Feedback on business idea - chocolate related!

riveratom

Hey guys,

So I have this little business idea I just thought of - custom chocolates for a very specific target market. They would come in a specific shape / style, and the target market would be quite large. I actually just did a quick google, and to my surprise I don't see anyone else with the same idea - certainly not in any dedicated way. Sweet!

I am also in the target market for this product myself, and it's pretty cool imo. I would buy such a product and also would purchase as a gift if they were available!

So I am just wondering if anyone has experience in this area, whether you've done something similar before, etc? What I would be wondering about is how you would go about sourcing a supplier for the chocolate itself, and handling the process from sourcing to packaging it all up, graphics, design, storage, etc.

I would be thinking mainly of having an attractive box of chocolates, with perhaps 9 -12 small chocolates in each box. In terms of box size, it would fit in the palm of your hand roughly.

The plan would be to sell primarily online and offline in shops that are focused completely on the target market in question. I have lots of experience in online marketing and ecommerce, and the plan would be to use Shopify or other very low-cost ways of getting started.

Look forward to any initial insights and feedback!

jimmii

I went to a wedding in the summer and the place names were chocolate lollipops which was a nice idea! Maybe go to a few fairs and see if there is any interest in what you are doing if no one is doing it already there may well be a reason for that. There are a few custom chocolate places around that will do custom stuff for you but as you say its not really the main feature of their business I guess if you get the pricing right you could work yourself a niche if you do have something different. I would have thought to scale it up there would need to be a good bit of investment though.

Stamply

A lot of bars are doing their own branding beers these days. One brewery makes a beer for a specific pub, who can call it what they want. For example, one brewery might produce and supply the Sweeney Mongrel (Sweeney's) and Dubliner (Solas on Wexford Street).

Maybe there is an angle there for producing chocolates for specific venues, events, festivals, etc...

riveratom

jimmii wrote: »

I went to a wedding in the summer and the place names were chocolate lollipops which was a nice idea! Maybe go to a few fairs and see if there is any interest in what you are doing if no one is doing it already there may well be a reason for that. There are a few custom chocolate places around that will do custom stuff for you but as you say its not really the main feature of their business I guess if you get the pricing right you could work yourself a niche if you do have something different. I would have thought to scale it up there would need to be a good bit of investment though.

Cheers Jimmii, the idea would be that if I started small and proved it had potential and there was a market for it, that it could scale up from there. It would need to start very much as a side gig insofar as is possible. Maybe work to get approx 10 boxes 'manufactured', and go from there.

I would wonder about the margin in it too, which depends on multiple factors of course. It's all new to me anyway.

riveratom

Stamply wrote: »

A lot of bars are doing their own branding beers these days. One brewery makes a beer for a specific pub, who can call it what they want. For example, one brewery might produce and supply the Sweeney Mongrel (Sweeney's) and Dubliner (Solas on Wexford Street).

Maybe there is an angle there for producing chocolates for specific venues, events, festivals, etc...

Interesting. There could be something there alright, and I had actually thought of that too funnily enough! I was thinking of 'personalised chocolates on demand', as in you can order them to your exact specifications for given events / occasions, etc.

jimmii

riveratom wrote: »

Cheers Jimmii, the idea would be that if I started small and proved it had potential and there was a market for it, that it could scale up from there. It would need to start very much as a side gig insofar as is possible. Maybe work to get approx 10 boxes 'manufactured', and go from there.

I would wonder about the margin in it too, which depends on multiple factors of course. It's all new to me anyway.

Definitely give it a trial run you never know what could happen! Is it a retail product or is an event product? Work out your costings and see how much you are going to have to charge per 100g of chocolate and see how it compares to the other chocolatiers.

riveratom

jimmii wrote: »

Definitely give it a trial run you never know what could happen! Is it a retail product or is an event product? Work out your costings and see how much you are going to have to charge per 100g of chocolate and see how it compares to the other chocolatiers.

