Forum Activity for @Carley Felton

Hi All,

I am looking to expand our annual sales by going after the wedding business more fervently this year (our second wedding season). I would love some opinions and comments on a few things -

What is the most popular wedding chocolate you produce?

How much extra to charge for custom flavors, custom packaging etc.

On site set-up or delivery charges?

What items to emphasize at wedding expos to get brides to bite?

Other items to be aware/beware of?

Any comments and thoughts would be much appreciated!

-Carley

My first tempering machine was a Rev. It didn't get the temperature of the chocolate low enough either, so I melted it by hand, and cooled it by hand while the EMPTY machine was going through it's cycle. (I used a blow dryer to heat the probe up).

Then when it was at it's "working temperature", I put in the cooled and thickened hand tempered chocolate. The machinedid exactly what it was supposed to do, and began heating the chocolate to get it "back up" to its working temperature, where it held there, stirring away, and in tempter just fine.

Hope that helps.

Brad

Hi

I took your advice...thank you sooo much I reached out to Chocovision and they sent a new baffle by the next morning...

The only problem the temp is better but still to high. The sales rep I dealt with said I may be at the limit with the Rev 1 and that a trade in and up to the Rev2 maybe my best solution. I will try again this weekend to see if I can make it happen with different chocolate brand. Hope you have a happy and healthy new year1

All the best,

Susan

Hi,

I am another newbie looking for information on tempering machines. I am a novice and apparently love to torture myself...but before I pull my hair out and throw the machine out the window I was hoping someone may be able to help me figure out why my Rev 1 machine will no longer temper chocolate. I have tried both dark 60% and White. I start with med chunks of chocolate behind the baffle. When prompted I put in seed. And again when prompted I take the seed out When I take the temperature of the chocolate it is well above 89*. What I am I doing wrong? Thank you in advance for your help.

Happy Healthy New Year!

Susan

Most people make a ganache and let it sit overnight to crystallize without refrigeration.You can roll it the next day. If chocolate centers are dipped cold they will crack. There are many great books, ecole chocolat or chocolate academy classes on proper chocolate making. Not sure where you got your initial concepts on refrigeration or freezing but sounds like you need a basic course.

Hello all,

hope everyone is having a great holiday!

I have a question regarding truffle making. To my understanding, once you have made your ganache/filling, you are supposed to refridgerate, then take out to form balls, then refridgerate or freeze. After the balls have been chilled, you are then supposed to dip into your tempered chocolate.

My question is will the chilled or frozen ganache throw off the temper? Ive read many posts advising against refridgerating tempered chocolate as it is more likely to bloom on account of the moisture. Would it be better to let the formed balls rise to room temp before dipping into chocolate?

Greetings!

I am a long-time lurker, who has just joined.

I am changing careers, and will be opening a retail candy/chocolate shop. This is completely new territory for me, as I have been in corporate for my entire adult life. I have great skills in many key areas, but I also am very aware of what I lack as a professional, and I know to hire others to supplement, do a lot of research, or simply ask advice of those wiser and more experienced.

My shop will have higher end artisan chocolates, and nostaglic and unusual candy. Nothing you would find in a grocery store. The chocolate will be fine and gourmet - nothing you could find even in a chain chocolate shop.

Anyone who has advice on retail store design, visual merchandising, marketing, profit margins, product selection, even hours of operation, is very welcomed!! I have my own ideas in all of these areas, but again, I know I can learn a lot from the membership in this community, and I am very hungry to absorb what I can from the experts.

Thank you, all!

Thanks for the response Brad. As a lurker with similar questions to the OP, I appreciate your insight about customers selecting chocolate flavors out of habit and comfort.

Thanks, Brad! Appreciate your input.

The shop will only have about 25% chocolate - the rest will be in candy, so I'm not too concerned about the business model being the wrong fit. I fully agree that opening a chocolate shop showcasing 100% local suppliers would be a huge fail.

Also keep in mind - "artisan" doesn't mean "exotic". I also wouldn't be foolish enough to sell things like you experienced. I can't imagine many people finding those types of flavors to be appealing, save the rarechocolate aficianado. And even then...

Thanksfor posting and your advice is quite valid and accurate, but doesn't apply to anything I have planned for my business model. Phew!

