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Own business: how to open a stationery store. How to start making handmade sweets

Chocolate has always been and will be in great demand even in the difficult times of the crisis. Chocolate is the most popular gift for any occasion, be it a “bribe”, gratitude or just a sign of attention.

It is safe to say that chocolate production is a profitable business.

To organize a full-fledged workshop, you will need to spend a significant amount of money on equipment, the purchase of raw materials, and a room for a confectionery workshop, so this option is not suitable for everyone.

Business idea - chocolate production, where to start - watch the video:

It is difficult for some novice businessmen to immediately understand all the intricacies of chocolate production, so you can start with.

The most well-known companies offering this opportunity are Frade, “Chocolate House“ vonKluschke ”, FrenchKis, COUVERTURE, Chantimel, Confael, BaccaratChocolatier, Podarilli and others.

The benefits of buying a franchise are as follows:

famous brand;
production technique that has passed the test;
well-established technique of sales and display of products;
good equipment;
cooperation with reliable suppliers;
assistance and advice;

Creating your own lumber business, features and nuances -.

It is important to remember that this method requires mandatory compliance with company standards.
Another direction will be the opening of a mini-production and boutique of elite chocolate.

The mono-product store is a popular format all over the world, and the opportunity to buy chocolate right at the place of its production looks very tempting for the buyer.

Another worthy business option would be a home chocolate shop. self made. This direction is very promising today, you can get really exclusive and very tasty chocolate.

Recipes for its manufacture can be found on the Internet, and equipment for such production is available to a large circle of people.

Chocolate production technology

The technology for each type of chocolate differs slightly. Whichever type of chocolate production you choose, it will necessarily include the following steps:

Conching– continuous stirring of the chocolate mass (liquid cocoa, powdered sugar, cocoa butter, flavors and additives) until smooth.
Produced in special conches for a long time (up to 5 days). Elite chocolate is conched longer, and regular chocolate, as a rule, 72 hours.
molding- giving the chocolate the desired shape (slabs, sweets, bars) and adding filler.
The conched mass is poured into molds (moulds) at a temperature of 40-45 degrees, then it is cooled to 33 degrees, left for 30-40 minutes while maintaining the temperature (tempering), while stirring.
Next, the molds are cooled and the finished tiles or sweets are removed from them.

Technological process of chocolate production. Photo: images.myshared.ru

As you can see, chocolate production technology is not particularly difficult.

Instructions for opening a chocolate production

If you still decide to open production on your own, it is recommended to visit a chocolatier school before that, where they provide valuable knowledge about chocolate and the production process.

It is very important to understand that such raw materials as cocoa beans have their own characteristics:

temperature in the room for storing the product - 16 C;
shelf life and sale of goods - from 2 to 6 months;
availability of special equipment for transporting the product;
availability of health books for staff.

An approximate action plan before opening a chocolate production looks like this:

Company registration.
Obtaining a certificate, which gives the right to produce food products, in Rospotrebnadzor.
There you will need to provide a production plan to agree on sanitary conditions.
Drafting technological map for each type of product.
Laboratory research of samples of raw materials, necessary for obtaining a license for the production of chocolate.
Conclusion of an agreement on agreement with periodic inspections.

Organization of the workshop

Equipment cost and business profitability

If we are talking about a large production workshop with expensive equipment, then a lot of capital will be required to open it.

Equipment for the production of chocolate. Photo: idea-small-business.rf

Consider the example of a workshop with an area of 100 square meters:

rent or purchase of premises will cost 20,000-1,000,000 rubles, respectively;
subsequent repairs of about 400,000 rubles;
purchase of equipment in the amount of 5.7 million rubles;
decor required documents at 20,000 rubles;
advertising costs of 100,000 rubles;
salary of employees in 180,000 rubles;
raw materials, provision of building communications in the amount of 250,000 rubles.

Special attention should be paid to the prices of raw materials and equipment:

cocoa powder - 120,000 rubles / ton;
cocoa butter - 66,000 rubles / ton;
powdered sugar - 55,000 rubles / ton;
fat burning boiler - from 300,000 rubles;
ball mill - from 1.5 million rubles;
tepiruyushchy machine - from 1 million rubles;
refrigeration tunnel - from 2.5 million rubles;
conches - from 400,000 rubles apiece.

