Forum Activity for @Brad Churchill

I agree with Chocotoymaker.

Keep in mind that with the seeding method, you have to stir the heck out of it to get the tempered chunks to melt, and even then if you need a smooth couverture quickly, you may still have lumps.

One method (dangerous but quick) is to hand temper by heating to 45, and then use a cold water bath to bring the temperature down to your bottom target. I can hand temper 10-15 lbs of chocolate in a few minutes this way. Keep in mind however, that a few drops of cold water can potentially ruin all of that chocolate. You have to be VERY careful.

Most large commercial (continuous) tempering machines work using cold water - kind of like running the chocolate through a radiator just like coolantin a car. The difference obviously is that the water never has the potential of touching the chocolate, and it's a continuous flow of chocolate through the radiator.

Julie;

The process of tempering your chocolate can be confusing. There are so many unclear methods out there explaining how to do this. I believe in keeping things simple, so here is my suggestion:

Melt ALL of the chocolate you are going to work with to 45C.

Then cool it all to approximately 27C (if it starts to get thick like pancake batter you have gone far enough)

Gently reheat it to 31C.

Stir it all the time, and you will be fine. It's really that easy, keeping in mind that you may not need to go as low as 27, and you may even need to go as low as 26.5. The pancake batter comparison seems to work for those people I train.

You may also need to go as high as 32 or 33 depending on the accuracy of your thermometer, and how thick your chocolate is. 31 is a good start though.

Hope that helps.

Brad

Andy;

Thanks for the feedback.

Hard core arguer eh? I resemble that comment! LOL

The credit card fees are low (about 1.9%). However there are lots of other "fees" involved when it comes to accepting credit cards, and all of them add up to almost 5%. My system is 100% web-based, so I pay a merchant fee (to Visa) for each transaction, then a gateway fee, then a monthly service fee, plus the cost of connecting to the Internet. If it were just paying Visa I wouldn't complain.

Last year I paid $20,000 in "fees" to accept credit cards and subsidize people's desire to collect airmiles. At $20 per average transaction, over 1,000 people would have to walk out out my doors without purchasing anythingbefore I break even with my losses in fees. That's a lot of people.

The challenge I'm faced with is that with multiple stores, consistency in the eyes of the consumer is very important. Accepting cards at one and not others pisses people off. One of my stores is in a marquee financial building in Calgary, and EVERYONE uses their corporate cards to buy things. It's crazy!!! You wouldn't believe how many people buy their $2morning Starbucks tea with their visa!! That's just ridiculous!

My manager at that store is getting pushback, and that is the reason I'm exploring the option.

Now having said all of that, I have given my staff the green light to begin accepting cards again, and have designed the cash register so that it just adds 5% to the total when the person chooses to pay with plastic. You know what? Nobody even looks at the invoice or cares about the increase! (at least not yet). Sales have gone up at the corporate location significantly (we put a 6 foot high sign up saying we now accept visa and mastercard), and at our other stores, revenue has remained flat, but the split has become about 50/50 between cards and cash.

My conclusion: People are strange......

Brad

Thanks Larry.

I Really like the idea of a draw for event tickets. That's an $80 value!

We currently accept corporate cheques only, as personal cheques here in Canada are more or less a thing of the past. Here in Canada the big thing is Interac (debit).

Cheers.

Square works great for sole proprietors, but doesn't work for multiple bricks and mortar retail locations with multiple staff. Square also only works on Iphone. Won't work for my application, as I have multiple stores and am now signing up dealerships.

Thanks Ruth. We actually do offer online ordering, but it's for pick-up in our stores. The online event booking does require credit card use. We have been accepting cards for event booking since day one.

You're right. Square is great for individual proprietors. I see it all the time at farmers markets and outdoor markets.

Cheers. Brad.

I am having the following dilemna: My business is about transparency, and I am struggling with the whole issue around accepting credit cards.

Simply put, credit cards are an expensiverip off. Both the consumer and merchant pay to use them. Small merchants pay close to 5% when all is said and done (1.9% to Visa, plus merchant fees, plus their internet connection fees, plus equipment fees, plus bank fees, plus the cost of their time to reconcile everything monthly).

