FANCY FOOD SHOW 2007: DAY TWO CHOCOLATE REPORT

Wow. Lots of new discoveries today. And in no particular order...

BERKSHIRE BARK: A collection of four different barks all using premium Belgian chocolate. The charming sales rep at The Cheese Works, Ltd. (distributors) told me that it is made by a fellow in the Berkshire Mountains. When she found out I was the chocolate gal she whisked me away to the inner sanctum of the booth to introduce me to this amazing confection. I couldn’t get over the white chocolate bark which includes roasted cashews, crystalized ginger, fresh lemon zest and kosher salt. See empty box above. So who is this talented guy and when can we expect to find this bark on the market??? Anyone? Anyone?

CHUAO CHOCOLATIER: Delicious chocolate and totally brilliant packaging. Take for example their brand new ChocoPods. The 11 gram bars, at only 60 calories each (how is that for figuring it out for the consumer!!!) are filled with flavors like passion fruit, dulce de leche, banana and strawberry. Its unique pod shape is inspired by the cacao pod. One compact package holds six pods. This is a great example of a confectioner understanding two facts about the chocolate confection consumer. The first is portion control which allows the consumer to feel as though they are simply indulging and not gorging. The other is packaging that is small enough to fit in a purse, brief case, pocket....and is fairly re-sealable. Dolfin chocolate does a great job of this with their ‘tobacco pouch’ style wrapping. Because, well, we are gals (and guys) on the go who need our chocolate fix served up in an easy way. Smart Chuao!

CHARLES CHOCOLATES: On that same packaging note, Charles Chocolates has recently redesigned their chocolate bar confections from wrappers to boxes. Each individually boxed 3.4 ounce bar is prepacked in a 12 bar POP display unit and are available in five flavors: Caramelized Crisped Rice in either 65% Bittersweet or 41% Milk (an adult’s version of Hershey’s ‘Krackel’ bar), Mocha Java (this is the one I carry in my bag for a quick afternoon pick me up), Crystallized Ginger and Hazelnut with Candied Orange Peel.

SWEETRIOT: So what happens when you add all of the above? i.e. easy to carry packaging, an attention to calorie content, good flavor and then add a large dose of social responsibility? You get SWEETRIOT, chocolate covered cacao nibs. Sarah Endlin, the founder, strives to be loyal to the true sources of the cacao bean meaning Latin America, Asia and Africa. She is an advocate of socially responsible business and cacao and speaks on this subject at conferences around the world including Harvard Business (where she has her MBA). The nibs are delicious. They come packaged in a portable, ‘sharable’ and recyclable tin which can be returned as part of their environmentally friendly company philosophy. The new ‘flavor 70 cher’ combines a 70% dark chocolate with cherry. Yum.  Chocolatiers and confectioners need to really follow what Sarah is doing here.  This is what Generation Y is looking for when they are spending their chocolate dollars.  Social responsibility.  Go, Sarah.