Prices for raw materials and equipment depend on the manufacturer and product quality. Moreover, you should also purchase hoods, thermostats, a conveyor, pipelines.

Summarizing, we can conclude that to create a full-fledged chocolate-making workshop, at least 10 million rubles will be required. The figure is frightening, but considering the ratio of the cost of chocolate to its selling price (profitability), you can see how quickly this production pays off.

Calculation of the cost of 1 kg of dark chocolate

The cost of 1 kg of dark chocolate is approximately 600 rubles. At the same time, a bar weighing 100 g of such chocolate in the store costs at least 100 rubles. Even including the costs of the enterprise in the calculation, we get a minimum profitability of 200%.

And this despite the fact that dark chocolate was created without the use of cheapening components.

Experienced manufacturers add components to the composition of chocolate that significantly reduce its cost. For example, carob, a grated mixture of carob fruits, costs about 60-70 rubles per 1 kg, while 1 kg of real cocoa powder costs about 600 rubles per kg.

By adding a small amount of carob to chocolate, manufacturers save up to 10% per ton of chocolate.

Basically, such a business pays off in 1.5 - 2 years.

Calculating the price of handmade chocolate

Now consider this business using the example of a mini-workshop for the production of handmade chocolate in Moscow.

For the purchase of the necessary equipment for small production a minimum of 150,000 rubles is required. It is not necessary to purchase a full-fledged production line; you can get by with similar machines designed to produce 5-20 kg of products.

Such equipment can be purchased in specialized stores or on the Internet. Renting a room for a mini-production will cost at least 20,000 rubles (depending on location).

It is quite possible to create your own mini-shop for the production of chocolate by spending 2-3 million rubles. Even taking into account the rental of premises, salaries of employees, equipment, taxes, and so on, the profitability of the business is at least 200%.

And with the use of cheaper additives, this figure can be higher.

If you have your own mini-production, you can reach an income of 2,000,000 rubles per month.

Sales market and customers

The sale of products directly affects the income from the business. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately determine who will be your buyer.

If you have a large production, Establish profitable cooperation with stores to which you plan to supply products.

4 promising ideas for starting your own garage business - details.

Outcome

In order to organize a business in the field chocolate production You don't have to have outstanding culinary skills.

First of all, this is a highly profitable and profitable business, but only a company that produces really high-quality and tasty products can succeed in it.

To be successful in any business, you need to burn them. Or at least you like it. This has long been proven by numerous examples of people who have made a hobby their main income and thrive in their niches. What is needed for this? You need to put aside all your fears and doubts and start acting.

But what if your obvious addictions are gastronomic? For example, you love chocolate. Sweeties, rejoice! Right now, in the article you are already reading, Reconomica will tell the story of a girl who made money on the manufacture of chocolate products right at home with minimal start-up costs and made many customers happy with her chocolate bars and sweets.

How I organized the production of chocolate products at home

Hello friends! My name is Christina. Today I want to tell you about my small but very tasty hobby, which brought me a small monthly income: chocolates and handmade tiles. The topic of my earnings is not new and is already developing in most cities.

Start. How I got into the sweet business

It all started during the most pleasant period of any woman, the period of pregnancy. Being in an interesting position, I really wanted chocolate.

Someone is drawn to salty, and me to sweet ...

And one day my husband brought me handmade sweets from natural chocolate from a business trip. After that, I no longer wanted to buy the chocolate that we sell in ordinary stores.

But the nearest city where you can buy such a delicacy is 400 km from us, and I thought:

“Why not try making your own chocolate?”

I looked at sites related to the production of chocolate products, various videos and master classes from chocolatiers. Having studied the information, I concluded that it would be easier and cheaper to make my favorite treat from ready-made chocolate.

I also learned from the video that one of the best is Belgian chocolate. Barry Callebaut chocolate was the best for me in terms of price and quality, I found its distributor and ordered 5 kg for myself for a sample.