The average consumer has no clue how much businesses are charged, because most merchant agreements have up until recently forbid the merchant from charging service fees at the time of the sale. As a result, most businesses have simply increased their prices across the board, building the fees into the overall cost of their product.

But what about the cash buyer?? 50% of my customers pay in cash. Why should THEY subsidize the person who buys $200 worth of bars on his Master Card?Mr. $200 purchaserdoesn't want to pay ATM fees, but they don't realize that the ATM fee is just $2.50, whereas the cost of that order to them for using their credit card is $10. The merchant certainly isn't going to suck it up.

What's worse is that as a consumer I don't see many merchants giving incentive to pay cash. Instead they are grabbing the extra $$ from the cash customer and hanging on to it. The cash customer is subsidizing the credit card buyer, and to me that's not fair.

The question I have is, AS A CONSUMER, (not a business owner) which option would you feel better with?

A) The price be increased overall by 5%, and cash purchasers offered a 5% discount.

B) The price be what it is and know what you are being charged for the "convenience" of using your card.

Personally, to me A is deceptive, but that's just how I am.

There is no right or wrong answer here. I am just soliciting feedback.

Thanks

Brad.

George;

Last year I bought the Savage tabletop Firemixer from a woman who closed down her fudge/peanut brittle business.

I have been generally very happy with it. We also use it to heat milk to make the our drinking chocolate base, and the agitator keeps the milk from scalding on the bottom. That alone saves a tremendous amount of time, freeing up staff who before, had to sit there and manually stir the milk while it warmed up on our burners. That ability alone has probably already saved us 1/3 the cost of the machine.

I also have two Savage 50lb tempering machines that have run 24/7 for 5 years now, without issue.

Their equipment is expensive but well worth it if you are needing something to handle daily use.

I have never used the Electrostove, but looking at the photos, I am guessing that the element would generate more heat than what is created by the Tabletop mixer, and that thebowl will hold more product. I also notice that the electrostove may not come with a stirring motor. Be prepared to pay a hefty price for their accessories!

Brad

But it's ok for someone to call me unprofessional when I provided some valid and candid insight as to whya forum member wasn'tgetting results they wanted?

I didn't belittle anybody. I didn't yell at anybody. In fact as I recall, you even AGREED with what I wrote.

I don't give a flying pinch of pigeon poop WHO'S place of business it is, or who's house I'm in, or who's neighbor they are. If I'm publicly attacked, or publiclycalled names, such as unprofessional, a public reprisal will be forthcoming in vehment fashion.

For Diane to call me unprofessional for what I wrote was rude. Period.

You yelling at me as you just did for defending myself was rude. Period.

Now it's time for YOU tostop yelling at people who don't agree with you.

Brad

Diane;

For small businesses, Confidentiality / Non Disclosure agreements (NDA's)are generally only for those who are naieve enough to think that they actually hold merit.

I worked in the IT industry for many years (actually took an ecommerce dot com company public on NASD in 2001), so I know more than I ever want to know about NDA's. Even IF your lawyer is good enough to write one that sticks, can you, or anyone else afford the $250,000 + in legal fees it's going to take to defend one?

Maybe I don't polish my verbiage like some on this forum (such as Clay's eloquent response below which paraphrases and builds upon what I wrote above), but I'm still accurate, and my post above is still spot on.

Again, I say and Clay reiterates, prepare to travel if you want to intern.

Oh... and Diane, assuming you are suggesting that I don't have professional experience, seeing as I have numerous chocolate stores,MAKE MY OWN CHOCOLATE from scratch and have been doing it commercially now for several years, and will be opening at least two more retail stores next year for a total 5 in as many years, maybe you can enlighten me as to your definition of "professional experience"? After all, the definition of "professional" as outlined in dictionary dot com ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/professional?s=t ) means deriving one's income from the activity. Are YOU a professional? How professional are you compared to me? Given the anonymity of the internet, maybe I should be suggesting that you aren't professional and therefore not qualified by your own standards to offer an opinion......

Attacking people in forums isn't nice, and certainly if you attack me be certain to get a well architected response.

Sincerely,

Unprofessional Brad.

