Chocolate Biz Owner Logs On

[bkchocolate]

Hello, all. I own a small struggling specialty chocolate business, and hope to help those who I can, and will gain from those with more experience than me. Looking forward to reading this forum regularly.

[cape chef]

Welcome,

Enjoy.

[Donna]

I too am a chocolate lover and would love to learn more in regard to making chocolate decorative items and more about chocolate in general. I've only made chocolate forms from melts which left little to be desired in the taste area. What type of chocolate specialty shop do you own?

[chrose]

Welcome BK! As a former Specialty Chocolate manufacturer (I sold handmade white chocolate roses) I look forward to your input and look forward to whatever we can all do for each other. But first, please, tell us a bit about your business, and why maybe you feel you're struggling.

[bkchocolate]

Donna -- if you truly love chocolate, you should start experimenting with real chocolate instead of the quick melt disks. The disks are easy but the taste isn't great. Taking the time to experiment with the real thing is rewarding in the long run -- good luck! See below for answer to your question.

Chrosa -- thanks for writing. My business is struggling currently because we're waiting for a shop space to open for us in a great location in a great, bustling tourist town -- but we've been waiting for a long time for renovations to happen by the owner. In the meantime, we're selling wholesale, which is very difficult because we have to sell at 50% below retail price, and as you know, the markup isn't that great on artisan chocolates anyway.

Please tell me about your white chocolate roses. I've been having not the greatest success melting white chocolate, gets clumpy on me. Any advice?

BKchocolate

[Mezzaluna]

BKChocolate, as you can see, your membership here has already paid off- you've made contact with an experienced and highly-skilled chocolatier.

Welcome to Chef Talk! We hope you'll visit often and enjoy all the forums.

Regards,
Mezzaluna