First order

And so, on January 21, 2016, I made my first chocolate bars. The next day I went to the clinic and brought one chocolate bar to my mother at work. In the evening she called me and said that her colleague was wondering if I could make 2 tiles for her. Since I had time and chocolate for this, I agreed.

Later I learned that one of the chocolates was an anniversary gift. That tile worked word of mouth, and since February 3, fellow villagers began to call me with a request to make the same chocolates.

How much does it cost to build a chocolate business

The idea that, while on maternity leave, I can do something interesting, and even income-generating (especially since there is demand), prompted me to open my own small home production of chocolate products.

These are the chocolates and tiles you can make with your own hands.

My starting investment for the purchase of raw materials

At the moment when I decided to open my chocolate business, I already understood that it was not advisable to invest a lot of money at the start, because the manufacture of products from natural chocolate is, although exciting, but for me, as a beginner, a complex production process that requires certain knowledge and skills that I still have was not enough. I decided to continue the production of chocolate products from ready-made chocolate and buy only the most necessary.

I watched a lot of master classes and video tutorials on making chocolate products, wrote down for myself different interesting recipes and made a list of required ingredients.

Bars and sweets made only from chocolate are not as attractive as those with filling.

Chocolate, 15 kg - 9,000 rubles

I bought chocolate in 3 types of cullets: dark, milk and white.

Topping (nuts, berries, spices, etc.) - 7,500 rubles

Chocolate and water are incompatible, so berries and fruits had to be taken only sublimated. For more attractiveness and increase in price, I also used edible gold and silver as a topping.

Necessary equipment for the production of author's chocolate

Buying professional equipment is expensive, and you need a suitable room for it, because it will be very difficult to place it in the kitchen. Therefore, I decided to get by with the most necessary and the one that is in every home.

Microwave oven - already had, 0 rub.

A microwave oven is essential for tempering chocolate.

Thermometer - 150 rubles.

It is also necessary for tempering (to control the temperature of the chocolate mass).

Refrigerator - also was, 0 rubles.

A refrigerator is needed for quick crystallization of chocolate, as well as for storing finished products.

Inventory

All inventory can also be bought at a specialized store, but this is also expensive. Everything from the list below can be found in the most ordinary stores in the "Dishes" section. The exception is molds for casting - I looked for them on sites for chocolatiers and soap makers, as well as on sites for goods from China (they are the cheapest).

Glass, metal and plastic bowls, 5 pcs - about 2,000 rubles.

For the preparation of chocolate mass and fillings for sweets.

Silicone spatulas, 4 pcs - 100 rubles;
Whisk, 1 piece - 30 rubles;
Forms - 1,500 rubles.

Molds for casting bar and body chocolate, as well as sweets.

Packaging for chocolate bars and sweets - how much does it cost and where to get it

Shrink wrap, cardboard, wrapping paper, satin ribbons, etc. - about 2,000 rubles.
Various decorative elements (stickers, stamps, pieces of fabric, etc.) - no more than 500 rubles.

Any material can be used as packaging, from paper to wood. Here your imagination will play. You shouldn’t stop at one package, you can make themed wrappers and boxes (March 8, New Year, February 23, etc.)

It seems like she didn't forget anything. I do not remember the exact prices, so I wrote rounded ones. Eventually my expenses at the start amounted to about 23,000 rubles.

A product in a beautiful package sells better than a product in an unsightly package.

How much can you earn on chocolate souvenirs

In the chocolate business, earnings directly depend on the invested funds. The more you invest in equipment, inventory and raw materials, the more you can get.

I managed with the bare minimum, so the income was small. In the first month (February 2016) I earned only about 12,000 rubles. And the next month, due to March 8, my income was already about 40,000 rubles. The increase in profits was also due to the fact that I sold chocolates and sweets not only in my village, but also in the nearest town and our regional center.

In the future, I earned an average of about 30,000 rubles per month.

Key problems of the school business

Of course, it was possible to get more, but my business ended its existence in July 2016.

The process of making chocolate products must be continuous: quality depends on it, and with the birth of a child, this became impossible for me. There is a good chance that I will resume my business and get into this business more closely. But for now, it's only in the plans.

