Meeting With Food Suppliers

Opening Your Own Chocolaterie: Ideas To Get You Started

7 June 2016 by Scarlett Newman

If you have always dreamed of running a little chocolaterie, like you see in the movies featuring quaint little French and other European towns where the food and chocolate are better than you can even imagine, then you may be interested in opening your own shop in your hometown. Of course, if you have never owned or run a chocolaterie before, you may not know where to begin. Before you give up on the idea of opening your own shop because you don't know where to start, get to know a few ideas to get you started in the process.

Design Your Chocolates

A chocolaterie is only as good as the chocolate confections it creates. As such, before you look into the business side of the process, you want to make sure that you have a product that will sell. Designing your chocolates is also one of the parts of the process that is the most enjoyable.

Start trying out different recipes and flavor combinations to determine what you want to include on your menu. Taste everything you create and have a focus group of friends, family, and coworkers taste test your products to give you honest feedback.

To make your chocolates unique, you may want to invest your time and money in working with a custom cocoa bean supplier to create the perfect unique blend of different cocoa beans to make your chocolate. The different beans will give your chocolate a flavor that cannot be duplicated by other chocolateries and will set your product apart from the crowd.

Create a Business Plan and Get the Necessary Licenses

Once you know that you have the products and the ingredients lined up that will make your chocolaterie successful, you need to start tackling the business side of the process. The first steps here are to create a business plan and get the licenses you need to open your business.

Your business plan will be a formal, written account of what you have planned for your business. It will allow you to create a company motto and structure as well as a marketing plan, financial plan, and growth plan and estimates. You will want to include projected start-up costs, market and demographic analysis and an analysis of your chocolaterie's competition in the area. All of this information will help you as you build your business and can be presented to potential investors or lenders to encourage them to fund your business.

During this time, you will also want to get all of the proper licenses for your chocolaterie. This will include registering your business in your state and county (as well as on a city level, if necessary). You will register your business name and file paperwork with the secretary of state in your region to legally run your business. This is also the time to get a federal tax ID (employer tax ID) for your business. Because a chocolaterie is a food production business, you and anyone else helping you start your business will also need food handler's permits.

Line Up Your Food Supplies and Equipment

Finally, as your business really begins to come together, you will want to make sure that you have a food supplier for all of your ingredients (aside from the cocoa that you already would have found a supplier for) that can get you the ingredients you want in the large amounts you need them in. If you are starting out as a home business or in a very small commercial space, you may not need to work directly with a food supplier so much as a grocer who can make sure that they always stock the products you need.

Your chocolate making equipment will also need to be purchased at this point. You will need proper separate bins for all of your dry ingredients, and ample refrigeration units for dairy, fruits, and any other ingredients that need to remain in cold storage. Your chocolates, once completed may also need to be kept in cool dry air to keep them delicious and ready to sell and eat.

These are all factors you need to consider when you are thinking about starting your own chocolaterie. Take these steps one at a time and before you know it, you will be ready to open the doors of your very own chocolate shop. To find out more, speak with someone like Trans Mar Group.

Share