I would like to create a menuof my chocolates that features a picture of each flavor as well as have pictures ofmy chocolateson the website. How have you photographed your chocolates? Did you do it yourself? Is special lighting needed so they look 3D & shiny? Did you hire a photographer? Do you use a food photographer? Any help or insight would be appreciated.
I represent a bean to bar chocolate company in Hawaii. Many of our chocolates are made with cacao grown in Hawaii and processed to bars.
I will be happy to discuss the possibility of suppling you with the finest chocolates.
Please reply to Iolani Lewis at iolani.lewis@earthlink.net
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I have received a number of emails from folks around the globe asking for further information about the table top foiler we once sold. It was a device - nothing more - that had a small pedestal and a brush cut to the shape of your small molded piece. The operator would take a pre-cut piece of foil, place it over the chocolate and then place both on the tiny pedestal and then pull the brush device down over the chocolate by hand. Once done the operator would remove the piece by hand and then smooth the sides and bottom. Quite time consuming and not very effective, We had offered this item for sale through someone who had built a few but it never really took off for obvious reasons so we are no longer offering them.
Foil wrapping by hand is laborious and, sadly, no one has ever produced a low cost, entry level full-fledged machine to do the work so the next best option is a used/rebuilt machine which we do offer but prices start in the mid $20K range and that is a major barrier to entry for most folks in early stage businesses.
Happy to discuss foil wrapping any time - jim@unionmachinery.com
Thanks
Jim Greenberg, President
Union Confectionery Machinery Company
Thanks Jim... I will be sending you a note as well for a quote.
We sell a small table-top foil wrapper for flat bottomed solid goods with very inexpensive tooling.
Please contact me jim@unionmachinery.com for a quote.
Jacqueline,
Thanks You!
This web site is the best.
Neal
Hi Neal-
I am currently buying it from Glerup Revere. If anyone knows of any other suppliers- please keep me in the loop as well.
Cheers,
Jacqueline
JACEK Chocolate Couture
Hi Jacqueline,
I do not have a machine solution for you but yoou may have a solution for me.
What is a good source for the paper backed foil?
Thanks,
Neal Brown
Mojo Chocolates
Hi Clay,
Thanks for your vigilance. Your chocolife pages really is a big help to us in understanding the industry and thus increasing our passion for it.
More power!
Ernesto
We are always here to help. After 100 years in the business, we have come to find great satisfaction in helping companies start up, grow and prosper.
Brad, always a pleasure to have such nice feedback.
Jim
Thank you all for this great info!! This is very helpful...
Cheers,
Jacqueline
Jim;
I went back and re-read my initial post, and would like to make a clarification. My last sentence could be interpreted that your prices are high. I would like to, for the record here comment that the prices you and John have quoted me for equipment in the past have been in line with what is typical in the industry, so your prices are in fact NOT high.
Not sounding like one of your sales guys here, but I would also like to point out for the ChocolateLife community that when I was originally looking for budget-oriented equipment, both of you were an invaluable source for some information, and for that I thank you.
Cheers and Best Wishes
Brad
Jim -
Just responding to the "Call me anytime to chat" in your reply. There's a lot of stuff that starts out as public conversations that gets taken private so only one person benefits. Responding publicly means that more people can benefit while making TheChocolateLife more generally useful as a resource.
I did not realize it was private - not intended to be so, Clay.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim:
A general discussion on ROI issues surrounding equipment - that all members can read - would be valuable to all members rather than taking every conversation private.
Jim Greenberg here from Union Confectionery Machinery...jim@unionmachinery.com
Brad is correct in that without real throughput the ROI on a foil wrapper is long and arduous.
His comment about pricing is also correct - even a used machine presents a barrier to entry in the machinery acquisition world for small co's. Call me anytime just to chat and I can educate you on your options without any commitment from you to buy and then you will have some fuel for thought going forward.
Thanks,
Jim Greenberg, President
Union Confectionery Machinery
Hi Jacqueline;
Foil wrapping machines are very expensive if you're only doing a couple of thousand bars per month. One part time,$10 perhouremployee can easily wrap 100 bars per hour, so you're only looking at 20 hours worth of work for one person for the entire month (about $0.10 per bar)- hardly enough to justify a $15,000 machine, the cost of theelectrical, cost of training to set it up, AND the monthly cost of renting the floorspace for it to sit there idle most of the time.
If you look at the cost of the floorspace alone (Sherwood Park, right?), let's say $14/foot plus $6 op costs for a total of $20 per square foot, assuming you're in an industrial area, and not a retail space where premium square footage costs would be charged, you would need at least a 10X10 space for your machine, and walking room around it (100 square feet). According to my calculation, just the space rental would be about $167 per month. Right there is almost all of your part time person's wages to do your bars.
My suggestion would be to wait until you have at least two people dedicated to working full time wrapping bars, before you consider purchasing a machine like that.
That's just my opinion for what it's worth.
Cheers and Best Wishes from Down Here in Calgary.