During the existence of my chocolate production, I constantly faced delivery problems. In order to make something, I had to first order it through online stores or acquaintances, wait for delivery, and only then prepare a delicacy.

There were cases when, due to a lack of ingredients, I refused orders. I also had difficulties with the delivery of finished products. My husband is at work, and it was hard for me to deliver orders myself. In this case, retail outlets in the most passable places would make the task easier, but I worked unofficially. I didn't have any documents...

A bit about the quality of chocolate

I will deviate from the story of my earnings and touch on the topic of the quality of chocolate and, accordingly, chocolate products in this article.

Why is homemade chocolate better than store bought?

Mass production is characterized by savings on absolutely everything, including product quality. I think you all read the composition on the packaging of chocolate products.

This is the composition of chocolate that is typical for mass production.

Natural products are expensive, so analogues and products are used, which are often waste.

Cocoa powder is obtained from the cake of cocoa beans after pressing the oil, however, another type of cocoa powder is often used, cocoa well, obtained from the waste from crushing cocoa fruits, that is, the husk.

In addition to cocoa powder (cocoa wella) is often used Palm oil instead of cocoa butter, add soy lecithin as a stabilizer, and these products should not be in real chocolate.

Of course, I'm not saying that all manufacturers use these ingredients.

The composition of natural chocolate includes only cocoa mass: grated cocoa and cocoa butter, sometimes milk and sugar.

Cocoa mass is the most important ingredient in any chocolate and usually consists of several varieties of cocoa beans. They are fried and finely ground. From the heat of friction, cocoa butter melts, and a liquid dark brown, chocolate-smelling mass is obtained - this is cocoa mass

Of course, it is much cheaper to produce chocolate products from substitutes and by-products, but it is not always tasty and healthy.

How to distinguish a fake

Even if you will not be engaged in the manufacture of chocolate products, the information below will help you further distinguish high-quality chocolate from a fake.

Natural chocolate should contain cocoa mass, cocoa butter. May be milk, sugar, flavor (caramel, vanilla, coffee, etc.);
Natural chocolate always has a shiny smooth surface;
Melts in the mouth and does not stick to the teeth;
You should hear a crunch as you break the chocolate;
Quality chocolate can't be cheap. The minimum price on the market for 100 g of chocolate bar without filler is 200 rubles.

Tips for those who want to produce their own chocolate

If you still want to learn the basics of the chocolate business, then you need to be patient. Before you succeed, you will exhaust more than one kg of chocolate.
Always choose only quality products: the taste of the finished product directly depends on this.
Sell all chocolate products only in packaging that is clean, neat and attractive, even if it is modest, with a minimum of decor. A beautiful product in a beautiful package is always desirable to buy.
Read more thematic literature, watch videos, attend master classes if possible - in a word, develop, introduce something new into your production.

Perhaps that's all. I told you about such delicious and interesting way earnings, and you already draw conclusions, count and never be afraid to start something new.

Alexander Kaptsov

Reading time: 6 minutes

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The competition in the field of chocolate production is so high that it is time for a novice entrepreneur to think about how to attract the attention of buyers. Originality and exclusivity chocolates can be of great help in this matter. Yes, and for a natural product, without additives and impurities, consumers are willing to pay more. If you choose the right direction for business development, then it will soon become profitable and promising.

Chocolate home business: where to start?

The chocolate business, like any other, requires official registration with the tax office. If it is supposed to produce chocolate or chocolates, selling products through a network of outlets or your own store, then. Wholesale customers and suppliers prefer cooperation with legal entities.
However, the matter does not end with registration with the tax office.

The entrepreneur will need to visit:

In SES and fire inspection in order to obtain a conclusion on the compliance of the working premises with the standards provided for the declared activity. It must be equipped with engineering communications, ventilation, fire-fighting system. In the production of food products, it is better to entrust the solution of this issue to experienced lawyers.
In Rospotrebnadzor , where you should submit the recipe for manufactured goods and receive a certificate of their compliance with existing standards.

Note: To work with the product group, you need a medical book.

