out ingredients (recipes are split between tables, so you work in a group). Depending on the course, the general rule of thumb is each recipe is made big enough for the whole class. When your table's recipe is due to be made, you actually make it yourself in front of the whole group. This is great for hands on experience. It also helps watching the occasional mistakes being fixed on the fly (by the instructor) or watching how things can go wrong.

I started off just doing the chocolate courses but enjoyed the school and staff and their enthusiasm for all pastry that I have just kept goingback forall things pastry. And most importantly, I use the skills I have learnt on a regular basis in things I do at home as well.

Edited to add: you should also choose courses suited to your skill level. I had done a little chocolate work by myself at home before doing Chocolates Level 1 which helped me ask some questions about things I knew could go wrong. If you're already working around chocolate and have a good handle on tempering/moulding etc, you may want to speak with them about which level you should start at.

I am contemplating a visit to Savour in January to do 17 days of training.

Has anyone been to this school? If so, did you find the experience worthwhile? Knowing what you know now, would you have approached the courses in a different way? And lastly, how did you find the course material that you took away afterward?

Thanks!

Stu

I'm definitely in the artificially coloured "white" chocolate sucks camp. There is quite a lot of subconscious psychology associate with food procurement choices.Stick a blue bar with a white bar and see which one you sell. I'm betting > 4 white sales per blue. BUT a blue bar will be bought by some one, and are they influential?

Lana,

Would you please share from where are you getting vegetable food coloring transfer sheets.

I print my own transfer sheets and would much prefer using natural dyes (inks) than the chemically processed ones I use now. Thanks

Scott;

Your post prompted me to call my contact at the CFIA, and ask her. In Canada, the definition of white chocolate is silent on color, but defines specific ingredients that can be included. Coloring is not one of them, and therefore not allowed.

I can however preclude the term "chocolate" with pretty much whatever I like, as long as the recipe falls within the definition of white chocolate. I could call it Blue Chocolate if I like.

Having said that, she also brought up the question of color in the first place, given that we're artisinal, and people are looking for more "natural" products these days. It looks cool and the feedback right now is about 50/50, but the non-color fans have a pretty compelling argument that blue chocolate doesn't look natural.

This has been a good exercise. Keep your opinions coming!

Cheers.

Brad

In the US, the standard of identity for "white chocolate" requires that it "be free of coloring material" (21 CFR 163.124(a)). Might be worth checking, if you haven't already done so, whether similar regulatory constraints are in place in Canada before deciding on what to call the product, how to label it, etc.

On the merits, I'd have no interest in buying a colored chocolate bar, unless the coloring was incidental to the inclusion of a natural ingredient chosen for flavor (e.g., achiote).

I think this is interesting too.

Thanks for the comments so far. They're great!

For those of you who haven't written anything yet, Please help!!! If you think that colored white chocolate sucks, please tell me! This is what product testing is all about - getting feedback whether good, bad, or ugly.

Thanks in advance.

Brad

I like it! Some things to keep in mind, though,are that colour influences how people perceive the taste of something and how much of your demographic are those that frown on food colourings. It seems to be a big thing here (Australia)as food colouring compounds (natural or not) can supposedly affect behaviour in childern.

Cool idea though, you could play on the influence the colour has on how people taste by having additives, whether ground in orimbedded in the chocolate, that link with the colour?

I know... It sounds like a caption of Dr. Seuss Chocolate! Haha!

I've been trying to do things a little different than everyone elseand now that we make our own white chocolate, I asked myself why white chocolate has to be white. After all, the whipped cream on our drinking chocolate is blue and people love it!...

So, I'm asking those of you out there in Chocolate Land to provide your unabashed opinions of the look of our new (and amazing tasting) "White" chocolate bars. The research has begun and the color (if any)has yet to be finalized. One important note: IF we choose to leave the color "white", it isn't actually a true white due to the fact that the vanilla beans we use change the color to more of a beige...

By the way, the color is one of our "Standard" shop colors.

Cheers and thanks for your input - the good, bad and ugly!

Believe me, i know 8-) i'm quite familiar with Vietnamese cocoa, and if properly processed, can make a very nice chocolate. That said, the total output of Vietnam today is < 100,000 T, almost none of which is commercially usable; but it is improving. Educating the farmers or creating the fermentary infrastructure, in addition to managing the water table and the damp, cool nights, are key to propagating the quality necessary for growing Vietnam into a commercially viable, sustainable origin.

You do sometimes see cocoa pods sold as fruits by the side of the road, but usually it's not because the farmers don't know what to do with them, but rather because they know the tourist buses that ply the road to the Mekong Delta will stop there and they can sell the pods at 'novelty item' value which is far > than their value sold to a fermentary, even one like that created by Grand Place which pays a pretty good price. Generally speaking volumes are low (5000 t pa = 0.1% of world production) but it doesn't mean the cacao is not interesting.