True! It's a retail product, online and offline. The USP would really be all in the novelty factor. So let's say for example it is chocolate for people into tennis. Either playing it, watching it or both. The chocolates would come in the shape of mini tennis rackets, packaged up in a very attractive, classy box

So with that, you have high quality chocolate and a novelty gift idea, or just something that people would buy, again for the novelty factor, to show people, etc.

The idea would be to do this:

1. Source a chocolate supplier
2. Mold the chocolate into the desired shapes
3. Figure out the packaging side of things
4. Once the products are ready, upload to say Shopify and start selling!

Would it be the case that you would decide on the kind of packaging that you want, and then source the chocolate to order? As in, figure out who can supply it, figure out costings and go from there?

I am not sure what the margins are like, i.e. if I plan to retail at €12/box, what the cost price would be, etc.

sandin

Contact Ferdinand in Chez Emily Chocolates at The Ward, Co. Dublin (near ashbourne) and he can give you advice. Probably you will find out its not a runner. He could make it for you too if it suits.

As for online selling - its way harder than you think. After 5 years with a major brand, I'll finally make a profit - though the nice thing is, once you get profitable, you stay profitable.

riveratom

sandin wrote: »

Contact Ferdinand in Chez Emily Chocolates at The Ward, Co. Dublin (near ashbourne) and he can give you advice. Probably you will find out its not a runner. He could make it for you too if it suits.

As for online selling - its way harder than you think. After 5 years with a major brand, I'll finally make a profit - though the nice thing is, once you get profitable, you stay profitable.

That's brilliant, thanks Sandin!

I know what you mean, ecommerce is tough. I know that from experience! It would be very much a niche play and a side-business, if it ever took off in any shape or form. The concept is very niche, but the target market is very large.

So while the idea is very specific, the number of people who could find it appealing is large. It would also make the perfect gift for people who know people in the target market (friends, boy/girlfriends, family, relations, etc).

A parallel example would be if you knew someone really into - to choose a random example - skiing - and the chocolates would come in the shape of skis. So while that is pretty niche, the target market is large and could be marketed too relatively easily.

As I said, pretty small scale, but any further feedback is most welcome..

Graham

First thing I'd check would be the costs of custom chocolate moulds for making the products, I'd imagine that will cause a quick rethink on your part.

A quick Google gets me a price of $145 + delivery + tax for a custom bar type master mould, each additional being $10. That's just plain bars with a customised top :eek:

riveratom

Graham wrote: »

First thing I'd check would be the costs of custom chocolate moulds for making the products, I'd imagine that will cause a quick rethink on your part.

A quick Google gets me a price of $145 + delivery + tax for a custom bar type master mould, each additional being $10. That's just plain bars with a customised top :eek:

Hmm, surely if you are making the same type of chocolates over and over, you only require one single master mold you would then use over and over?!

These chocs would come in a very specific, single shape, so I don't see why you would need to order additional molds, unless you wanted to produce additional shapes.

I'd say it might be a case of starting by ordering a certain quantity from a company that can supply them to order.

Graham

riveratom wrote: »

Hmm, surely if you are making the same type of chocolates over and over, you only require one single master mold you would then use over and over?!

These chocs would come in a very specific, single shape, so I don't see why you would need to order additional molds, unless you wanted to produce additional shapes.

Sorry Riveratom, when you said custom I assumed you meant unique for each individual customer.

This might help:

http://www.getsuckered.com/category/chocolate-molds/sports.aspx

Spice Girl

Think that Tesco use Lir chocolates.
Have you done a start your own business course? Or maybe approach your local entreprise board.

bizzyb

For me there's no real USP here if your just pouring someone else's chocolate into a mold,maybe its just because i am a huge foodie but if it was me before anything i would do a chocolate making course if there handmade your USP is so much more appealing. Your passion for it will be be so much better if you make them yourself from scratch. Also if your pouring someone else's chocolate into a mold it will still need to be tempered which is an art in itself but you could spend €€€€€ and get a machine to do it for you.

Graham

bizzyb wrote: »

For me there's no real USP here if your just pouring someone else's chocolate into a mold,maybe its just because i am a huge foodie but if it was me before anything i would do a chocolate making course if there handmade your USP is so much more appealing. Your passion for it will be be so much better if you make them yourself from scratch. Also if your pouring someone else's chocolate into a mold it will still need to be tempered which is an art in itself but you could spend €€€€€ and get a machine to do it for you.