If you plan to open a store to sell your own products, then you should also obtain permission for it. In general, the costs of registering an enterprise and taxes will cost around 19,000 rubles.

How to organize the process of production of chocolates at home?

An important condition for the production of delicious chocolates is strict adherence to technological process. The recipe for their manufacture is easy to find on the Internet, but let a specialist do it. Complex recipes, selected chocolates - for exquisite sweets. The standard technology for making chocolate at home does not require special efforts and costs.

Required Ingredients:

Flour - 1 teaspoon.
Cocoa - 5 tbsp. spoons.
Milk - 150 ml.
Butter - 50 g.
Sugar - 5-7 tbsp. spoons.
Forms for pouring the finished product.

Milk, cocoa and sugar are mixed in a small saucepan or bowl, the resulting mixture is brought to a boil over low heat. Oil and flour are gradually added to it, with continuous stirring. When it turns out homogeneous mass- the chocolate is ready. It remains only to pour the filling into it (chopped peanuts, walnuts, raisins, waffle crumbs) and pour into molds.

If, according to technology, you need to put whole nuts in chocolate, then the mold is filled halfway, the filling is poured into it, which is poured with chocolate on top. After a few hours, the sweets harden and you can eat them.

With the correct organization of the production process, the following conditions must be observed:

maintenance temperature regime when storing finished products within 15-180C. The split system and refrigerators do an excellent job with this.
Compliance with the terms of product implementation - no more than 2-6 months. So that chocolate does not lose its taste and presentation, it should be stored refrigerated.
Transportation of chocolate is carried out in specially equipped vehicles.
Use for business premises with an area of at least 60 sq.m. It allocates 2 premises for a warehouse for storing raw materials and finished products, a place for manufacturing facility, sink.

Advice. Very important when self-cooking chocolate to buy good equipment, because they depend on it taste qualities candy.

True, in 99% of cases, small businesses do not produce their own chocolate, but buy a ready-made product, process it and produce delicious sweets.

Assortment of handmade chocolate products

To attract as many customers as possible, it is desirable to diversify the assortment of chocolates.

Current offers include:

Gift Baskets.
Chocolate figurines, postcards, portraits, sculptures.
Truffles.
Praline.
Milk, black, white chocolate.
Chocolate fountains.
Diet chocolate and more.

Recently, one of the fashion trends among culinary specialists is a non-standard mixture of tastes and aromas. So, for example, the taste of chili peppers, olives, ginger and other spices is increasingly manifested in chocolate. Confectioners offer chocolate-covered bacon, sweets with dried tomatoes, candied fruit, thyme. Sweets filled with fragrant aromas of coffee, roasted sesame and grated nuts activate the senses. The original packaging further enhances the pleasure of exquisite taste candy.

In this case, the size of one candy should not be too large. To enhance the taste, it must be completely in the mouth. For example, the most common weight of truffles, loved by many, does not exceed 3-7 g.

Where to sell homemade chocolate products: chocolate candy market

There will be no problems with the sale of manufactured products if you agree in advance with outlets, cafes and restaurants on the supply of chocolate. True, given the fact that sweets home cooking have a short shelf life, it is better to produce them under the order.

Offer chocolate treats you can or organizing holidays. If things go well, then opening your own store will only increase turnover.

How much will it cost a beginner to organize a chocolate business: an approximate business plan for the production of chocolates at home

We offer an approximate business plan for the production of chocolate at home with the opening of your own store.

Start-up costs

If an entrepreneur does not understand the intricacies of chocolate production, then a specialist will have to be sent to chocolatier courses, and these are additional expenses of 15,300 rubles.

Summing up, the calculation is given for the production of dark chocolate bars:

Tell me, are you by any chance one of the people who cannot imagine their life without chocolate? Yes? You are not alone! It is precisely because of the mass nature of consumers of these products that manufacturers and sellers of chocolate have always been able to survive any crisis times without much loss. Therefore, if you are thinking about starting this kind of business, we suggest that you figure out together how to open a chocolate shop.

Basic moments

There are several options for doing this. First of all, you can simply open a chocolate boutique selling confectionery products that you will purchase from suppliers. You can also establish your own production and sell products either through your store or through distribution networks.