Lynn;

Here are some infinite words of wisdom (my Mother's): "Beggars can't be choosers."

It's unlikely that you will find a place for two very good reasons:

1. What even modestly intelligent chocolatier within proximity of your home is going to train you so you can compete with them??? Think about it for a second, and you'll understand why chocolatiers from far away are offering, but nobody close is.

2. Assuming you are offering to work for free and sponge information from your "Mentor" in exchange for the extra hands, you fail to realize that your presence in their business is costing them money while they explain things to you, and show you how they want things done. You don't actually start making your employer money until after you've been there for at least 3 months - whether your work for free or not.

If you truly want to learn the craft, prepare to travel.

Good Luck.

Brad

Julie;

There is a lot of deceptive labelling and naming in the chocolate industry. "Percentage" and "origin" are just acouple misusedterms. To battle that, I have since day one, put the exact ingredients and their percentages by weight on the bars my company makes.

Brad

This is an interesting thread, and I'd like to add my two bits...

There has been no mention yet of deodorized, or non-deodorized cocoa butter. Sebastian would know better, butmy understanding isthat most of the cocoa butter used today in chocolate is deodorized, because most of it is made from cocoa beans that nobody would really want made into chocolate and by itself smells horrible.

If in fact the cocoa butter IS deodorized, then origin is for the most part irrelevant as the cocoa butter is used solely for it's fluidityand crystalization properties. It in essence then brings absolutely nothing to the chocolate in the way of flavour.

I read in here that Askinosie makes their own cocoa butter. Interesting indeed. Is it made in the US, or at origin? I would certainly like to do some financial costing on THAT cocoa butter if it's made in the US! Well.... No... Not really. Paying a high price for, the beans and their import costs - all by weight -only to press out the fat and leaving 60% of the bean as waste doesn't seem viable to me unless they are doing it to make their own cocoa powder, which in that case would make sense. Sometimes I wish I could make my own cocoa powder.

Anyway, given the typical uses for cocoa butter, and the source of the cocoa butter it does make sense that there is very little single origin cocoa butter around.

Cheers

Brad

Harold;

Asking that question is kind of like asking the general public what the best wine to drink is.

Taste your ingredients, and then pair them accordingly. Just because you buy "good quality" chocolate doesn't mean it's going to pair well with the other ingredients you use.

You want a fruity truffle, use a fruity chocolate. You want a deep rich truffle, us a deep, rich, less fruity chocolate.

sample, sample sample.

Brad

Photos would be a big help. I would also like to see the "separated" chocolate too if you can.

Cheers

Brad

Something sounds very wrong here. I make about 100lbs of milk chocolate every week and it doesn't "separate" like you say.

At the risk of asking a really stupid sounding question, do you rehydrate the milk (add water to it), or do you use it dry?

There is one thing to remember, and I have said this over and over: Chocolate is NOT an emulsion. It is a SUSPENSION of solid particles in fat. In this particular case, the fat in your powdered milk doesn't count as soluable fat, because it's suspended within the crystals of the milk powder as a solid as well. It will never dissolve. All you can do is grind it smaller and smaller just as you are doing with the nibs and sugar.

If you can feel particles on your tongue, then your chocolate is not refined enough, and that could cause you problems.

Hope that helps.

Brad

There is a website solely dedicated to making chocolate at home.

It's www.ChocolateAlchemy.com

Cheers.

Brad

You want a good laugh?

Check out this thread on another forum. Only after I got nasty with "littleblue" did she go do her homework to prove me wrong, and find out that SHE was being misled. We've now kissed and made up! LOL

http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/thread/1267/raw-chocolate

Cheers and happy reading!

Brad

I'm not trying to trick people at all. You wouldn't believe how often "raw" and "organic" and "vegan" are thrown around by clueless morons who don't take the time to research their ingredients, (or in some cases out right liars who just want to use the words to sell more product).

kudos to you for doing your research. It's people like you who make a big difference in an industry so full of deceptive practices.