But, any suggestions on storage would be most welcomed. It is the one area of chocolate I am trying to heavily research. Clay has had some excellent suggestions, but I also am open to hearing more of how others handle their chocolate storage.

Meg;

You asked for advice.... Ok. Here's my weigh-in:

What market research have you done to ensure you aren't wasting money? Have you conducted any surveys?

You are banking the success of your business on the reputations of small "Mom and Pop" chocolatiers. If they had great reputations they wouldn't be that small, and certainly wouldn't need you to resell their confections for them. I understand thatyou are building YOUR brand around the attraction of offering a collection of confections by chocolatiers who your customers may not have access to in the first place. HOWEVER, who's to say that their products are what your customers want? Have you ever asked them?

One of the biggest failings I have researched and seen in this industry, is that NOBODY ever asks the consumers what they want! Everybody gets caught up in the emotion and appeal of owning a chocolate shop, and forgets that they are in business to make money! Chocolatiers become slaves to their business, and fail all the time because they throw out the rule book citing the fundamentals of operating a successful business.

There is a chocolatier here in Calgary who is trying exactly what you are suggesting: bringing in bars from artisans all over the world. His business is in a marquee spot in the middle of the business district of one of the richest cities in the world,it is attractively decorated,and guess what - he is failing. While HE is familiar with the brands, and I as a chocolatier am familiar with the brands, the average customer looking for a quick chocolate fix IS NOT.

Here is another great example: When I first started my business, I had a master chocolatier tell me that I MUST offer exotic truffle centers - centers such as ice wine, and grande marnier. In HIS world, they were the big sellers. Yuhuh.... His world no longer exists. He is out of business and I have sold almost half a million truffles inthe past 4 years. I tried a couple of exotic flavours and while they tasted fabulous, hardly anybody wanted them. Why... Well, it is because chocolate confections to most people are comfort foods. People for the most partpick out of habit - usually products they grew up with. I would strongly think twice when considering cool or funky flavours. You will most end up throwing them out.

You asked for advice. My advice is to spend a LOT of time doing objective research. Find out what your customers want, through several channels (not just you). I think you will be very surprised at the results of your research. If you do this, I am pretty sure you will save yourself thousands and thousands of dollars.

Brad

Clay - since I am going to be doing a full build-out of any space I rent, and I will also be stocking candy and gum lines, do you think I'm better off trying to fashion some type of mock walk-in to keep the chocolate and candy cool?

Many thanks, once again.

Meg:

You can go to Sears or some other appliance store and get a chest freezer. These are way cheaper than commercial freezers for the capacity. You can find a ~15cu. ft. chest freezer for under $500.

Then use a temperature controller to raise the temp above freezing. 35-45F will extend the shelf life considerably without worrying about freezing changing the texture (through ice crystal formation).

Johnson ControlsA419ABC-1Ctemperature controller available on eBay and other places - wiring diagram . Here is a forum discussion (brewing) that talks about using these controllers. You can order them for $70 or less.

I'm pretty sure I know the resort you were at. It's always feels steamy in there to me. lol

But, an excellent point. I guess I can have that checked in the spacebefore I move in just to make sure I get it right.

Also, another great point on the merchandising. I do want to keep stock full, so it looks like I will need to purchasea smallfreezer unit. Is that the kind that I can get from standard restaurant supply houses? I guess I can also ask the chocolate makers what they recommend for longer storage of their items - they certainly will have the experience on how the pieces need to be handled.

Thanks again.

Meg:

It can be lower than 55% - that's ideal - but not too much lower. I was in Phoenix (Scottsdale, actually) a couple of years ago for a competition and we had the reverse problem. The humidity was so high it was affecting the sugar work. The resort had two golf courses, two pools, a water feature out front, and grass landscaping. There was a lot of moisture in the air.

You also need to think about the presentation of the items in the case. You want to make it look full, knowing that some items will sell much faster than others. So buying to stock the case could mean that as you start to sell the case could start to look empty in a lopsided kind of way. Good merchandising will be one key to your success.

Thank you, Clay!

I will do just that - inquire with the chocolatier about their recommendations. I know a reputable chocolate maker will be very committed to ensuring their productisn't sold beyondits ideal time. And as I am looking to showcase fine and artisan chocolates, I suspect the shelf-life will be on the shorter side of the cycle for the individual pieces. BUT, it's comforting to know the bars will get more life.