Advantages of the chocolate business

The advantages of this type of activity include the following points:

constant demand for products (it's hard to imagine a time when people stop buying chocolates);
small start-up capital (in case you plan to make chocolate in small quantities for retail sale, and not large-scale production);

lack of difficulties in the technology of production of chocolate products: at the initial stage it is not difficult to master the basic tricks of the process, later on you can use your skills and experience to create your own recipe;

high income: according to experts, entrepreneurs engaged in this area may well expect a profit of 200%.

Flaws

Like any other business, the chocolate business, in addition to its advantages, has its drawbacks. These include the following:

In order for your product to be competitive, it is necessary to make it unique and attractive to the consumer, which is not an easy task in today's diverse chocolate market.
Even if you are planning to open a large enterprise, you are unlikely to be able to compete with the main leaders in the production of confectionery products, since they have been working on developing their own brands for many years and investing a lot of money in their promotion and advertising. However, within the same city, you can easily take a place in the niche of this product.

How to open a chocolate shop with your own small production

This option is optimal for start-up entrepreneurs who do not have large amounts of money for the initial investment. So, if you want to retail the chocolate you have created, the business plan for such a business, first of all, should include clauses about renting a room and purchasing the necessary production and commercial equipment.

Choose a store format

If you decide to open a chocolate boutique, then first you need to decide on its format. So, you can focus exclusively on exclusive products. own production or, in addition, cooperate with other suppliers.

In addition, you can offer your customers the creation of chocolate products to order. You also need to decide on the price category of your products: it is desirable that a wide range of products of various prices be available for sale, which will attract more customers to your boutique.

We select a room

When thinking about how to open a chocolate shop, every aspiring entrepreneur thinks about where to place his boutique. It is advisable to select places with high traffic: for example, you can rent a room in a large shopping and entertainment center.

If you prefer a street format store, then give preference to busy pedestrian streets. As for the area, you can start a business with a small department of 10-12 square meters. However, the optimal area of a chocolate shop is 30 square meters.

Boutique design and equipment

Particular attention should be paid to the selection of a suitable design for your store. As a rule, for the design of boutiques of this kind, chocolate and cream tones are used to match the color of the product you are selling.

Also, do not forget about stylish shelving and refrigerators for storing confectionery. In addition, your store must be equipped with air conditioning, as when the temperature rises, chocolate loses its presentation very quickly.

Recruitment

Understanding the intricacies of how to open a chocolate shop, you need to pay attention to hiring qualified workers. For a small boutique, one salesperson per shift will suffice. At the same time, it is necessary either to select an employee who has experience working in establishments of this kind, or to conduct appropriate training so that the employee is well versed in the assortment, can help customers with their choice and knows how to decorate gift sets beautifully.

If you are going to sell your own products, then for its production you will need to hire professional confectioner who knows all the secrets of this process.

Range

You will be able to attract loyal customers fairly quickly if your boutique offers customers a wide range of products, including confectionery products with the most different fillings, chocolate of various types (black, white, milk, with and without additives), truffles, chocolate figurines and fountains. It also makes sense to put up for sale goods dedicated to various holidays. These goodies sell out very quickly.

Advertising and promotion

For the first time of your chocolate boutique, do not be too lazy to spend time and money on its active advertising. Think over a bonus system for regular customers, arrange product tastings, give customers small gifts when making a purchase for a large amount, etc. Also, such a business can be actively promoted using social networks.

Chocolate making equipment

If you are planning to open a shop with a small workshop for the manufacture of chocolate products, then you will not need to purchase a whole production line, including expensive units.

So, it is quite possible to get by with a high-quality oven and refrigerators.

However, if you are planning a large-scale production, then you cannot do without the appropriate equipment. As a rule, such a production line is intended for the manufacture of high quality chocolate, dehydrated chocolate paste, figured chocolate, coatings for ice cream and confectionery, chocolates (both with and without filling) and candy molds and bars.

We offer you to find out in more detail what equipment is used for chocolate.