Brad
Now.... Having said all of that, if you're still set on blinging out your shop with a foil wrapper, Union Machinery sells some used and reconditioned ones. Just make sure you're sitting down when you get John or Jim's price quotes! www.UnionMachinery.com
Hi everyone,
I am just wondering if anyone has a good automated solution for wrapping chocolate bars in paperbacked foil? We are currently hand wrapping (2,000+ per month), and it is time to invest in some equipment to automate it. Any suggestions?
Thank you!
Thank you Sarah. I will look into it. x
Have you tried Modpac? I don't really think it's too expensive. I used to work at a store that had a printer for doing it in house and it never worked out. Not only was the machine very expensive along with training it was difficult to use. The prints always come out crooked and with the time it took to print it was easier just to order from modpac.
Today I am researching digital foil printers to personalise our corporate and wedding chocolate boxes. We get orders for anywhere between 50-1000 boxes per order and outsourcing for hot foiling is expensive! Any thoughts? Holly
We use coldmolds to make fudge pops and they rock. We tried metal molds and found their ability to release sub-par and the stick locations sometimes 'bled'. The silicon work real well and you can fit quite a few on a sheet pan and just do a rotating production schedule and you're g2g. Do what we did, ordered a few to make sure we liked the idea--not very cost prohibitive to try and if you like it scale up.
Hi Brandon,
For stainless steelPopsiclemolds, you may want to visit: http://stainless-steel-popsicle-mold.com/ .
Thanks! I'm still looking for any suggestions, so thanks a bunch! And if you come across the Italian place you were referring to, I would love to learn their name/website.
Hey Brandon, I'm pretty sure there's an Italian manufacturer out there that does larger trays (20+) but for the life of me I can't recall their name and can't find them in my bookmarks. If I find it, I'll send it but in the meantime these guys do silicone pop-molds with stick holders too, though it looks like it's only 6-8 molds per tray: http://www.coldmolds.com/pops.html
Silikomart also does silicone pop-molds with stick holders (more per tray than coldmolds, but still not 20+): http://www.silikomart.com.au/all-molds/make-ice-cream-bar/
Any good quality silicone will be stainless & relatively easy to wash/care for.
I'm considering doing some popsicles to help with summertime sales at the shop and looking for some commercial molds. All I keep finding are sites linking me to China. Does anyone know if there's any US distributors for something stainless with 20+ cavities and stick holders? I see there's plenty of plastic molds on amazon and the like, but I hope to find some thing like this (to fit in a regular single-door freezer): click this . Ideas? Thanks!
I am using cocoatown's but I had to modify the equipment and reduce the pressure on the granite rollers because it was depositing stone into the composition previously.
In general it's best to pre-powder the sugar in a vitamix, coffee grinder, or other high powered blender. It is much harder than cacao and is therefore hard to breakdown.
What melangeur doyou have?
35% sugar in my batch of chocolate has been in the melanguer for 24 hours.
I used table sugar thinking that the melanguer would take care of it after a day.
But it hasn't. The chocolate feels like eating fine sand. It is in fact sugar because it does melt in the mouth.
I have another 20 hours to go till I want to stop this batch but right now Im not certain if the sugar will break down by then.
I did not expect the sugar to give me more problems than the cocoa nibs.
Your tips and guidance are much appreciated.
--Ning
We use the 1800w (120v) for small batches about three to five times a week. For larger batches I just purchased a 3000w 220v model that does the job very well. However, this still is only capable of making medium-sized batches (2-3 kilos) efficiently. A used Firemixer would probably be a very good investment if you want to cook 25-kilo batches.
Thanks for the info.
We were looking at one that is 1800 watt and not 220V, but would only plan on doing a few small batches a week.
Daniel:
You're probably not going to be able to make batches of caramel that size on an induction burner efficiently and cost-effectively. Best to invest in a machine specifically designed to make caramel in those quantities. Consider electric models because, depending on where you are (and you have to check w/ local authorities) you may not need special venting and fire suppression. Gas units may require a hood at least.
Savage Bros also make water-jacketed cooling tables.
Kim: Many induction burners have cut-off switches that turn the burner off when a certain temperature is reached for a certain time. When you have to get huge masses of sugar hot for a long time, it's common for the burners to turn themselves off to keep them from overheating.
If I was going to be making a lot of caramel, I would purchase the highest wattage (2000 minimum)220V professional unit I could.
What would you classify as "overbuying wattage"?
Thanks for making me aware of such equipment. I probably would want to make a batch of caramel that could fit at least a six foot cooling table (more equipment I don't know much about). I'd be curious to hear what other members use...
Daniel -
What kinds of production quantity are you talking about? Induction burners can be made to work (you should overbuy wattage), but if you're making a LOT you might want to look into something like aSavage Bros FireMixer 14 or 92 .
I make a lot of fleur de sel caramels and I am thinking of investing in specific equipment just for caramel production. Does any one have any reccomendations? Are induction burners completely out of the question? Thanks!
You don't *need* to but you may choose to. Depends on how fluid the chocolate is to start with and what the application is. I sometimes thin chocolate with cocoa butter when I am hand dipping to getter a finer coating. Like most things, it depends 
