100,000 lbs will be the minimum for any of the big mfrs. you may be able to get some of the smaller guys to toll for you, but it's not really their main gig..
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you can't afford the equipment for a small factory of your own, I'm guessing you can't afford to have a chocolate manufacturer make your custom chocolate for you. In most of the cases I've seen, you need to be talking in magnitudes of several hundred thousand lbs of chocolate per year before anyone will even talk to you.
Hello there,
I have been on this site for some time now, though not active. I have a small chocolate business in southern Oregon which is basically just local distribution and very small scale. I have saved money and want to expand. I don't really have much knowledge about "the industry" and how this all works, but I have some questions, if anyone can help. Basically I am wondering if it is possible, if there are manufacturers or some avenue out there, to send my recipes to and supply my own ingredients from my sources to a large scale manufacturer to have them make my chocolate for me, according to my specifications? Is this something that one can do? I really have no idea so please excuse my naivety on the whole issue. I can't really afford all the equipment myself for a small scale factory without going way in the red, so I am hoping I can pursue something like this. Appreciate any feedback or info.
Be very careful comparing yourself to sub-par concepts. Trader Joes, industrial. General chocolate shops mostly use old industrial makers,callebaut--small costs, cheap products. TCHO is one of the first larger scale chocolate makers in the US and have the current lowest price for higher quality in that field. Otherwise look at TAZA, Dandelion, Askinosie, Amano, Potomac, Olive & Sinclair, Videri, Mast Bros, etc etc. I think there are something like 60+ established American chocolate makers now. When we started there were <10. Love how fast the industry is growing. TCHO afaik has the cheapest bar at $5. Everyone else goes above that--sometimes far above that. Madre's Triple Cacao is retailing at $11+. It's all about value, and perceived value.
We use TCHO in 90% of our products and our base bark price is $6.50 for 4oz for something rather simple, classic. Growing to $8.50 with more inclusions and labor.
Find and hold the margin you want then find the demographic that will accept it. If you chase a dollar for a demographic early on you'll be on a treadmill that will never end and burnout will get you long before the bottom line does. There are a lot of good forefathers of chocolate out there, do your research beyond your borders and even sample some product to see how you fair against them. Then come up with a pricing strategy that is well understood and you can hold the line on. 
I live in Bergen County, NJ, right over the George Washington Bridge. I find the chocolatiers in the area sell at around $20 a lb. for truffles and barks. It is not very good. The pharmacies sell the $3.50-$4 a bar, but that is hard to enjoy. I can get a few nice bars at the Whole Foods, Valrhona has a $4 bar at Trader Joe's. Caratos's near Paterson has a TCHO bar but that is about all I have found around here. You have to go to Marisela's in Hobeken. There is a new Turkish chocolate shop in Cliffside Park, sells for $30 a lb. but tastes like $20 a lb. chocolate.
I give a lot of my chocolate away and am asking business owners, friends, and others to taste my drinking chocolate, bars and chocolate cookies. Most have not really tasted fine chocolate before and those that have are very pleased with what I have. I think you must price your product for you to make money and stay in business. I just comparison test with what is on the shelves and the chocolate speaks for itself.
I am getting ready to sell a drinking chocolate to Dominican distributors in the NYC area and they are pressuring us to lower the price. Not sure if I will forward price, knowing we can reduce costs as we purchase larger qualities and streamline the production a bit. It is simple so it is more about efficiency. The professional consultant types tell me to price high and offer discounts and the other side is look toward larger volumes as we grow the business.
How many chocolate (bean) vendors do we have in NC? Glad to know you're a regional player, someday we'd like to get into our own line but not for the foreseeable future.
Though we buy artisan bars from american producers solely and I've not seen a retraction in prices yet. It'd be nice if there was a way for artisans to handle a better pricing since it's really hard to sell a $8-11 bar to someone who hasn't been hooked or palate trained.
In North Carolina I've noticed a shift in chocolate prices from full retail to a more value oriented approach. This is not encouraging newsfor the small artisinal chocolatier. Obviously raw material costs are steeper whenpurchasing volumes are low. This makes it hard to lower prices enough to compete with larger companies. I'm interested in knowing if artisans in other areas are experiencing the same decrease in prices.Hopefully this isunique to this geographic area.
Hi!