For the production of products with or without fillers, a special chocolate casting line is designed. With it, you can make both sweets and tiles (in one or three stages, depending on the design of the unit). Also, chocolate production equipment includes a tempering machine. It allows you to get a homogeneous chilled chocolate mass with a stable form of cocoa butter.

Conches are used to remove excess moisture and tannin residues from the raw material itself. The chocolate mill is used to produce a natural product, chocolate with vegetable oils, as well as chocolate and cocoa mass. The ball mill is used to grind and mix chocolate and cream masses.

Chocolate molds are designed to give confectionery the required type. Since this equipment is quite complex, it will have to cost at least 10 million rubles to purchase it. In this regard, not every novice entrepreneur can afford to open such a business.

Today we briefly talked about how to open a chocolate shop, introduced you to the equipment needed to produce this beloved delicacy. We hope that this information will help you, and soon we will be able to visit your chocolate boutique.

Confectionery, especially chocolate, is always in demand, regardless of the season and the state of the economy. And the simple technology of chocolate production, combined with these factors, makes this business idea very attractive for many aspiring entrepreneurs. And investors are ready to invest a lot of money in this niche. So why not take advantage of this by preparing a business plan for the production of chocolate, which would present the technology, recipe and economic benefits of the future enterprise.

Our business valuation:

Starting investments - from 1,500,000 rubles.

Market saturation is average.

The complexity of starting a business is 6/10.

What should a businessman think over when launching his own "sweet" business?

Relevance of the chocolate business

The market for chocolate products in Russia is developing rapidly. And even despite the fact that many today prefer a healthy lifestyle, it is unlikely that anyone will refuse to treat themselves or their children to sweets from time to time. Let's say more - an enterprise for the manufacture of chocolate in the pre-holiday and holidays can increase production volumes, and, accordingly, profits by 200-300%.

And if earlier this market niche was represented by a couple of industrial giants, now there are a lot of products on store shelves produced by small little-known brands.

The small business of chocolate production is slowly gaining momentum, largely due to the fact that it is very “fashionable” today to use everything natural and, let's not be afraid of this word, unique. And such products, in general, can be provided to customers by small companies that do not pursue quantity - quality is more important to them. Therefore, in this business, in order to "taste" all the charm of the chocolate business, it is better to start with the organization of a small workshop.
It is hardly worth being afraid of large competitors when launching your own chocolate business. The main thing is to understand the goal - gaining the trust of a certain target audience by supplying high-quality sweets to the market.

The main problem that an entrepreneur who plans to launch a chocolate production shop will definitely face is a large start-up investment. And here is another reason proving that organizing a small enterprise is much easier for a person who does not have millions of investments.

The chocolate business can also be challenging because of the high demands on appearance manufactured products - both the packaging and the tile itself must fully comply with the image of the manufacturing company. That is why the organization of a mini chocolate production will not bring the expected profit if you do not thoroughly think through all the “designer” nuances.

How to start a chocolate business?

As in many other areas, it is important to study the market and try to determine what exactly will interest consumers in a particular region. Lacking extra funds, large-scale marketing research you can hardly deploy it, but you can organize some polls.

The technological process of making chocolate is simple, but it is necessary to learn at least the basics of production! To help the entrepreneur - lectures of teachers, master classes, consultations of specialists.

In order for the chocolate mini-factory to bring the expected profit, you need to work on the assortment. On the domestic market a wide variety of chocolate is presented - bitter, porous, white, milk, with and without filler, with and without additives. And since, in terms of the technological process, production white chocolate, differs little from the manufacture of the same dark chocolate, there is no need to be limited to the production of only one type of product. The variety of products will attract more buyers.

Features of production and equipment are such that on one line it is possible to produce the most different types chocolate confectionery.

Next, you need to register your business. This stage of business formation is sometimes very delayed and adds a headache to the businessman. The main difficulty is to obtain a certificate for the production of food products from Rospotrebnadzor. And in order to take possession of the treasured "paper", you will need to prepare a project plan for the workshop and prescribe sanitary standards in it. Here it is also necessary to provide a list of products planned for manufacture and methods for the production of chocolate, confirmed by technological maps.

