Hello dear members...I'm Salome from Georgia. I'm newbie here, as in chocolate world. Me and my friends are group of young entrepreneurs, who have just graduated and are looking froward to start their own business. We were interested in chocolate field from very beginning, so decided to take the opportunity and launch chocolate shop, that would produce handmade chocolate, as there's a huge gap in this market in Tbilisi (Capital of Georgia). There's not a single shop like this here and we are pretty sure that it's gonna work.The reason we joined this forum is that we practically have no knowledge, as we don't have any past experience in this field. And it's impossible to find a professional chocolatier here in Tbilisi, who could help us.It would be very helpful if you could give us some advice about starting this shop. or maybe tips where to find appropriate chocolate school. Any information would be helpful.Thank you in advance...Salome
updated by @salome-machavariani: 04/11/15 00:21:22

Hi Salome,Good luck with your venture - it will be challenging and exciting. Ecole Chocolat do web-based courses that get good reviews. I am doing one at the moment and find it very helpful and it wasn't expensive. Apart from that I'd start by reading through a lot of the old posts on this forum and any others you can find - lots of good advice all over the place (techniques, equipment, recipes etc as well as business help) and lots of fine people to ask questions.Keep us posted!Duffy

Hello. Well there are a few options. One is ecolechocolat.com which is a beginners online course. It gets you into chocolate. Then after a bit of practice you can take hands on either through ecolechocolat or Callebaut-check their site. I have links to schools on my site on my "links" page. Scroll down to where it says "chocolate studies" I wish you lots of luck on your sweet adventure!Keep us updated!

Thanks a lot Duffy and llana for this useful information

The best book I have found is "Candy making for dummies" as it is clearly written for those us NOT in the know, myself included. Has a wealth of recipes and tips and tricks, although so far I have gotten great information/links & ideas from people on this site. I don't think you can beat anything other than just doing it. Good luck, I'm looking to go the same route eventually.

Thanks all, just now I'm downloading the book "Candy making for dummies". Thanks for advice:)