I am a home-based chocolatier who wants to buy a few of the Sosa Ingredients extracts to use in my chocolate making.
The only U.S. website I could find distributing Sosa products (John Koerner & Company) has a large minimum order and is based in New Orleans (I'm on the West Coast).
Do any of you know any distributors of Sosa ingredients on the West Coast or who process smaller orders?
Thanks!
Their customer service may not be great, but my understanding is their equipment is well-respected, and a lot of companies use it. I'm sure that Clay or others can add more about them.
I've already talked to them. They are very slow in answering.
Thank you! I know this manufacturer. I will contact them.
Capacity the machine that I am satisfied - 20-40 kg per hour.
300,000 Euros for a coating cabin? Wow. That must be a large, integrated system of some type. You didn't say anything about what level of output you require, so I have no idea if this will work for you. But I know that Savy Goiseau makes several models of belt coaters that look very much like the image you attached. The large one is rated at up to 50 kg/hour.I don't know what they cost, but I'm sure they're significantly less than 300,000 Euros.
Hello everybody!
At this time, I am concerned about choice an enrobing cabin (coating cabin -not to be confused with enrobing belt or coating pan!) . So I decided to resort to the help of the collective mind.In particular, I very much hope to the councilrespected Clay.
I want to produce in my factory chocolate dragees with a soft core (ground dried fruits such as apricots, pears, apricots).
I know that these machines makes a German manufacturer ( http://www.wolf-machines.de/index.php?id=29&L=1 ). I would have bought it, but its price, like an airplane. They responded to my request. Minimum equipment worth 300,000 euros. And given the duty to my country, it will cost as much as two airplanes.It's too expensive!
However, I'm sure there are other options. I would be very grateful if you could recommend me a specific manufacturer.
Also I will be grateful if you could advise the manufacturer of equipment for the production of marmalade.
Hi all, I am to design a chocolate sauce with a clients liqueur and a couple of their specialty (hot) ingredients, any tips please to making a good long shelf life and thick choc sauce.
Thanks in advance
Lisa
While on a training course in Italy, we were taught how to make tool replicas by molding them in cocoa powder -- very similar to starch molding. Basically what you do is make a nice deep bed of cocoa powder, smooth it down, and then press the wrench into the powder. Extract from the powder with a magnet and pour in the chocolate. This can be repeated very easily.
I had a customer request for a chocolate crescent wrench, I've been looking online for one and came across some hobby PVC but the detail wasn't there, I know it sounds picky but I'm after more then just the general shape. They want one that looks like an actual tool. I could make a silicone mold but they want quantity and that won't do the trick.
Anyone know where I might be able to find a Poly mold of a crescent wrench, or an wrench? If it's PVC that would be fine too just has to have some sort of detail. Thanks for any assitance in advance!
Hi Jennifer,
I had a similar problem. I think it was because my chocolate was too thick. I have since started working with Belcolade which is more liquid (thinner), and have no problem now.
Anjali
Hi Jennifer,
No Problem, happy to share.
Derrick
Derrick,
Thank you so much! You have given me a lot to think about and test. Thanks for taking so much time in responding to me.
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
Several thing may go wrong here. Please allow me.
When you work with chocolate you need to take in consideration of room temperature, humidity, products you enrobe, the type of decoration you use, dry ingredients or imprint dcor, temperature of your center and equipment. Ventilation, air conditioning depending on how high your ceiling. Working in a basement near the coast line or in high altitude, will all give you different result, very hot humid summer or very cold winter could affect the finished product also. Therefore, all chocolatier has different experience of the shine, humidity,shelvelife andthickness of chocolate during dipping moulding etc...
The Rev line, For my personal experience, The speed of the bowl is turning too fast, therefore I am quite sure that you need to reheat constantly your chocolate, because its get thicker over time and quickly. for small production, I always suggest to use melter like mold'art, Mafter,dry heat or water bath. is depend on your preference and price that offer in your area. Back to the Rev line, You need to work fast enough to prevent the thickness( Vaseline) of the chocolate. This may also be your problem of swirlingby over or under heating?Round dot can be air bubble underneath,
To have a max shine after dipping in chocolate,you center should be around 23oC-24oC. and dark chocolate should be temper at 32-32.5oC up to 33oC. Room temperature should be around 22-23oC. A room to cold, the crystallizing of the cocoa butter is too fast may loose shine. The center is too cold, dip into a warm chocolate will also loose shine. Dipping chocolate if is too thick( over crystallize) will also loose shine and swirl, circle, uneven crystallizing.