One of the challenges with Vietnam and cocoa is that the extension agency networks to teach farmers how to handle cocoa don't really exist. as such, while cocoa is being planted to a very small extent, it's not uncommon to see farmers trying to sell pods along the roadside as if they were apples or rambuton, simply because they don't know what to do with them. Nong Lam University (luong le cao) is working to change this (as is Grand Place, and Cargill a bit), but it's a very slow road. So, the net/net of it is - there's simply not export quantities of appropriate material to be had out of Vietnam as of yet. Dak Lak is a nice growing area and holds promise, but it's wetter and colder than would be preferred (meaning the beans may be nice and large and high in fat, but also that they are likely to dry slowly and may have higher mold issues as a result).

Hi Mel, you can contact me by email: samuel@marouchocolate.com

Cheers,

Sam

Excellent, will do. Thanks for the quick response, Clay.

Mel -

Since this comment from Marou Chocolate was posted I believe that they are now in the business of selling small quantities of beans. I would get directly in touch with them.

I'm a novice to the world of small-batch/home-made chocolate but have become increasingly intrigued by Vietnamese cacao (an interest that, I must confess, is mainly sparked by my ethnic Vietnamese heritage). Unlike beans originating from other countries, however, Vietnamese beans do not seem to be available online (yet) or available in the US (yet). Do you have any advice for sourcing quality beans from reliable (e.g. UTZ certified) farms to experiment with? I'm looking to grow my knowledge of that sector but resources are few and the market still seems opaque. I'd be grateful for any advice you have. Thanks!

This just in from Bloomberg-Business Week :

Credit Suisse AG reduced its three- and 12-month cocoa price forecasts as the commodity is still expensive and the technical picture looks weak.

Cocoa will be at $2,550 a metric ton on ICE Futures U.S. in New York in three months, down from a previous estimate of $2,700 a ton, the bank said in a monthly report e-mailed today. The chocolate ingredients price is seen at $2,350 a ton in 12 months, down from $2,400 a ton forecast last month, it said.

That's down about 30% from the all-time high less than a year ago. Scary.

They are, I was still there two months ago. The farmer price is set by the Ghana Cocoa Board for the season and buyers stick to it as they are guaranteed a margin by the government (which buys cocoa from them at a higher fixed price): the more they buy, the more money they make. As a result they'll compete for volumes rather than pay low prices to farmers!

i find it hard to believe that an actual farmer....at his farm... no transport costs......for average, bulk, fermented to 70% forastero beans........ is receiving over $2000?!?!?!? seems like that would imply a pretty rich farmer by local standards. I could believe that a middleman who undertakes the risky and costly transport between farm and port could get that......maybe. is this really true? Laurent are you on the ground there?

while incredulous i certainly hope its true. I am 100% all for farmers making good money on their beans.

brian

Actually it's pretty much the same as last year, the farmer price "increased" from 3,200 to 3,280 GHC per tonne, which is just above 2,100 USD. That's pretty much 75% of the international market price, but bear in mind that (1) Ghana cocoa sells at a slight premium and (2) high inflation will erode the real farmer price pretty fast (those 3,280 GHC today are already worth 5% less than 3,200 GHC twelve months ago)!

Last Friday, the government of Ghana set the minimum price it would pay farmers for the 2011-2012 harvest at US$2000/MT.

The price of the beans has been falling on global markets and the government has sacrificed part of its export tax share to help farmers, Finance Minister KwabenaDuffuor said at a news conference [Friday, Oct 14] in Accra, the capital.

[FYI, the market price for cocoa on Friday was US$2664.96/MT down from US$3471/MT just this past February. World market commodity prices have been consistently above US$2000/MT since November, 2007.

I wonder if there is any "coincidence" in the Ghanaian government setting the floor at the same price as the FT floor and wonder what the floor is/was prior to this announcement. It also makes you wonder what the real differences are between the farm gate prices, the local market prices, any government-controlled pricing, and the export/world market prices.

It's a lot more complicated than a single number.

[On-line source for cocoa bean pricing .]

Notes about pricing in neighboring Ivory Coast.

See also this Reuters story on the Ivorian government ending consultations with cocoa exporters and farmers on planned reforms to the sector that will guarantee its hundreds of thousands of smallholders a minimum selling price.

Hello All,

Please could you spread the word. I am looking to buy a selmi tempering machine, We already have the Plus model but would go for a colour, plus or Futura.

We are based in Norfolk, uk.

Many Thanks

Dale

The Chocolate Deli

www.thechocolatedeli.co.uk

twitter: @chocolatedeli

Hi Elaine,

We have been in business for just over 2 years. We have conducted market research by sending a survey to 2000 random members of our database. We found the following:

• 57% of people came in to buy products for themselves
• 38% of people came in to buy gifts for others.