I have access to about a half dozen very high quality chocolate makers in the near vicinity, so I am hopeful I won't need to get into long-term storage. My goal is to only stock enough as will fit in the display case at one time. This way I think I have the best chance at minimizing loss.

But, you raised a good point about humidity of the store. 55% is hard to achieve through normal HVAC in the desert, so I might need to look into humidifying the store. Thank you for pointing that out.

Meg:

Welcome to Your ChocolateLife!

The shelf life of individual chocolates (bonbons) can vary widely. Some might last 2-3 weeks from the date of manufacture, some 3-6 weeks, some 3-6 months, and some longer. It depends on the recipe and they way they are made. There are lots of techniques that can be used to extend shelf life that don't involve ingredients that are obviously preservatives. For example, using an invert sugar will bind the water in the recipe making it harder for microorganisms to grow and spoil the piece. Alternatively, the maker could use a vacuum mixer (e.g., a Stephan).

The only thing to do is to inquire of the maker as to their recommendations and then skew your purchasing to rely on more items with longer shelf life. Short shelf life items are good, but you risk throwing them away if you can't sell them in time.

Ideally, the store is cooled to between 68-74F .. and is humidity controlled, ideally to around 55% RH. This is fine for storing chocolate bars and you'll get months and months for both dark and milk at these temps. The shorter-shelf-life items will be in the case, cooled to 60F or thereabouts. I don't like cases that move around a lot of air as this can cause the chocolates to go stale more quickly. I've been experimenting with using a small chiller to pipe cold water under a marble slab (built like a radiant-heat floor, but cooled) as the cooling source for a cabinet. The base would act as a thermal mass to regulate temperature cost effectively.

It's always handy to have some 45F-55F storage (a chest freezer with a temperature override device is a cheap option) for longer-term storage. You could put bonbons in here to extend their shelf life. It's important that you control humidity as water condensing on the bonbons or bars can ruin them quickly.

Hello, everyone! I am a long-time lurker, and have always been impressed with the expertise of the members, so I am finally posting.

After many years in corporate management, I amundergoing a career change, and will be opening a candy shop. The focus will be on artisan chocolates, both bars and individual pieces, all US-made, from smaller manufacturers and more "mom and pop" type chocolatiers. You know the types who make small quantities of really great quality and artistic items. I will also be selling candyfrom nostalgic to the unusual.

Since I live in a hot weather climate, I plan on only storing and selling the chocolate from a refrigerated case made specifically for chocolates, so I may ensure the temperature and humidity. I think trying to store chocolate outside this case will just be too difficult.

That being said, provided I purchase a new display case that works perfectly, what's the shelf-life I can plan on for individual chocolates? 3 weeks?

Also, do you think I would be OK tosell the artisan chocolate bars outside this case, and have them on the shelf with other sugar-only candy?

Thank you in advance. ANY advice you have for a newbie opening her first shop would be greatly appreciated. This is a new venture, I am excited for a fresh challenge, but am completely open to learning from others.

Thank you Brad for all your contributions this year. Enjoy your time in the mountains!

I'm just about to head out to the mountains for a little R&R, and wanted to post a Merry Christmas to everyone out there in the chocolate world!I hope everyone's had a great year, and I wish you all a safe andfabulous Christmas.

Cheers and Best Wishes.

Brad.

Hi,

I am from the UK and have started making chocolate mocha spoons but I cant seem to find a manufacturer for the mocha spoon handles (i attached a pic).

I can get them from shops in the USA but postage charges to uk are high and I wanted to see if they could make other colours in the handles so really wanted to contact a manufacturer rather than a supplier to be honest.

I have tried emailing companys in the states to ask who they buy from but its a bit secret squirrel ha ha.

Does anyone know of a manufacturer of these handles who can point me in the right direction.

Many thanks, Sheena

Ning Geng -

Here's the link to a video I posted recently of a seed cleaner that should be easily adapted for winnowing. If you visit the web site there's a dimensioned drawing you can use to build one.

One thing to note is that the chamber the cracked bean falls down has to be fairly narrow, as does the slit that the air pulls through. So, you want to make sure that seams are as close to air tight as you can. On a recent project I did, I had a lot of scrap plexiglass on hand and so I used nothing but that. It's a little hard to cut cleanly, but there are places to go where you can get the pieces cut for you if you're not comfortable doing it on your own.