As per your post, You put in the fridge for easy dipping, that mean your recipe is not balance and missing some cocoa butter that help it set at a right consistence for dipping. Filling ganache center and dipping ganache center have a completely different formula.
Last some of the sea salt can be more hygroscopic than the other. Smaller, less refine particle will have tendency to absorbed the humidity in the air(ERH equilibriumhumidity relative) in a simple explanation,if your room humidity ishigh,your product will absorb the humidity in your room. If your room is too dry, the product will dry out. Therefor if you are in an area with high humidity the sea salt will absorb the humidity and transfer on to your chocolate.
Cheers,
Thanks Ashley, any bit of info I could get would really help. I do use Himalayan salt. It is very fine however and I grind it for 2 days along with the other ingredients. Thanks for chiming in
)Not sure if there is any validity to this, but my pink sea salts seem to be kind of moist.Anyway, like I said not sure if this could be the culprit, and I hope you figure it out
For tempering, you essentially need to heat the mass up to 120, cool it down to about 81, and then reheat it to about 88. it does not really matter how you do this so a bowl of cold water would be fine, assuming it is sufficiently cold to allow you to get your chocolate to about 81f. you do not need a thermometer to temper, however it greatly, greatly, greatly increases your likelihood of success - for at this time, since you're not accustomed to tempering, you don't really know what success looks/feels like - so the thermometer will guide you.
Local taste preferences vary greatly around the world. in many places in east asia they don't ferment at all. in some places in c. america they bury the beans with lye in the ground. hard to say why a local flavor preference develops the way it does.
The sugar won't heat up the drum at all, it's getting warmer due to the frictional heat generated during grinding. what it is likely to contribute, however, is moisture, which is rarely a good thing for dark chocolate. if your chocolate is very viscous, it's a potential contributor to that.
Ok would it be sufficient if i put the bowl of chocolate in a pot of cool water and steer?
The digital thermometer should be here by the end of this week.
Also the locals told me that the germinated bean is a sign of quality and they choose their bean by that, i understand from you that is negative for the taste,
What is the difference when the bean germinates and do you have any idea why the locals here with all their cacao rituals and traditions prefer the germinated bean?
Last question... i noticed that the panela heats up the drum more then normal sugar, this morning it was up to 125 fahrenheit, Is that to hot? Do i need to place a cooling fan next to it?
It's called fat bloom, and is the result of not being in temper. If you're just starting to temper, an accurate thermometer is critical, and you're going to need someway of cooling the chocolate once it's been tempered. The germinated bean won't impact your ability to temper, but it's not likely to taste very good as a result.
Hey Sebastian
Im using a food thermometer which is not very precise (you can easily be 1-2 degrees off) , im still waiting for the digital one i ordered from the states.
I did manage to temper industrial dark chocolate decently with only this thermometer back when i was in the states, but like i said im no expert and i am happy to hear what i did wrong.
The 30% is what i heard from the locals without any reference,
the beans do have the little sprout inside (sorry for my english i dont know if that is the right word, but when you crack the bean you can see the very little beginning of the plant inside)
I only have my mac at hand right now for pictures but i hope you can see the problem 
Thanks a lot
The picture is from the batch i made 4 days ago
It most assuredly has more than 30% fat in it. Unless it is very immature. Tell us more about why you think it didn't work, what did you see, photos are helpful..
Im doing a little experiment here in Guatemala and I have some issues tempering something which is called ceremonial cacao.
It is the criollo bean fermented for about 3 days and then slightly roasted for about 15-20 minutes just enough so that its possible to hand peal the beans. This process seems to be the traditional way and is done by about 10 local families here.
From what i heard this bean has only about 30% fat and is very rich in Theobromines.
So what i did is i got a cocotown melanger here and i am experimenting with this stuff.
So far i add just enough butter (about 10%) so that it is possible to liquify the cacao liqueur and i added panella (unrefined cane sugar), because i am very inspired by the dark flavor it develops this way after about 30 hours in the melanger.
All is good but when i try to temper it im not being successful.
Now i am not an expert in tempering by hand but my normal method of heating it up to 120 then let it cool to 80 and back up to 88 while constant steering is not really working...
