Startup Central

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Are you looking to start a chocolate business? Want to talk to others who've been there or done that - or have you been there and done it and want to share with others? This is the place to discuss it.

Location: Worldwide
Members: 476
Latest Activity: May 12

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Startup Central - Sponsored by Savage Bros

Since 1855 Savage Bros. has manufactured confectionery machinery. Their chocolate and candy making equipment are recognized worldwide for long lived quality and reliability. From these 19th century roots in the industry, Savage Bros. strives to meet its customers’ equipment needs with well designed and manufactured machinery. They specialize in taking new and growing businesses to the next level by streamlining their production process.

Quality chocolate is one of Savage Bros' passions, thus they offer a wide array of chocolate processing equipment for the artisan chocolatier — from chocolate melters and temperers to single mold filling workstations with depositors and built-in vibrators. And more!

Do you make great chocolates? Know everything there is to know about tempering chocolate and cooking the perfect caramel? Able to turn out thousands of finished chocolates without blinking any eye?

Does the thought of using Quickbooks or writing a business plan sends you screaming into the walk-in begging for mercy?

This group is for you. When you join, please introduce yourself to the group in a comment on this page. Yes, I know you have a profile page, but it would be great to have you add a few words about you and your business in the context of this group. If you have a website, feel free to post a link to it. Please don't post a link to your profile page, people can just click on your profile photo to visit that.

PS. Below is the full picture I used for the Group photo. It's a chocolate store/cafe in Mexico. Those are stone mills (the kind Taza uses) to the right of the guy with his back to you in the blue shirt and notice that they are selling beans. The stone mills suggest that this store is located in Oaxaca.

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Comment by Serena ML on December 8, 2012 at 10:38am: Hello All! My name is Serena and I live in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. I have been contemplating starting a artisan chocolate company and now am finally truly exploring my options.

Comment by Emma Schultz on November 28, 2012 at 7:42am: Hello everyone!

My name is Emma and I live in the tippy top of northern Maine. I am in the beginning stages of creating a bean to bar company, Antler Chocolate. I've been on the verge of purchasing my equipment for some time now - I need to just take the plunge and do it. Cheers!

Comment by Jennifer Cooper on October 9, 2012 at 8:49am: Hello. My name is Jennifer. I have been making chocolates and confections for over 5 years now. I am hoping to open up a chocolate shop early next year called BabyGurl's Candy. I found this group at the perfect time and cannot wait to see how it will help me with my chocolate journey.

Comment by Emma Smith on September 15, 2012 at 2:11pm: Hi Chocolate Start Up Enthusiasts!
My name is Emma- I have a little-but-expanding-quickly chocolate company, Zimt Artisan Chocolates. We make chocolate from unroasted cocoa beans, in ridiculously small batches (for example, we are going to make 51 of the Sugar & Spice variety this afternoon!). Zimt uses only low GI products to sweeten chocolate.
We are going to be moving out of the back of a cupcake shop, where we currently operate, into a much more spacious facility, hopefully by mid October!
I have contacted Clay for help in the logistics and am very much looking forward to all his wisdom.
Looking forward to being an active member of this group!

Comment by patricia gowans on September 14, 2012 at 11:07am: Hi everyone! my name is Trish and I have been making chocolates for friends and family for a couple of years. I am hoping to set up my own chocolate business and am relieved I have found this group, which will hopefully provide support and most needed information. It's a very daunting (but exciting) prospect, setting up your own business, but it's nice to know, with this forum, we are not alone. Packaging and logo design seem to be my biggest headache at the moment. These are both necessary but can be expensive when starting out. Any ideas on where to purchase good quality, reasonably priced packaging would be most helpful!

Comment by Kristen E Baker-Walker on August 31, 2012 at 3:20pm: Hi everyone! My name is Kristen Walker and I joined this group just now, while joining the Chocolate Life about a month ago. I'm looking forward to gleaning information and hearing everyone's comments. I started my chocolate company last May and have been working it slowly. I've been doing just festivals and fairs, while taking orders. My new store is set to open October 6, with a soft opening the entire week before. I am trying out a new brand of chocolate, Davis Chocolate, made here in Mishawaka, IN. It is a Fair Trade chocolate, so that makes me feel ok. I'm hoping the flavor stands up well.

What does anyone one suggest about opening a retail store? Mine is small to start out with so I won't have a lot of overhead. All suggestions and comments are appreciated! Have a great day!

Comment by Phillip LaMaire on August 31, 2012 at 3:02pm: Hello Everyone, my name is Phil and I joined this group because it seems to have a lot of good information. My wife and I are wanting to start a Chocolate & Candy shop and looking for some input on some of the do's and dont's of the business. I have found a couple of suppliers, and tried the chocolate, but was interested if anyone had any more ideas of where to buy good quality Chocolate and equipment. We have a few things I create now in the kitchen and trying on friends and family, thats going well. Looking forward to sharing the chocolate experience with everyone.

Comment by Cassandra Hurst on August 20, 2012 at 9:56pm: Hello everyone, my name is cassandra
I just joined the chocolate life a couple of weeks ago and love it....such a wealth of information and great source of contacts! I am starting a wholesale cocoa distributing company in Houston Texas. I will be supplying high quality beans from Brazil. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on where to find a good digital scale so that I can breakdown 62 kilo bags into smaller quantities to my clients. Thank you, email me at cassandra@queenbeancocoa.com

Comment by Reverend Pearson Hobart-Beaumari on August 17, 2012 at 4:41pm: Hi Y'all, I have joined this group to help me find info and resources. At The Asheville Institute of Advanced Well-Being one of our focuses is on super foods that support Well-Being. As such we are currently developing a line of non-candy, delicious snack foods centered around certain super foods, including organic, fair-trade cocoa beans. We have a particular interest in the FONMSOEAM co-operative's Cocoa. I look forward to the helpful insights this group will share.

Comment by Darial C. on July 9, 2012 at 2:41pm: Thanks Clay for inviting me to join.
I am here because I want to help my wife launch her candy bar line (please excuse me for not knowing the lingo). I am marketing consultant by trade, but chocolate is new to me. I look forward to any help you experts can provide.
I think I'll start a thread so that I can keep my questions organized.