The reason I used plexi is that it's food safe. In addition to the glue I used metal tape (that I got from a greenhouse store) to completely seal seams so no air got out. I can't overstate the importance of sealing the seams.

What I like about this design is the triangular blocks that introduce turbulence into the airflow coming from the bottom opening. This turbulence is one key to good results.

Another key is classification. If you pieces of greatly varying sizes, it's difficult to optimize the airflow. You either end up getting a lot piece you don't want falling out the bottom or you remove too much, reducing your overall yield. By pre-classifying (there is a link in the comments to the video for some ideas) you can set an optimized airflow for each fraction.

I've used a fan with a tarp and had good results. Place the fan on a chair with the cracked nibs/shell pieces in a bowl. Place the bowl in front of the fan and continuously lift the materials into the air and let them fall back into the bowl. The nibs will fall into the bowl whereas the shell will be blown away. You'll have to play with the fan speed and distances a bit. However, it works well for small batches.

http://chocolatealchemy.com/2012/11/07/ask-the-alchemist-11/

Hello. Most small chocolate makers that I know of use one of the various PVC winnower designs. You can find several of them by searching on this forum and on chocolate alchemy.

I can't help but drool at the vertex winnowers from Boston Cocoa. But dropping 35k into something that I'm currently not doing for profit is just not an option.

I'm asking other bean to bar hobbyist on what are they doing for the winnowing process? I only need to winnow about 2-10kg a batch.

I have tried using a blow-dryer on cracked beans to rather disappointing results.

Thank you.

Ning Geng

Hi, I live in Ghana and just finished a handmade chocolate course in november. A company saw my products on Facebook and want to order some from me. But i realized there are some issues i have to deal with before i take the order.

The company want is in USA so it makes the distance quite far. please i would like the following questions to be answered for me.

1. What is the best packaging to use for my handmade chocolates to export them?

2. How can these handmade chocolates last longer in the shops in USA?

3. I usually use ganache and other recipes i make from my local spices, is it safe for export?

With no milk products, safety isn't really an issue. Keeping it in an airtight container in a refrigerator will keep the hazelnut oil from going rancid as quickly, though (assuming it wasn't rancid to begin with, of course).

I'm primarily worried about food safety issues. I'm also working with consistency. It was too liquid so I added white chocolate, but I added more than was needed to get the consistency I wanted. When cooled, it's about as solid as a regular milk or gianduja bar would be at room temp. At room temp, it's pretty soft.

The commercial gianduja I use gets stored at room temperature (usually in a dark cupboard at 18-22C). My homemade gianduja is softer at room temperature than the commercial stuff, so I'm still working on my recipe

I'm making gianduja for gifts. It has cacao liquor, hazelnut praline (nuts and sugar), and white chocolate (couldn't get cocoa butter on time). Do I need to store it in the refrigerator or is room temp ok? Same for what I should tell my friends. I'd think all these things can be stored at room temp on their own, but I'm not sure if that changes when the nuts are broken down or when it's all together.

It's not sugar bloom. Sugar bloom is usually the result of condensation on your bars, which creates tiny sticky dots on the surface.

Your chocolate isn't tempered properly. There is a tremendous wealth of information already posted on this site which explains tempering.

Hi All in desperate need of help.

I have been making chocolate for the last 9 months so i am relatively new to the process. Everything was going great until about a month ago when i started getting what i think is sugar bloom. I am based in east africa and there has been a large change in weather in the last couple of months with a significant increase in humidity.

Basically what I am getting is chocolate that looks great and has a perfect snap for a day or two - or maybe even longer but eventually the texture alters drastically and becomes crumbly and not particularly nice to eat. What is weird about this is that sometimes the chocolate looks beautifully tempered from the outside and it's not until i break the bar that it is clear something has gone wrong. Sometimes I can tell from looking at the bar - which gets a spotted look to it, but not always.

The first question is this sugar bloom? I have been researching for weeks and virtually everything talks about what the chocolate looks like on the outside, not the inside. When the outside changes it looks more like sugar bloom than fat bloom, but the changes are more radicle on the inside and I am having trouble finding info on this chemical change.