Do i need to add more butter or is panella a bad idea?
I am happy for any hints or ideas to try out.
Thanks Clay. I found the manufacturer's video online. Its made by True and they have an excellent video on how to change a bulb...not apparently obvious on first inspection, but now I know. Thanks for the response!
Somewhere in the case there should be a label that indicates who made the case. Contacting the manufacturer (it's not Bakery Dry).
You can also post a picture of the case showing the area(s) around the fixtures. Someone may recognize the manufacturer. But at this point we don't have enough information about the case to begin suggesting solutions.
Hello Chocolatiers. I have a used Bakery Dry case in my shop and I want to change the flourescent tubes for LED tubes...anyone know how to do this? It's not apparent how the existing tubes come out. Anyone?
due to demand for our chocolate bar, i am now considering buying a spectra 100 , has anyone made this jump in production of chocolate and has anyone got a spectra 100 , (we are one of a handfull of bean to bar producers in ireland at the moment, since i launched my bar the demand has pushed my spectra 11 to its limits , i simply cannot make chocolate quick enough)
any advice would be greatly appreciated
michael
kilbeggan handmade chocolate
Thank you for your reply Michael, I think the Benecoat mention is heading us in the right direction.
At the moment we are doing high end chocolates, but we reckon a Caffeinated (Functional) product, can open us a broad market since it isnt a similar product at this end. We are still trying and doing samples, hope I can find Benecoat from a local supplier.
Regards
Salt is a known bitterness suppressor, and is often used for this purpose. Plus it goes well with chocolate. It's the only natural ingredient I can think of that will do this. There is of course a limit to its effectiveness, so I don't know if it would be enough to mitigate the issues you're dealing with. The only other natural ingredient I can think of is sugar. Sugar does not suppress bitterness per se, but it does fairly effectively mask it. Again, there are limits.
Of course you can always resort to chemical bitterness suppressors. I'm no food scientist, but I know that these are out there. I think I read somewhere that tannic acid can do this. And there are other products (such as Benecoat) that are made for this purpose. Before using these however you'll want to think about how important it is to you to have an all-natural product. Personally I think all-natural approaches are always preferable for high-end chocolate. But if you're getting the extra caffeine into the bar using chemicals then the ship has sailed on that anyway. And if your prospective customers are buying these bars mainly to get a jolt of caffeine then a case could be made that this approach would not be as much of a negative with that segment of the market.
We are looking to develop some artisan chocolate bars with more caffeine than usual, but we have problems with bitter taste.
At the moment there are some chocolate bars on the market with 100mg Caffeine in 43gr Chocolate, all of them manage to avoid caffeines bitterness and also the chocolate taste good. (Tipically Chocolate has 9mg of caffeine in 43 grs)
Does anyone know any product that can reduce or hide this bitterness.
We appreciate any ideas.
You can win handmade artisan Scottish chocolate from The Chocolate Tree (Edinburgh) by entering here http://www.youngperspective.net/win-handmade-chocolate-with-young-perspective.html [open to UK residents only]
The best recipes I found are the Marco (Cognac & marzipan) which I think is in book 1, the coconut caramel and banana from book 2 and the blueberry from book 3. They are all beyond fantastic. FYI: I omit the sorbitol.
Other than a few food scientists, we have yet to contact any of these top chocolatiers. We do have to find out if they will be a good fit for us still (they may or may not). I will keep your referral in mind --- as always, thanks for helping out.
John:
Have you contacted Mr Wybauw? Is he available to consult? Can you afford his rates? Is he interested in helping you?
There are many consulting chef/chocolatiers who can help you in this regard. Professor Greweling is one - Drew Shotts is another. They, and the person I am thinking of, are in the US and are more likely to be available than JP is.
Mr. Gordon,
Thanks for the assistance. I'm sure that any recommendation you give will be great. My only concern is that would your consulatant be better at this project than JPW?
JPW's second book has lots of good advice about how to increase shelf life using a variety of techniques. You can use the techniques and the recipes in the book(s) as starting points.
If you are looking for a consulting chef/chocolatier, I would be happy to make an introduction to someone based in the NYC area. He isclassically trained in Spain with much practical experience (and with a great flavor sensibility and work ethic) and can help you in your recipe development.
If you are interested, please send me a PM and I will respond with the contact information after checking in with him.
:: Clay
