Forum Activity for @Brad Churchill

Thanks Lisa!

Thanks for the feedback!

I tried something different with the programming on the bottom div, and it's clearly not working as intended. Over the weekend I'll definitely be making viewable on mobile devices.

Clay;

Thanks for your opinion. As a really pissed off consumer - turned petulant child - turned successful chocolatier, I would have to disagree with some of what you wrote and say that I'm definitely on the right track with my marketing.

People are tired of being misled and lied to by marketing propaganda from businesses in all industries. My journey is what it is, and I'm not going to lie to people about why I started in this business. If I were to pad it, or otherwise sugar coat my story, that to me would make me a hypocrite and undermine the entire purpose of me starting this business venture in the first place. After all, who would believe anything written about a business when the owner himself lies about why he got into the industry?

My journey and story isn't about chocolate. It's about starting and growing a successful business with honesty and integrity, while at the same time standing up to deceptive competition.

...and I must say, my business is very successful. Apparently your opinion differs from the thousands of people whopurchase enough of my products to allow me to have bought twoother locations this year alone with the business's own cash!

If you had read the last two paragraphs of "my journey", you will read that along the way I actually began to truly enjoy the chocolate industry.

Again, though, thank you for your opinion. After all, I did ask for it.

Brad

Thanks for the feedback Brian!

Ruth;

Thanks for the feedback.

In answer to your questions, we don't sample at all. Given that I make several different dark chocolates out of several different beans, we would literally have to feed people. For a chocolatier who uses one variety of dark chocolate, sampling makes sense. However it doesn't in our case.

I have also found that sampling negatively affects sales. Chocolate for the most part is an impulse purchase, and if the customer's sweet tooth has been satisfied by a sample, they often purchase less than they were originally intending. This is in line with a common phrase in the diet and health industry "Never shop for groceries when you are hungry. You will almost always over purchase and make bad choices." Customers have entered the shop to BUY chocolate. I'm certainly not going to feed it to them free.

Just like the wine industry does, there are in depth descriptions of each of our chocolates. This helps customers who prefer fruitier chocolate or earthier chocolate.

With regard to our truffles, wehave standardized onone variety of milk and one variety of dark chocolate for them. It doesn't make sense to offer multiple milks and darks, when all of our truffles are made to order, and the flavor nuances from one dark to the nextare masked by the 100's of combinations of coatings and centers. As far as truffles are concerned, they are simply a confection that uses chocolate, and not celebrates chocolate.

Hope that answers your questions.

Cheers

Brad

Thanks!

Hi Everybody!

Last week I pulled the trigger, bought out another chocolatier, and in typical "Insane Brad" fashion gave myself 7 days to turn their business around, renovate,and rebrand it as mine (I did it and video taped each day's progress for sharing at a later date). At the same time I decided to give my company's website a complete facelift - adding one more color to our standard blue and brown.

I would be interested in your opinion of the new look - good bad or ugly. For those of you who have been to my previous site, you'll probably see a lot more content as well.

I await your criticisms and accolades with baited breath....

Thanks in advance (I think).

Oh... Here's the site: www.SoChoklat.com

Brad

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

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

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.

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.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers.

Lisa;

I'm probably not going to offer a course. Unless it's something I'm going to do many times over, the up front work isn't economically feasible. I taught software programming at the University of Calgary for several semesters as a contract instructor, so I'm aware of the up front work that chisels away at the per hour bill rate that one can charge.

The whole purpose of my reply was to put things into perspective. Sometimes the sticker shock of an item may seem hefty, but when presented with the alternatives and their associated costs, or in this case the cost savings, the price justifies the outcome.

Those who are serious about making chocolate and were at one time prepared to spend the kind of money I mentioned wouldn't hesitate to pay the fee for the course if they knew it was going to save them the cost of the fee 8-10 times over.

Please don't be offended.

Brad

Lisa, "quite pricey" is all perception. Put it this way:

You could by a Netsch chocolate refiner for $75,000. What if I told you that you could buy a conche/refiner that would do just as good of a job for $30,000 but it would cost you $5,000 to get the information for the company that sells it. THEN... What if I could give you the contact information of a reputable company that could sell you a conche/refinerfor just $6,000 which could do the same thing with almost no maintenance, 24/7 for several yearsas the $75,000 and the same thing as the $30,000 unit?