The market for novelty chocolate shapes is going to be fairly small. I'd imagine the market for handmade Artisanal Ecuadorian chocolate tennis rackets is going to be smaller still.

The One Who Knocks

Don't think there's a market for erotic chocolate myself either, sorry OP :P

ifah

Graham wrote: »

The market for novelty chocolate shapes is going to be fairly small. I'd imagine the market for handmade Artisanal Ecuadorian chocolate tennis rackets is going to be smaller still.

I'd have to agree that the market would be pretty small and from a personal point of view - if we're buying chocolate (lots of chocolate addicts) - we go for quality as opposed to novelty value.

Peterdalkey

Riveratom, it strikes me that you could very easily over-analyse this business opportunity. It would cost very little to test it out and see where it brings you. It may be a great opportunity, it may be a dud, but even if it is, the market could tell you that there is an opening for a different version/concept. Exposing yourself to the market is the best way to get a real feel for what might work.
I know two girls, working totally independently of each other who each make very fancy chocolate and novelty cakes. For Christmas alone, they had orders for over 160 cakes between them ... all produced in their home kitchens. Who would have thought...!

In the past they had both asked me for some advice on setting their ideas up as a business. I told them they were dreaming if they thought there was a business in the idea but to give it a go from home. At least it would keep them away from the shops etc!! They never asked for any more pointers!!... though I have had some very tasty samples!!

ifah

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Riveratom, it strikes me that you could very easily over-analyse this business opportunity. It would cost very little to test it out and see where it brings you. It may be a great opportunity, it may be a dud, but even if it is, the market could tell you that there is an opening for a different version/concept. Exposing yourself to the market is the best way to get a real feel for what might work.
I know two girls, working totally independently of each other who each make very fancy chocolate and novelty cakes. For Christmas alone, they had orders for over 160 cakes between them ... all produced in their home kitchens. Who would have thought...!

In the past they had both asked me for some advice on setting their ideas up as a business. I told them they were dreaming if they thought there was a business in the idea but to give it a go from home. At least it would keep them away from the shops etc!! They never asked for any more pointers!!... though I have had some very tasty samples!!

I would agree with this - the difference here is that the girls doing the home baking / chocolate making are (probably) making more generic products, rather than quite specific ones. I know of two similar individuals who are doing Cup cakes from home and are making a nice living from it. Both mainly use Facebook and local area advertising to target their customers.

Peterdalkey

ifah wrote: »

I would agree with this - the difference here is that the girls doing the home baking / chocolate making are (probably) making more generic products, rather than quite specific ones. I know of two similar individuals who are doing Cup cakes from home and are making a nice living from it. Both mainly use Facebook and local area advertising to target their customers.

In fact they are both doing custom one off bespoke designs for each cake and do no batch/multiple runs!! That is why I thought they were mad!!

ifah

Peterdalkey wrote: »

In fact they are both doing custom one off bespoke designs for each cake and do no batch/multiple runs!! That is why I thought they were mad!!

fair play to them - i wonder what the actual cost of making a cake is (in terms of time / materials etc) versus price to customer. I have found that many home based artisans end up earning way below minimum wage as they don't value their own time properly.

riveratom

Thanks for the replies. I think there is a market for what I am thinking of, it's just a case of looking into what's required to get started and what the margins might be. Won't be happening right now anyway, but definitely one to look into!

Muahahaha

I'm pretty sure some 3d printers can print in chocolate, I saw a BBC slot on it recently and they were saying the cost of the machines have now gone below £1,000. So maybe you don't need to go down the mould route ? Maybe offering a service to print an image of someone's face in chocolate or just any general chocolate requests that can be done with a 3d printer, of which there must be thousands.

jimmii

This company 3d print chocolate could definitely be an option.

https://chocedge.com/3dprinting.php

£2,888 for the printer seeing as its for business use that doesn't seem bad.