Cheers

Brad

I'm wondering how many of you vegan "purists" know that most granulated sugar used in chocolate is FAR from vegan? Take LanticCorporation (Roger's Sugar) for example. In Canada, they have three factories. TWO of them use Bone Char (charred, carbonated, bones from the livestock industry) to help whiten the sugar. Both factories process sugar from cane. The third factory, here in Alberta processes sugar from sugar beets, and doesn't need whitening, so bone char isn't used. There is nothing on the packaging that tells the consumer that bone char is used, other than to know which code comes from which factory.

If you're so in love with TCHO, where does their "vegan" sugar come from, and is it processed with bone char? A good question I would ask given that 1/3 of chocolate is sugar....

Cheers.

Brad

Aside from the fact that "raw chocolate" is a 99.99% misleading load of crap, there's a very good chance that both the agave and coconut oil will prevent it from tempering.

I think if you REALLY dig into the source of your cocoa mass and cocoa butter you will find that they are processed at very high temperatures - WAY beyond the threshold acceptable for calling it raw.

I would recommend against fixed cabinetry for two reasons:

1. Chances are you aren't going to be at that location forever, so you don't have to worry about losing a TON of money invested in millwork that you can't remove. and MORE IMPORTANTLY:

2. The health inspectors LOVE when you can move cabinets, and clean underneath them so as to eliminate hiding places for pests. All of our counters are moveable, and we never ever have issues with the health department.

Wow...

They tried selling me some too. I'm glad I didn't bite.

Your experience is why I don't enter competitions where the judges aren't actual customers. Some judges have agendas of their own, while others have no clue what they are talking about.

I've only ever used untemperated chocolate, and then a finishing glaze.

Evan;

Have you ever heard the phrase "Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."?

It's pretty cliche', I know.

In my first reply to you, I "taught you how to fish" by pointing you in the direction of a wealth of fabulous advice and contribution from respected professionals all over the world - resources that I myself have used many times on my path of making chocolate.

Your reply was in essence "I don't wanna do the work. Just feed me."

THEN... after getting advice from someone else, you publicly opted to ignore it and wrote that you're going to do your own thing anyway.

I spend a heck of a lot of time helping people NICELY on this site and others - time that I don't earn a single dime for. In many regards it's my way of giving back to the community as a whole - a community that has helped my business become successful.

What I take issue with (and have no problem vocalizing it) is when people ask me to spoon feed them information under the premise of "just being nice". My answer is what you got: "I showed you where to find the answer, now stop being so freaking lazy, and look it up."

But then again, maybe I should be silent and LET you go down the path of making crappy chocolate. After all I'll be opening up a store out in Victoria in the next year or so. It wouldn't be good business to assist a competitor.

I hope that clarifies my "sensitivity" as you so put it. I'll be sure to include a rainbow in my next post just to make you feel better.

Cheers

Brad

Evan;

Lecithin doesn't bind with water. In the case of chocolate it's not an emulsifier (something I have already written about in another post, so here I go again repeating myself needlessly because you choose not to do any homework).

For those interested in making QUALITY chocolate dark, lecithin isn't even a consideration.

...but then again, what difference does it make what anybody says? You get advice from two very "wise people who just want to help you out" (your term paraphrased, not mine). and then go do what you wanted to do in the first place anyway. Why even bother asking for help?

I mean really.... How hard is it to google "Soy Lecithin" ? The first link that appears is a Wikipedia breakdown of everything you need to know. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecithin

Instead, you are too lazy, and expect people to "just help you out."

I did help you out. A lot.

Given that you aren't going to listen to Clay or myself, I'm sure the next question you're going to ask, is "how come my watery, gummy, chocolate won't temper? Can somebody help me out?"

Nope. Don't think so....

Geesh.... some people....

Clay;

Your first paragraph implies that I failed to credit the content of this site. That's not true. I credited this site equally. by referring to ".....THIS AND Chocolate Alchemy's site."

Cheers.

Brad

Deadendish....

Ok... to avoid posting repetitive answers, my suggestion would be to read the many many many contributions on this and Chocolate Alchemy's site. They will answer all of your questions, and eliminate the need for redundant postings.

Cheers

Brad

Evan;

This will probably be the most valuable feedback anyone can provide you, given the nature and context of your questions: "Do a LOT more research before starting your business. You know absolutely nothing about chocolate."