All of a sudden paying $11,000 ($5,000 to me and $6,000 for the refiner) to save between $19,000 and $64,000becomes a FABULOUS deal.

Anything else I offer in my course is just gravy.

Sometimes business is also about saving money, not just making money.

Cheers

Brad

There are VERY significant business differences between a home hobbyist, a small artisan, a commercial artisan, and a mass producer of chocolate confections.

However there is almost NO difference between a home artisan and a mass producer of chooclate with the exception of the size of the equipment used. The end result is always the same, and uses the exact same ingredients to make one product and one product only: chocolate.

Scaling a chocolatier is very, very different than scaling a chocolate maker.

Cheers.

Brad

3 days of hands on, accompanied by some thorough documentation is a heck of a lot of information if delivered property. Obviously one isn't going to cover all the in's and out's of a business. I've been starting, financing, and selling businesses for many years and I'm ALWAYS learning something new. The course would simply be a kick start in the right direction, and solid guidance of where to spend and NOT spend precious seed capital. The value of the course comes not from what you learn to do, but where you learn to NOT waste money in this case.

Hope that makes sense.

At least a free fireplace mantle!

Funny you should post this Clay... Today I was thinking about putting on a 3 day"bean to bar" course, which would have participants do everything from cocoa bean to chocolate bar, and would also include equipment lists, prices from suppliers and so forth - essentially everything they would need to set up their own chocolate business. All the person would need to do is start making calls and wiring money.

The course would also include an evaluation of various types of equipment, including the plusses and minuses of each, as well as an overview of how to start and run a successful chocolate business.

Full turn key, I was thinking of charging $5,000 per person with a maximum of 3 people per course, and a guarantee that they would save at least $25,000 in unneccessary equipment purchases by taking my course, while at the same time being able to set up a business that could easily handle $500,000 per year in business.

For those truly serious, $5k is a pretty small investment for the information that took me over 3,000 hours to accumulate.

Any thoughts?

Brad.

Cheers!

Glad I can help.

Brad

Amy;

Chocolate is a suspension of particles in a fat that crystalizes, and is crystalizing 100% of the time it is being agitated in the ACMC. If you were to stop the motor from turning, it would go solid at it's working temperature. The fluidity of chocolate can be controlled by agitation and very tiny adjustments in temperature throughout the day as you work with it. Combine that with the fact that the ACMC thermocouples aren't that accurate (I own 8 of those machines), and you have chocolate that is going solid on you while you work with it.

As it thickens, bring the temperature of your machine up one degree at a time and stir it lots. It won't happen instantly, but the chocolate will thin out without coming out of temper.

Verify your chocolate temperature with a properly calibrated thermometer, and you will most likely find that while your machine reads 91, the temperature of the chocolate at the thermocouple is probably only 88 or 89. This means you can easily go as high as 95 on that machine.

Note that controlling viscosity of your chocolate is a two way street. Once you learn to control the fluidity as you work with it, you can ALSO thicken it the same way by going in the opposite direction, and that has uses too!

Cheers.

Brad

http://www.super-tube.com/bopp.html

If you google it, there is a lot of information on it.

Cheers.

A roll of BOP tube and a heat sealer is super easy, and a better seal than foil. You can also put your own sticker on it. A lot of bars are being sealed thatway today. While it's done by machine on a huge assembly line, the premise is the same if you want to do it at home.

ALTITUDE.

It's important to note that theboiling point of water changes with alititude, which is why most caramel recipes totally suck. They don't account for the altitude change which effectively causes the boiling point of your ingredients to change, and subsequently the amount of water left in the caramel at the target temperature.

For every thousand feet of altitude gain, your water's boiling point will drop by approximately one degree celsius. For example, here in Calgary, our altitude is 4,500 feet, and the boiling point of our water is 95.5 degrees, NOT 100. This means that we have to drop the target temperature of our caramel down by 4.5 degrees. While this may not sound like much, it is in fact the difference between a nice, soft caramel, and one that can just about yank out your fillings when you chew it.