From this, we have ensured we have increased our range of 'treat yourself' products and consolidated our gift offering - and as a result, our sales have increased. So in terms of what type of products we sell... we have 120 different flavor praline & truffles in our cabinets (some say this is too much, but we ditch poor performers and we move thousands of chocolates from these cabinets every week). We sell a number of different 'treat yourself' products from slabs, tablets/bars, through to confectionery & fudge bags, Coconut Ice, a range of chocolate coated peanuts, almonds, raisins, ginger, etc etc etc. In the gift range we have sourced unique packaging (we have an aversion to cheap packaging which seems prolific in our industry). We then box up different chocolate selections for each packaging type.

Why would I add a cafe/seating? 54% of our database said they would like it if we added seating. We do sell takeaway coffee, but if we had seating, we would sell a lot more coffee etc. That said, it would also detract from our retail focus, so we just sit in our niche and leave the cafes to others for now. The other issue with a cafe is where to draw the line...muffins..sandwiches...when does the line get crossed where you become more cafe and less chocolate shop? We do not sell baked goods.

We are purely a retailer selling chocolate made by various chocolatiers - but our next move is into manufacturing our own product as well - we figure there is serious margin in this end of the market.

Hope that helps answer your questions, and I hope planning is going well for you.

You should look up your local SBA (Small Business Administration), SCORE (Retired Execs), and possibly SBTDC (Small Biz Technology Dev Center.) All of these resources are free and can help you shape a plan, pro forma, and logic in running a business. They are great to bounce ideas and vet your thoughts. Our local SBA holds monthly classes on financing to marketing, YMMV but well worth looking into.

1. Finances don't lie often, extrapolate your current sales and run numbers that show what would be necessary to be successful in a shop. If you don't feel you can hit those numbers figure out what would be necessary.

2. It took us a year and half to lock down the funding. For our area and department requirements it took us nearly 5 months. We had a slew of stupid people working the permit desk and that caused error, then architectural issues and a few inspector slow downs. Rule of thumb is double your expectations and then add a few more and you might be in the ballpark.

3. No, blew out the budget due to mechanical planners over planning without consent. Builder built to spec. We got lost in the middle. Ride your project like a madperson.

4. NPR, Social Media, Farmers Markets, word of mouth

5. We are a chocolate, confections, cake shop. Having sit down would have made us Health Dept, we fly under the Ag dept. Much easier rule sets. YMMV.

6. Not much yet.

7. More money. You need at least an 8-16month cash flow ability. Our blow out on budget set us down to a 4 month window. That hurt a lot. If your opening date slides past certain seasonal periods you open in a rather large wasteland and year 1 survivability is key.

8. Good products? Never stop marketing.

9. Do your due dilligence, form an advisory group of peers, vet vet vet your plan and don't go down the road until you can really and truly secure it. Doing something on a whim, opening without enough reserves, or a myriad of other errors can cost your your sanity, wallet, or worse. Like any real business endeavor just make sure every i is dotted and t is crossed. Hire lawyers to proof your contracts and have an accountant ground your books. You can never have enough advice, even if you don't want to take it all, if they all say the same thing it might be worth listening to.

We spent 3 years at area farmers markets and now have a shop. It's not easy, it's not always pleasant, and you don't always get to pay yourself, but it is very rewarding.Good luck in your endeavor.

Hi Stu,

Thanks for the advice - seems like most folks agree that location does play a big part. What chocolate products do you sell, and what do you find sells well? How long have you been in business? Do you carry other items such as coffee, baked goods? Why would you add seating?

Thanks,

e

Hi Elaine,

You pose some interesting questions. I won't be able to answer all of them here, but happy to share a bit of my experience starting a chocolate retail business (and studying others). I am a retailer first and foremost, and chose chocolate because..well...I love chocolate and there was an open market here.

The most critical aspect of a chocolate retail outlet is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. People believe they can open in the back streets and people will come because it is a chocolate shop. Not so. Most chocolate purchases are impulsive. Opening on the back streets means you will spend a LOT of time and resource marketing and building yur brand awareness. Don't be afraid of higher rents - they tend to deliver a higher level of foot traffic - and if you are where the people are, they will shop with you, letting you focus on selling and making chocolate (and not spend half your life stressing over how to get more people into your shop).

We did not start out making our own product - and only recently made the decision to go down that road. If you are a manufacturer as well, you should have plenty of margin in your product to support a decent retail business, so long as you get the location, fit out, and pricing right.

The main thing I would do differently is to offer seating in our stores.

The last piece of advice I can give is to read a book called "The E-myth" - it will help ensure you fully understand the difference between making chocolate and running a retail business. All the best.

1. How did you decide you would have sufficient business to support the overhead of a store?
2. How long did the process take from location of space to build-out and opening for business?
3. Did you stay on budget? If not, how much above budget were you?
4. How did and do you attract customers?
5. What items do well in your shop? Are you a straight ahead chocolate shop or offer other "attractions" (i.e. cafe, gifts, etc.)
6. How has your original vision changed over time?
7. If you were to do things differently, what would they be?
8. What things worked well for you?
9. Any specific advice to offer?