The second question is how to combat it? I have dehumidifiers and AC controlled rooms. The chocolate goes into a fridge to cool (I can't afford an enrobing set up) for about 30-40 mins and then is taken out and packed.

I have tried everything i can think of - rice in the sugar (while it is stored) to pull out ambient moisture, ac, dehumidifiers, limiting exposure to any contact with air. I am out of ideas and extremely frustrated. Any advice would be greatly appreciate. Also happy to answer additional questions about process and set up.

Thanks for your help

Jess

I just called Elaine and she said she was able to get in touch with the president of FBM, Umberto Boscolo who was reading his e-mail over the weekend. A quick Skype video call took care of everything and now Elaine is back in production.

Production has grinded to an unfortunate halt as we need to switch the roll and there are no directions. We've tried unscrewing a number of different things without any luck. e

Some countries are exporting with 25% trash. Do this long enough, and you'll find everything you can imagine (and things you wouldn't have imagined) in cocoa beans.

Long term planning and critical thinking are not strong in all parts of the world - especially when you may not know where you're going to get the money to buy dinner tonight. As a result, short term financial decisions are often made - such as "if i put rocks in this bag, it weighs more and i'll get more money today". In actuality, while this is true for today, what it means is that they're shooting themselves in the foot for tomorrow - as folks will catch on to the fact that they're not buying what they think they're buying. That said, if i don't eat today, i don't care much about tomorrow.

A fundamental shift across multiple origins around incenting quality at the grower AND exporter level is needed to change the mindset. It's incredibly difficult, and I don't believe it'll occur on a large scale quickly.

Jim:

The cleaner in the video could be adapted for winnowing, not cleaning prior to roasting. It's a device that could be more functional than one made from PVC pipe. Using pre-classification sieves before winnowing would improve throughput and yield.

You are right, there should be absolutelynoneed for the purchaser of cacao beans to clean cocoa beans. However, not all growers/exporters are as diligent as you are, and not all purchasers understand the cost/labor tradeoff. It makes more sense to pay a premium for cleaned beans because the farm gate premium is almost always going to be far less than the cost of doing it yourself.

Unfortunately, quality control with respect to cleaning and inspection for defects is not always done on the farm. I purchased some beans from the DR through a broker and the official grading specification allowed up to 3% trash -small pieces of wood, flats, doubles, and other defects - by weight. I have seen bags with nails and stones in them.

Clay,

The concept of chocolate producers having to acquire machines to clean cocoa beans before use is a concept I am unable to comprehend. If you are buying beans that require cleaning, you are not only wasting chocolate production time but also paying premium prices for trash. Buy beans that are properly processed and forget about trying to compensate for shoddy quality control at the producer level.

The final stage of our process exposes all beans to a cleaning phase that removes all material that is not useable bean. In addition our machinery separates beans by size (mass) and offers uniform, clean beans that can go directly from the sack to the roaster.

Forget about adding a process to the already complicated issue of chocolate and buy from producers that include practice quality control in the process line .

Jim Lucas

I just came across all of this and all advice is very good,being on the other end of chocolate a consumer who loves good chocolate and a chocolate personal shopper. In the end,the chocolate bars have to taste good. Much hard works goes into making the bars and it is also an art with science thrown in. I have tasted many bars along the way and can now tell if something is off.So after all the courses much practice and good tasting beans.It is hard to know which course would be good,how much info is there, but I do hope that there will be more bean to bar courses for the people who wish to get into this so that the consumers like myself can keep on buying and tasting bars.

cole chocolat runs a bean to bar course for around $450 Its entirely online and runs over the course of a few months. I think the next one starts in september. For the money it provides a wealth of information and very good introduction to the world of making chocolate. Not equipment training per say or recommendations in any one direction, with the exception of tutor feedback, but very neutral information in all aspects of the industry and a good broad outline with lots of resources. A good start I would say, which does cover everything you mentioned above.

Would anyone in North America (or elsewhere but preferably in English), be willing to run a course, or know of a course or place for training in Bean to Bar? I am applying for funding to attend training. I am also happy to Stage somewhere to learn too.

Any info would be fantastic.

P.s in regards to what I would pay- between $3000 and $5000 for a course which covers everything from understanding beans, selecting, roasting and everything to final product- hopefully also covers which machinery is best suited but happy to pay someone separately for that information.

Cheers