Chocolate: New taste of success for city-based start-ups

City sees spate of chocolate café, lounge and parlours

Move over coffee, it is time that a healthier and tastier indulgence called chocolate grabs the limelight for its delicious appeal. With the chocolate confectionery and surrogate industries projected to post a 14 per cent growth according to a survey by Euromonitor International, many start-ups from Ahmedabad are grabbing the opportunity and making the most of it.

For instance, 'The Chocolate Room' has become synonymous with products like chocolate-based shakes, beverages, mocktails, frappes, fondues, waffles and even pizzas. Vikas Punjabi, the franchisee co-owner of the brand says, "With an exhaustive menu of chocolate confectioneries and beverages, we started the outlet first in Ahmedabad in September 2007. While the mother brand is Australia-based, we already have about 37 outlets across several Indian cities."

'The Chocolate Room' started out with a pure chocolate menu and moved on to include small Italian, French and Spanish side eats to offer its customers more variety. "The trend is definitely on the up and up as we have been posting a 20 per cent growth every year. We have around 11 more outlets coming up across cities in India by the end of April. Another innovation we have had is that we first launched the brand in tier II cities and then took it to the metros," adds Punjabi.

The demand for such chocolate specific restaurants and outlets is also being attributed to the awareness about chocolates among the denizens in Ahmedabad due to increase international travel. Keeping this upward trend in mind, three Ahmedabad-based entrepreneurs decided to turn their love for chocolate into livelihood and came up with Dangee Dums; the first premium chocolate lounge in Ahmedabad.

Chocolate has a market share of around 10-12 per cent in the FMCG segment. Furthermore in an estimate released by Euromonitor International, the chocolate confectionery industry was expected to register a 22 per cent value growth in 2010. The study further estimated that the chocolate confectionery market would reach Rs 32.7 billion in 2010 in India and that the polarisation in terms of both customers and products in increasing.

"Many a times we have seen people coming back from foreign countries with packets of the finest chocolates. So we thought of starting a lounge dedicated to spread the chocolate culture in Ahmedabad especially for chocolate aficionados. Dangee Dums as a brand aims at positioning chocolate eating as a serious and informed choice. Its presence will be national and subsequently international through a franchising model in the future," says Mrudang Jambusaria, director, Dangee Dums.

What's more, gifting is another area where chocolate is fast gaining ground. Which is why, Ahmedabad-based Soulful Chocolates is engaged in catering to corporate events as well as customising chocolates to fit weddings and festivities. "From small orders to big events, we customise and design chocolates to suit different occasions and operate completely through word-of-mouth publicity. We participate in exhibitions especially around Diwali as there is a huge market for personalised and corporate gifting around that time of the year in Ahmedabad. Although the market for chocolate is not as huge as the metros but the demand is increasing and an expansion is on the cards."

With many studies bringing out the health benefits of chocolate as, it definitely seems that more doors are opening up to the opportunities of this indulgence.

In just five months of its being, what started out as a chocolate store aptly called Brown & Happy by management student Minal Modi has turned into a case for the rising chocolate culture in the city.

Minal says, “I started the store in September 2010 and with target audience ranging from professionals to families, I now plan to start catering. I am looking at a possible expansion of a ‘cakes and chocolates’ brand in another six months. The recipe processing is done by us while the raw materials are sourced from premium brands from Belgium. Though the initial investment was huge for a start-up but I was sure that I couldn’t go wrong with a niche product as premium chocolate that has repetitive demand and huge potential."