Add into the mix, an inaccurate thermometer, and you could be waaaay out.

Make sure you take into account your altitude gain from sea level, and if following a recipe, try to find out what altitude the recipe was tested at. It's important, yet they never say that in the cookbook. Duh.... Why?

Cheers

Brad

Thanks Clay. That was very helpful.

Thanks Edward and Sebastian!

Very helpful and certainly a reality check for me. These prices are definitely a far cry from the prices I charge retail for wrapped bars!

Anybody else care to share? I've provided a lot of guidance to peopleon this forum in the last couple of years. It's not often I ask for anything, but this time pricing feedback would be very helpful.

Quid Pro Quo Everyone!

Thanks in advance.

Brad

Thanks Thomas.

I'm hoping some chocolatiers here in North America can weigh in and give me some idea as to price ranges they are paying for what I've listed above.

Again, the quantity doesn't really matter, assuming you aren't buying 7 metric tons per order, but rather a few lbs, or few hundred lbs at a time.

Thanks in advance.

Brad

Hi Everyone!

In January I will be opening my third location, after which I will need to plan for and build a commissary to make chocolate for all of my future stores.

For the first few years, the commissary will far over produce what my stores can consume, so I am exploring the option of selling some of the chocolate and chocolate related products (70% dark, nibs liquor, etc) on a wholesale basis to various local restaurants.

The question I have, is for all of you who buy bulk chocolate for your business, what would you typically pay per kg for

1. a premium quality couverture
2. milk chocolate
3. nibs
4. liquor

I'm not asking for trade secrets here - just prices you are typically quoted by your suppliers.

Thanks in advance

Brad

Good luck with that. Other than getting someone on here to make it for you (such as good 'ol Cheebs), you won't find it. Several of my recipes need a white chocolate with no vanilla, and I couldn't find any, so I ended up breaking down an buying a refiner specifically to make my own.

Now that I can make my own white chocolate with or without vanilla, that REALLY sets our confections apart from our peers. No local chocolatier can do a Pomegranate white chocolate center like we can!

Cheers.

Brad

A milk chocolate bar I make with beans from the Ocumare De LaCosta region of Venezuela. (I don't sell this bar).

Mmmmmm.... to die for

Good Call. The place should be odor free BEFORE you lease it and spend all the money on reno's. The fact that he doesn't value your time or money tells me the landlord'sdefinitely not a professional when it comes to commercial real estate. Don't waste your time with him.

There is something to be said for commercial leasing companies, that's for sure.

Cheers and Best Wishes.

Have your landlord take care of the issues as part of the lease negotiation, and ensure that the issues are dealt with "subject to your approval". Chocolate is very hygroscopic, meaning it readily absorbs odor and moisture from its environment. Once the odor is absorbed, there's no going back.

Yes Clay, I was just joking about the $100 bar.

However when it comes to the quality of my product for the market I'm selling to, that sir is something I don't joke about. Again, whether you like it or not is irrelevant. You aren't my customer, and the recipes aren't designed for you or other self appointed "professional tasters". They are designed for the general public, who, after buying $2 Million worth of my chocolate in the past couple of yearshas a very different palate(and evidently a very different opinion than yours and Marc's)

I'll tell you what though Clay. When you match what my customers buy I promise to care what youthink. How does that sound?

Cheers

Brad

I've had so many requests to ship my chocolate that I give up. I'm finally bending to the pressure!

I will now sell ALL of my chocolate bars for $100 each and will package and ship them to wherever you like (except outer space). Packaging and shipping is included.

THERE. Now the industry has a $100 chocolate bar.

I heard that Noka is no longerin business. Scams don't usually last long.

On the note of porcelana, I doubt that Amedei's porcelana is even pure porcelana! I think it's a blended rip off. I've had it, and here's why I think so:

1 Amedei's porcelana bar is very dark.

2. Porcelana cocoa beans are porcelain white when harvested (hence the name porcelana)

3. Once fermented, they turn to a reddish color on the outside and a tan color on the inside.

4. Once roasted, the beans/nibs turn to a red brick color and have VERY strong fruity notes.

5. I have found NO physical way to make Porcelanachocolate as dark as Amedei's without blending them with another dark bean. Alkalizing doesn't work on that bean to darken it, and who in their right mind would alkalize the holy grail of chocolate just so that it looks like all other chocolate???