There is a wealth of information on this site, and www.ChocolateAlchemy.com which will answer your questions (and then some), and give you the foundation you need to have at least a small prayer of hope in success.

Personally I would recommend the ACMC machine before the Rev 2. It will temper more chocolate, and is far less noisy.

I have a suggestion for a less expensive and far more flexible alternative:

After dipping the strawberries, set them on shaved chocolate, or crushed Skor bits, or toasted coconut or something like that. It takes no added effort, will add depth of flavour, allow you to charge more, and clearly differentiate your strawberries from every other boring chocolate dipped strawberry out there (except now that I've written this and everybody else starts doing it! LOL).

I don't want to sound like a party pooper here, but who looks at the bottom of the strawberry anyway? They sure will if it's coated with something!

...anyway, it's just an idea.

Brad

Didn't matter what suspension medium I used. Cold cocoa butter is waxy and yucky. ("yucky" being a highly technical scientific term of course!)

I've struggled for quite some time trying to figure out how to make a cold drink without using cocoa powder. The challenge is regardless of how I do it, the cold cocoa butter from the chocolate always imparts a waxy texture that I don't like.

If somebody has an epiphany of how to solve this without using cocoa powder as the flavouring agent, I would love to read about it too.

Cheers

Brad

If the bushings are just plastic, it seems to me that making new ones can't be that difficult. I would hazard a guess that the hole in the granite is pretty standard, and there is a hole saw (drill bit attachment) with the same size.

The hole saw will cut a "plug" in a thick sheet of plastic with a pre-drilled hole in it already. Cut out the plastic from the granite, push the "plug" in the hole, and then redrill the hole in the center of the plug to whatever size you need.

Super easy and done for less that $20, PLUS you can create a whole bunch of "bushings" at the same time, and replace them as needed, never having to buy a granite wheel and pay scads for taxes and shipping.

Cheers.

Opening a chocolate shop immediately puts a target on your back for every non profit company and worthy cause to approach you with their hands out. It's crazy!!!!! I get an average of 3 per week. Silent auction items, grab bags, table settings, and the list goes on. You will always hear them extoll the virtues of what great exposure you are going to get and how good it is for business, and how you will get honourable mentions, your logo printed on the menu or brochure, and even exposure in some of their print ads.

THE BENEFIT YOU GETIS A TOTAL LOAD OF BUNK!!! DO NOT FALL FOR IT!!! THE PERSON SOLICITING YOUR CONTRIBUTION IS NOT BEING DISHONEST. THEY SIMPLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.

I empathize with the volunteerscommissioned with the arduous task of soliciting donations. After all they want to keep the cost of the event to a minimum while giving their attendees a maximum bang for their donation.

I have tried all of them - silent auctions, grab bags, place settings.... you name it. The amount of business I got from the thousands upon thousands of dollars of product I've donated and hundreds of hours of time I've donatedhas been ZERO, ZILCH, ZIPPO. Here's why: People go to these events to socialize, eat, drink,and have fun. They don't think about remembering the chocolatier or the caterer, or the company who donated the flowers. If you don't believe me, think about the last event YOU went to, and name off a few of the donors. If you were able to name two, you are spectacular.

Now, I'm not saying don't give back to the community. Choklat does, and does so in a big way. However, the manners in which my company donates is a win-win. Here are a couple of examples:

1. Choklat donates seats to our popular "Choklat Snobbery 101" wine and chocolate evenings. In fact we donate an entire event per month to a non-profit.The non-profit sellsthe tickets for $40 per person, keeps the receipts, and we host the event at Choklat. Once per month 10-12 people pay a non profit organization $400-500 to become a captive audience at our shop for 2 hours, where at the end of it they've had a great time, are now (hopefully) devout customers, and have donated to the community. Our cost for 10-12 new customers is $80 for wine and $60 for my staff member's time.
2. We have put in place a "million smiles" campaign, whereby people pledge $25 per box of custom truffles. $12.50 comes to us and $12.50 goes to the organization running the pledges. Each customer gets to choose their own combinations of truffles, and my staff make them. We've done this for swim teams, schools and other organizations, and it's worked great. We cover our costs, and the families of the pledgees (usually families) get a welcome break from having to buy those crappy chocolate covered almonds, or microwave popcorn that usually floats around.

