Just the word chocolate is enough to trigger our taste buds and its demand has always been ever increasing. There’s no doubt that the market of chocolate is a flourishing one and it will continue to do so in the coming years. Therefore the business plan of chocolate making proves to be a highly lucrative one.
To the ones who are thinking about stepping into the industry, we have formulated a detailed strategic plan that focuses on every aspect concerned with the industry. From researching about the industry to the process of making the chocolates to the selling and marketing of the products, the below article deals with all the steps thoroughly.
Chocolates come in various types depending upon the shape, size, and ingredients that are used in the manufacturing process and also the content of cocoa. It is loved by people of all age groups, and that’s what makes chocolates THE most favorite thing in the world.
The use of chocolates is extensive, they are used on different occasions such as gifting them on festivals, birthdays, anniversaries, etc also as an ingredient in making of numerous products such as cakes, shakes, pastries, cookies, and what not.
For getting all the details about starting your own Chocolate Making Business Plan, refer to the following article.
Contents
Researching About The Chocolate Making Business Plan:
Before stepping into any industry, it is crucial to learn about every aspect concerned with the business type. This is important in order to make the business plan successful and also it will help you in determining whether this business plan is right for you or not.
When it comes to chocolate making business plan, the idea is pretty easy to acquire. In fact, the process doesn’t exactly qualify for ‘working’ because it is seen more as a hobby. The process of chocolate making is definitely an interesting one and you can add various techniques to give it a personalized touch. Also, customization in the chocolate industry has always been loved by the customers.
In the researching step of your business plan, you need to understand how the chocolates are made, what are the raw materials that are required for the manufacturing process, how you can execute your plan of selling the chocolates and also the marketing strategies that are required for the promotion of your products.
Apart from this, it is also crucial to determine the market potential of your product depending on the demand of the product in your local market and how you can expand your business in different cities.
While this seems a lot of research, you don’t need to worry about a thing, because we have organized all the detailed about the industry in the article below that will help you in starting your own business plan.
Legal Authorization of your business plan
The chocolate making business plan requires you to have some licensing and registration in order to start the company. Following is the list of permits that you will need to acquire:
1. Business Registration
The first thing that you are going to need is the registration of the business. For the business registration, you will need to visit the official government website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The registration could be done as a one-person company or in partnership. The one person company registration will fall under the proprietorship and for partnership operation, you will need to register your firm as Limited liability or private limited.
2. Food Licensing
In India, food licensing is done by FSSAI. Since the chocolate is an edible item, it is mandatory for you to have the FSSAI certificate. For acquiring the food license, you need to visit the official website of FSSAI.
3. GST Registration
The service tax registration, that is the GST registration is not only mandatory, but it is also a duty of every entrepreneur starting a business plan. For GST registration, visit this link.
4. Fire Department Licensing
The Fire department licensing is important to ensure that the business plan that you are acquiring is safe and is also pursued in a safe setting. For acquiring the fire department license you need to visit the local fire department. You can search for your state license department here.
Setting up the commercial unit
The chocolate business can be carried out on a small scale where you can pursue it in your home. The large scale business of Chocolate manufacturing and selling will need you to set up a commercial unit. The commercial unit will be required for keeping all the machinery involved in the process of chocolate manufacturing.
The area needs to be clean and should have all the important facilities such as water supply, electricity, sufficient transport facility, etc. You should also abide by all the official rules made by the government about maintaining an edible item manufacturing unit.
You will also need to get the land permit for using the land that you have rented or taken upon lease for commercial purposes. The permission is provided by the local municipal authority. You can find the municipal corporation link of your city.
Raw materials required in the chocolate-making process
For the chocolate business, you are going to need some selected raw materials, the prime ingredient being cocoa, of course. You can either make these raw materials available through online platforms such as Indiamart, Amazon or you can get in touch with the suppliers from your local market.
Though there are different ingredients involved in the making of different chocolates but there are some prime ingredients that are involved in each one of them, they are listed below:
- Cocoa
- Milk/ Milk Powder
- Sugar
- Butter
- Minimal quantity of salt
Apart from these, there are other ingredients too that are involved in the process of making chocolates. They are used for giving different flavors to the product, such as dry fruits are used for making nutty chocolate bars, some of them also make use of peanuts in the manufacturing process.
Also, you will see caramel-flavored chocolates that are made from sugar, some also include fruits such as orange, strawberry. And let’s not forget about the milk chocolates that involves a major percentage of milk powder.
Other Requirements
The chocolate making business plan is also going to require some equipment. They are used for carrying out the different steps in the process of chocolate manufacturing. Like for heating, mixing, molding, packaging, etc.
The small scale business of chocolate manufacturing can be acquired by making the use of some utensils that are common in every other household. You will just have to buy some molding equipment for giving the desired shape to the chocolate and some packaging stuff.
On the other hand, the large scale business is going to need you a list of machinery and equipment that will make the whole process possible from cleaning of the cocoa beans to packaging. All of this machinery is discussed below along with the process.
Chocolate Manufacturing Process
The chocolate manufacturing process is a lot more than just mixing ingredients in a bowl. It starts with the collection of cocoa beans. The cocoa beans are collected from the forests in which they are grown at a large scale. After the cocoa beans are collected, the following steps are carried out:
1. Cleaning
The first step of chocolate manufacturing will be cleaning the cocoa beans that will be used later for making the chocolates. First, the whole dried fruit is passed through a machine, in this machine the exterior of the cocoa bean is removed and they are cleaned for the further process.
2. Roasting
The cleaned cocoa beans are then roasted in the rotary cylinders where they are provided with a temperature of 120-degree Celsius. This is carried out for one to two hours, The proper roasting of the cocoa beans is really important to ensure the quality of the chocolates.
3. Shell Removal
The shell removal becomes really easy after the roasting of the beans. The outer cover is removed by passing the cocoa beans serrated bones that also breaks the beans in smaller pieces,
Now they are placed on a conveyor where the mechanical sieves remove the broken pieces. They are blown away with the help of large fans.
4. Grounding Nibs
The collected beans are now called nibs which are further going to be grounded to convert it into usable cocoa, This process also becomes responsible for making different products such as cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, etc.
The nibs are grounded with the help of a large grinder. Also, they are passed through the mill machine in order to make a cocoa paste. The cocoa butter will then passed through the hydraulic press to get cocoa butter.
The heat generated in the process melts cocoa butter which is now called chocolate liquor.
5. Mixing ingredients
The cocoa paste after going through the hydraulic press will separate the cocoa butter from cocoa liquor. The cocoa butter is used in the making of chocolates. It is mixed with various ingredients such as milk, sugar, etc. However, the process varies from product to product and the cocoa is added with different flavors as per the need.
6. Refining
The process of refining helps the chocolate with its flavors and it is also important to make the ingredients mix well and get the right texture. In this step, the chocolate particles are passed through heavy rollers and they are provided with constant speed and temperature.
7. Cooling
In this process, the chocolate is poured in the tempering machines to help with the cooling, After this step now the chocolate is ready to be poured in the molds to get the desired shape.
8. Packaging
The chocolate is now wrapped and covered in packaging material and ready to be shipped.
Conclusion
So this was all the necessary steps that are important in the process of manufacturing and selling of the chocolate. The whole article deals with both the small scale business aspect as well as the large scale business.
Chocolate making business is highly a lucrative one if executed in the right way, it can also generate high margins if you provide your customers with quality.
Do let us know in the comment section how you liked this article, we will be happy to receive your feedback.
Also read: https://www.halfmba.com/homemade-pickle-business-plan/