In my opinion, Amedei's porcelana is a BLEND, and not a true porcelana. I think you're getting ripped off. Until they prove otherwise I will continue to think that, and express my opinion which is also based on working with porcelana beans daily for 4 yearsfrom a couple of different regions of the world.

Brad

Clay;

You have very clearly touched on several aspects of my exact business model, identifying holes I found in the indusry 7 years ago when I first started researching it. There are many stigmas attached to the chocolate industry which have in the past and will continue to stifle growth as it applies to product quality.

BIG ONE: Romance. There is an aire of romance that women have associated with chocolate -an aire that has been played upon by large companies and chocolatiers alikefor years. Chocolate is a unique product in that it can be molded and shaped and made to look beautiful. Coffee can't. it comes in a cup. That's it. As a result, artisans have and always will continue to forget that we may buy once with our eyes, we'll certainly only buy subsequent times with our pallates! (A discussion in an earlier thread). People will continue to forego quality for beauty, and as a result willnullify the concept of a $100 chocolate bar. Now.... Having said that, a $100 or $200, or even $1500 chocolate sculpture is not out of the question, as it can easily be tied to the skill of the artisan. Again, we're back to the aesthetic beauty and time required to create it,not the taste.

Because of the image of chocolate being a woman's "treat", the chocolate industry loses money 9 months of the year, and almost 30% of it's revenue is centered around Valentine's Day, and Christmas, whereas millions of people "need" their coffee fix every morning, and often mid afternoon to pick them up.

Coffee is a daily thing. Chocolate is a "treat". In fact many consumers think of chocolate bars and think of things like Coffee Crisp, or Kit Kats, or other "candy bars", rather than thinking of just straight eating chocolate.

Don't forget that coffee also contains a drug/stimulant (caffiene), whereas chocolate doesn't have the same effect on people.

I'm not even going to bother jumping on the "beautiful packaging" soap box.....

Large companies have tried to address thebig spikes in consumption trendsby capitalizing on the "health benefits" of dark chocolate, in an attempt to make chocolate a daily part of our diet, rahter than the occasional seasonal "treat", but come on! Really?? How many people are going to buy into a "healthy" product that is on average 65% fat and sugar?? Duh....

I believe that when artisans start focusing on flavour and consumer preferences and less on aesthetics, only THEN will trends change. My business "Choklat" is an exact prototype of what I've mentioned here, and is hammering our competition without my presence, because our focus IS 100% on taste, is based on recipes that are tried tested and true, and utilizes skills that require only basic staff training and not the skill of a master chocolatier. Our focus IS the customer, and it is doing very very well.

Cheers.

Brad

That gave me a good chuckle Clay. You know I was just having fun too!

Cheers

Brad.

Sebastian;

I'll one-up you and offer a baker's dozen for the price of 12.

...and free shipping.

Haha!

Brad.

John over at chocolate alchemy sells everything you need. www.ChocolateAlchemy.com

Have fun!

I own both. (actually two tempering machines AND a firemixer)

the most important difference is that the heating element in the firemixer heats the chocolate ONLY on the bottom via an element that can get very hot, whereas the tempering kettles use heaters submerged in a water jacket to ensure the chocolate never burns.

The second you overheat the chocolate on the bottom of your firemixer (and it CAN happen), you will destroy ALL of the chocolate you have put in it - a very costly mistake.

Another significant difference is that the firemixer agitator turns at almost twice the speed of the one in the chocolate machine - which will most likely cause bubbles in your chocolate.

I've always believed in the right tool for the right job, and would never consider using the firemixer to heat and temper something as delicate as chocolate.

Brad

Interesting discussin indeed! I bought a large fluid bed dryer 3 years ago with the intent of adding a heater to the airflow. It's in storage right now. Kinda cool to see others are trying the same type of technology.