I was wondering how those of you who have a chocolate business (whether
a store, internet or home based) got your start. One of the hardest
parts about starting a venture like this is getting your foot in the
door so-to-speak, any ideas?

I am just looking for some ideas to start a very small chocolate
business.

By the way, as with any business, I do understand that it is a lot of
work and difficult, not to mention a real risk. I certainly do not
mind helpful, real advice but I have already heard the, "It's too hard,
don't bother" approach, so kindly refrain from simply restating this
opinion. :-)

SC

at Mon, 24 Jan 2005 19:24:45 GMT in <1106594685.593067.200700
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, (SC) wrote :

>I was wondering how those of you who have a chocolate business (whether
>a store, internet or home based) got your start. One of the hardest
>parts about starting a venture like this is getting your foot in the
>door so-to-speak, any ideas?
>
>I am just looking for some ideas to start a very small chocolate
>business.

Being honest, I think the first thing you need to do is get a lot more
experience. If you're going to compete in the commercial arena, you're
going to need to have your knowledge and methodology on making chocolates
down so perfectly you can do it in your sleep. You need to be able to
produce repeatable, reliable results, in high volume and hence at high
speed. Your recipes need to be tuned to the status of formulae, where you
can literally plug in the numbers and arrive at your result. This is
something that requires a LOT of practice and work.

So I think it's a bit early to start operating your chocolate business at
this point because first you need to build your experience. Once you can
produce dynamite chocolates in a variety of flavours effortlessly and
quickly without even having to think about it, that will be the time to
start examining entering the market. These first few years, then, are base-
building - accumulating the tools and techniques necessary to do a good
job. If you have the money to live off comfortably for a year or so you can
probably push through the start-up phase relatively quickly by
concentrating on chocolate-making practice full-time in order to hone your
skills.

In addition, you may want to examine entering a pastry/confectionery school
to learn still more. An added bonus of doing this is it will give you the
kind of contacts that will open opportunities to get your foot in the door,
as you are looking for. That can happen anyway, with your practice, because
if you are passing out the results of your practice to friends and
associates they may become your first customers or at least your first
points of referral. Be sure to get their honest, objective opinion on the
results. Make it clear to them that you're not afraid of criticism because
your long-term goal is to get a business openned and you need to get
reliable feedback on what chocolates work and what chocolates don't.

In short, I suspect that, as your skills mature, the opportunities you seek
will open up naturally.
--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

Thanks Alex. I, unfortunately, can't give all of my time to practicing
chocolate making, so it will probably take a while. You are right
though; there is no point in starting a "real" business (as opposed to
doing a little here and there) without at least investing some time on
the product.

I think right now, with all that I do in my life, might just keep it
something I do for fun...and give/sell a few on the side for fun.
Thanks,

SC

I'm very much in the same boat, pretty much deciding that I'm happy as
an amateur. Now that I make 1000 pieces or so a year, mostly
concentrated in the cooler months, and I see just how long it takes,
and how precise things have to be, I truly have come to respect the
difference between what I do, and what it would take to earn a living
at this. I'd have to be 10 times more efficient, and 100 times faster.
For me, chocolate-making is an artistic expression, and a joy;
particularly in terms of the pleasure it gives others. To make a
living at it, however, it would have to take on a certain
production-line characteristic that I'm not sure would keep my soul
happy. I do sell some of my work, but mostly just to be able to buy
more chocolate for experimenting!

These kinds of decisions are never easy, I guess.

Bruce