When I started getting bombarded with requests, I didn't want to say no, and I didn't want to just ignore the person. Like I said above, they have a difficult job- asking for donations. I put this program in place, wrote a polite form letter explaining our programs, and invited them to participate in any of the programs if it fit within the parameters of what they were trying to do.

You too can do the same thing (by that I mean a form letter and a program that you find acceptable). There is nothing wrong with offering to sell your product to the event at your cost, or at a substantial discount. However you aren't a "non profit", and don't be fooled into thinking that the caterer is donating the meal. If they really want chocolate, they can work a buck or two into the cost.

Yes... Believe it or not, I can be empathetic at times! Shhh! Don't tell anybody. I'm still basking in the glory of my reputation for being combative and petulant!

I have attached a copy of the form letter for your reference.

Cheers

Brad

Karen;

That was an AWESOME summary. Thanks for also sharing the pitfalls you've run into. I've had gift basket companies try the same thing with me, but we have a firm policy in place which mandates the invoice be paid in full prior to my staff starting to work on it. It weeds out the small businesses who seem to feel they can use you as a bank to cashflow part of their business - businesses who always over promise and under deliverandareno good anyway.

Cheers and thanks again for sharing!

Brad

Given that I've been seriously considering how I am going to continue expanding my business, I've looked into franchising, dealerships, joint ventures, and strict corporately owned stores. As such, I've explored many different pricing models and arrangements, and have talked to a lot of colleagues who move literally truckloads of product out their doors and into large chain stores every week.

The industry standard in the food business here in Canada seems to be 60 cents on the dollar for wholesale pricing. If the retailer sells the product for $10 in their store, they are typically buying it it for $6. That structure is for product which is already packaged and needs nothing done to it.

A 50/50 arrangement is only if the product still needs some kind of handling prior to selling - such as a bin of jellybeans that needs to be divided out and into bags with ribbon, etc. In this case, the retailer pays for their own packaging.

In both cases - whether a partially or fully assembled product, the price is always FOB the wholesaler's back door. The purchaser always procures adn pays for their ownshipping.

It may be different elsewhere, but that's pretty common here in Canada.

Cheers.

Brad

Hi Andrea;

Net numbers / Balance Sheetsare arbitrary and are a function of accounting principles and tax mitigation practices. Statements of Cashflow are the best numbers to look at. What goes in and what goes out every month tells you how viable the business is.

Cheers.

Karen;

I'm glad I could help. The whole reason I got into this business was to unveil a lot of the secrets you allude to. There is enough room in this business for everybody (as long as you stay out of Calgary! LMAO).

Be careful about offering coffee in your shop. It is VERY aromatic, and chocolate LOVES to absorb odors from its environment. Any chocolate sitting on your shelves will very quickly become coffee flavoured. I have been experimenting with that for a couple of years now just to see what I can get away with, and the results haven't been good. I would LOVE to offer coffee service, but have resigned myself to offering one variety of real time grind/steep chocolate infused coffee, and let coffee shops do the rest. The smell is incredibly overpowering when we make even one cup.

Cheers.

Brad

Shows: Your time is worth money. Calculate your time at $100 per hour starting with the minute you leave town, and by the time you get set up in Seattle and before you even sell a single confection you will have lost money. If markets were worth it, the big players would be in them. Markets are great for hobbyists, or as an inexpensive way to test new products. That's it.

Brownies vs. Luxury: Over the past 4 years I have built a reputation of producing THE best chocolate confections locally - even beating out Bernard Callebaut, a man who built his business into 22 stores, and is the grandson of Eugeneus Callebaut himself. I track every single transaction down to the millisecond and penny, and after putting 70,000 transactions through my stores, I can tell you definitively that pretentious "luxury" chocolate has it's place but doesn't pay your bills every month. The average customer walks through the doors of a chocolate shop on impulse. They will spendabout $20 and are in the mood to sate' their sweet tooth right then and there or maybe buy something for a dinner party that evening, or a colleague who's moving on. They don't want to spend a lot of money.