At this stage, it is better for a person who is not versed in technical nuances to contact qualified specialists. Otherwise, you will have to run through the authorities for a very long time.

Samples of products are then submitted to the laboratory for research in order to obtain a license.

What raw materials will need to be purchased?

And despite the fact that each company has its own recipe, the main raw materials for the production of chocolate remain unchanged:

cocoa powder,
cocoa oil,
powdered sugar.

Of course, the color, taste and quality of the released products will be influenced not only by the main components. Now in the factory they use a lot of coloring, aromatic and flavoring additives. For example, the production of dark chocolate allows the use of palm cocoa butter instead of expensive cocoa butter.

The more in finished product natural raw materials, the tastier and better it is.

The purchase of raw materials is carried out after the technologist has worked out the recipe for products that are planned to be produced within the walls of the workshop.

chocolate manufacturing technology

Process flow diagram for chocolate production

The technological scheme of chocolate production is quite simple - in the presence of automated equipment, the share of manual labor is reduced to a minimum.

In general, the process can be described as follows:

Dosing of components.
Rolling a mixture of components.
Conching a mixture of components under certain conditions.
Heating the chocolate mass to 40-45 ˚C and pouring it into special molds (moulds).
Tempering chocolate - aging in molds with stirring.
Packaging of finished products.

Conching is considered the main step in the manufacture of chocolate. Some elite varieties of the product are conched for 350 hours. The norm is considered to be 72 hours.

The technology for any type of chocolate is the same - the differences are only in the nuances. For example, the production of porous chocolate is accompanied by the saturation of the chocolate mass with air bubbles - at the stage before tempering.

What equipment should be purchased?

To organize a full-fledged workshop, you will need to buy equipment for the production of chocolate. Manufacturers today offer a wide range of production machines - from household appliances to high-tech lines.

Chocolate production line

Industrial production of bar chocolate is impossible without the following equipment:

Ball mill - from 1,000,000 rubles.
Capacity for kindling fat-containing raw materials - from 100,000 rubles.
Conche machine for the production of chocolate mass - from 500,000 rubles.
Tempering machine - from 1,000,000 rubles.
Refrigeration tunnels - from 2,000,000 rubles.

And this is not a complete list of equipment. The list of expenses must also include molds, conveyors, pipelines, thermostats, laboratory equipment for the analysis of finished products - all this is at least 500,000 rubles. It turns out that at least 5,000,000 rubles will be required to prepare the workshop for work.

But the price of chocolate production equipment varies widely. And therefore, without having such an impressive investment, you can not buy an automated line, but limit yourself to one that has less power. A set of equipment in this case will cost a novice entrepreneur 1,500,000-2,000,000 rubles.

How profitable is the chocolate business?

According to experts, production milk chocolate is a highly profitable business - and this despite such high costs for the organization of the workshop. All costs with established distribution channels pay off very quickly.

Let's take a simple calculation as an example. The total cost of 1 kg of natural dark chocolate is ≈600 rubles. And in retail stores, a 100-gram bar of the same chocolate costs at least 100 rubles.

Of course, this is all ideal. To achieve such indicators, you will have to work hard and look for regular wholesale customers. Chocolate in demand confectionery production, among wholesale warehouses, in retail trade networks.

What other options for organizing a chocolate business are possible?

If there is not enough investment even to buy a low-power production line, but you still really want to organize a “sweet” business, you can think about some other options for launching your own project - either a franchise or handmade chocolate home production.

A franchise opens up great opportunities for an entrepreneur to own a business whose brand is already known to consumers. On specialized sites you can find a lot of offers for the sale of franchises. In this case, the company helps to establish a business, taking into account the characteristics of a particular region. The cost of franchising services varies from 200,000 rubles.

The production of handmade chocolate is also a very promising activity, since truly unique sweet products can be obtained at home. Household appliances are inexpensive, raw materials are easy to get, but ready-made chocolate will cost at least 200 rubles per 100 grams. A common practice today is to open chocolate boutiques. In general, the sale of chocolate right at the place of its production is a very tempting idea, since it will immediately attract interested customers.