Chocolate is no different than any other industry. Women wear the fancy diamond necklaces for gala events, but inexpensive jewelry during the week to complement their outfits. Guys drive their honda accord to work and take out theFerrari on the weekends. People who can afford luxury items still appreciate and consume value priced items on a daily basis just like everybody else does. Stop alienating your lower income/"value pricedcustomers, and you will double your business.

Discounts: I was on your website and looked at your prices. I also know exactly what it costs to make chocolates, and what packaging costs are. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I find your prices outrageous. $20 for six 9 gram molded chocolates???? Really??? I can definitely see why you need to cross promote with discounts. Truth be told, Choklat doesn't cross promote, and NEVER offers a discount. Our prices are reasonable, our quality is beyond reproach, and we provide value. That same $20 spent for a pretentious box of 6 caramels in your shop would get a half a pound of fresh hand made truffles from one of my stores(and by "fresh" I mean, made right then and there, on the spot, specifically to the customer's specifications). That's FOUR times the amount ofa confection that's fresher than yoursfor the same price and with no discount. Local merchants are happy to promote us to their customers because they know their customer is going to be taken care of, and not price-gouged.

You asked for my opinion, so here it is: Whether your want it to come through or not, your website, products, packaging, and pricing come across as pretentious, yet as a person wanting to grow her business you don't.

• Learn who your retail customers are and I think you will quickly see that your marketing strategy doesn't fit.
• Differentiate your products from your peers. You do the same thing as every other chocolatier, so why should people buy yours at exorbitantly higher prices? (and you can't quote your awards because mostretail customersdon't know and don'tcare)
• Use your awards and accolades to go after corporate orders, and be aggressive about it. Most corporate orders are about the bling of the box and the "prestige" of the product, and less about taste.
• Offer fresh, value priced items that your locals can afford and consume on a regular basis. After all, when the tourists go home, they are the ones keeping your lights on.
• Createa "Master's Collection" that is only offered at certain times of the year. The "Master's Collection" is premium priced, can include exotic flavours, has a limited quantity, and can still showcase your skill as an artist.
• Remember: business is about making money, and there is a science and analytics that comes along with it.

Again, please don't take my comments as harsh or confrontational. They are just the pragmatic views/rants of a guy who has hit his head too many times riding his dirt bikes.

Cheers.

Hi Karen;

Here are some tips. I hope they help:

1. If you are just a chocolate shop, 30% of your retail revenue is going to come from the 3 days surrounding Valentines, the three days leading up to Mother's Day, a small amount around Easter, and then the Christmas mayhem that starts November 1st and goes to December 24th at 3:00pm. The rest of the year your retail shop's sales will be dismal at best, boosted occasionally by a wedding or party, or some other singular.

2. You are spot on that your bread and butter shouldn't be exotic chocolate flavours. I've said many times over: "Find out what your customers want and then give it to them."

3. Pricing is important for your area. I sell a 92g,100% porcelana chocolate bar. Amedei sells a 53g porcelana chocolate bar (which I question is 100% porcelana, but that's a topic for another fight! haha!). Their bar retails here in Calgary for $25. All things being equal, my bar (which DOES taste better) should be $50! However Calgary isn't ready for a $50 chocolate bar yet, so I sell it for $12, and promote it as twice the value, for half the price just because I'm a redneck. You can charge more than your competitors (my chocolate is the most expensive in Calgary), but it better stand up to scrutiny and win EVERY time.

4. I have a 150 sq foot booth at a local prominent farmers Market on a trial basis, and it has just surpassed it's 12th month of operations. Gross Sales were $90,000 from that location, and while it's profitable, to me that number isa failure. Viable to me is at least 3 times that number per location. My Inglewood store is 100% retail ( I discount my product for nobody, and do not sell wholesale), and it does about $450,000 per year gross.

5. My third location is in amarquee financial building in our downtown core. I have a tiny little 150 square foot "closet" close to an entrance to another building. There is another veryestablished chocolatier 5 doors down from that location on the same floor (he tried selling me his business last summer, so I know what the numbers are).I opened it on January 21st of this year, and just on word of mouth, that tiny little space is killing him. He's not renewing his lease and willbe gone by June. That tiny little location in Bankers Hall is keeping up to my main, established store where all of the chocolate is made, and where customers have been going for 4 years. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION.

6. FIND OUT WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT - and this doesn't mean just chocolates and candies. We sell a TON of baked goods at our Bankers Hall location. Why? Office meetings, luncheons, a quick snack in the afternoon - things to boost sales in slow times. People eat brownies ever day?Yup. Abox of chocolates? Nope. All of these little things that are not "chocolates" increase sales, keep customers coming back, and keep reminding them we're here so that they remember us in the big margin times of the year.

7.Sit in a restaurant/coffee shop across the street from your store, at least once a week for the first while and watch people. If there's no coffee shop, then sit in your car. Where are they coming from? Where are they going? How many people are walking by? What do they have in their hands? Do they have coffee? What times of day are the busiest? What can you do to pull them off the street? Sit, and watch, and count. By doing this for my Bankers Hall location, I quickly learned that I need to offer coffee, so I'm currently working on a chocolate infused coffee. I'm tired of watching lines and lines ofwhite collar cattletrundle by every morning at 10am on their way to Starbucks for a fix. If we can cull some of those cattle, all the better for us.

8. If you get a store, stop doing farmers markets and trade shows. They aren't profitable, and I don't care how you slice it. Every event and market will only poach people that could go to your store and purchase. One of the reasons my Farmers Market location does poorly is because it's 5 minutes from my main store. Sales in my main store have suffered also as a result, but will return once the market location is closed. Train your customers to go to your store, and not a booth that you have to pay for at a market.

9. I am the King of classes. In the past 4 years I have personally hosted over 340 chocolate/wineevents in my Inglewood store, and have been hired to talk about chocolate all over Western Canada. 2500 people have paid $40 per person to hear me speak in my shop. At least that same amount have heard me talk at various seminars. The most lucrative events are the "truffle making" evenings. I charge $100 per person to, over two evenings, learn to make their own truffles. Each person makes their own centers, dips them, rolls them, and wraps them. Each person leaves with 60 truffles and a big smile. The profit is insane. I could easily sell 3 per month. As it is we host an average of 6 wine/chocolate events per month (Make about $300 profit per event) and are usually sold out a month in advance. Drop the tradeshows and do events! People PAY to become your customers and if they have fun will be your biggest advocate!!!

That should be a good start.

Hi Larry;

I think I can beof assistance here. Believe it or not, the difficulty is not coming up with the brand. That will appear in due time. The difficulty is in defining the brand, and this is something that takes a LOT of forward thinking - thinking that will conceptually take your product places you haven't even though of yet, and many years into the future.

There are many questions that need to be answered before the "brand" as you call it reveals itself to you - questions such as:

1. What are all the products you are going to offer?

2. Are you going to remain artisinal, or are you going to grow into many locations?

3. If you grow, are you planning on franchising, or owning all of the stores?

4. What message do you want to convey to your customers most, and how can that message be conveyed in less than 5 seconds?

5. What are your competitors doing?

6. How are you different than your competitors?

7. Where in the market are you positioning your products? High end? Mid-priced? Value priced?

8. What kind of budget do you have for art work and branding?

9. Has one of your competitors already done something similar?

10. What fonts and color schemas are you settling on?

11. Do any of your competitors use the same, or similar fonts and colors?

12. Once you settle on a few, you may need to do trademark research too.

13. Then... after doing all of that homework, do some initial creative, and run it by a group of 10-20 people you know who will give you HONEST feedback. It's easy getting flattering feedback from friends, as nobody wants to hurt your feelings. Ask them what they don't like, as it's more important than what they DO like.

I cannot stress enough, the importance of THOROUGHLY answering these questions, when planning and researching your brand. I did 3 years of research on my brand "Choklat" and corporate image before sending a single piece of artwork off to a printer.

There isn't a single person out there in ChocolateLife Land who can give you the answer to your question here, because they don't know the answers to these questions. Any answer you get that you like will be as likely as winning a lottery.

I hope this helps.

Brad

Choklat