Desi luxe chocolate brands making waves

The chocolate market in the country is steadily moving towards hand-rolled truffles, mini entremets, pralines, macarons, and profiteroles. Mass-produced chocolate is making way for handcrafted gourmet chocolate made from cacao beans sourced from exotic places such as Java, Madagascar, Peru, Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire and Santo Domingo.

Even as behemoths like Mondelez, Nestle and Amul bring out premium variants and offerings with less sugar, there is a surge in the number of home-grown niche premium brands that are trying to create a space for themselves in a consumer market which is transforming towards evolved tastes.

“For a long time now, the premium segment for chocolates was dominated by global brands like Lindt, Ferrero, Godiva, Mars, etc. Recently, Nestle launched bon bon versions under the brand Alpino with bitter-sweet and 70% dark chocolate variants. Amul has started three single-country origin chocolates,” says Nikki Thakker, founder and owner of Entisi Chocolatier. Newbie luxury brands like Entisi, Fabelle, Smoor, etc. are gaining in credence amongst chocolate connoisseurs with evolved palates who look for refined tastes.

The Indian chocolate market, according to TechSci Research, is expected to grow beyond $17 billion by 2020. The market is growing at a compounded annual rate of 19%. 

“With the growing prosperity of the upper-middle class and elite consumers, their lifestyle choices are being redefined,” says Anuj Rustagi, chief operating officer, chocolates, coffee and new categories, food division, ITC Ltd. Rustagi says the term ''luxury chocolate'' connotes a range of chocolates that offer an indulgent and sensorial experience.

Says Toshin Shetty, founder and chocolatier, TOSHIN Patisserie, “Premium chocolates refer to curvature chocolates over compound chocolates. They are premium single-origin chocolates with notes and flavours. The main ingredient is the cocoa bean procured from a single estate or a plantation which has its own flavours that come from the roots of the cocoa plants. Single-origin or single farm or single bean organically produced defines luxury and premiumness in chocolates which brings in unique flavours and the process of turning the bean to the bar can create different flavours for the final chocolate. The flavours can be very different in each region in the cocoa growing belt in the world.”

According to Vimal Sharma, CEO, Bliss Chocolates, the ingredients used, the origin of the chocolate, customer experience, delivery mode, handling, presentability, etc. go towards defining the premium chocolate segment, which in turn defines the perceived brand value. “In absolute value terms, we define any chocolate priced over Rs 3, 000 per kg to be premium/luxury,” adds Sharma explaining that the question of whether a customer will pay for such a premium product is changing in the Indian context. “Customers today are more than willing to spend and indulge. We are seeing customers asking for more information about premium chocolates and we see this trend to be positive.”

Thakker says that people who have not really tasted true, fine chocolate are “amazed at the difference in taste due to high grade of cocoa used.''

Sensing positive customer feelers, brands are bullish on online and offline expansion. ITC's Fabelle, which opened its first premium chocolate boutique at ITC Gardenia Bengaluru a few years ago, now has 10 chocolate boutiques across India. Rustagi says they will scout for attractive opportunities to grow their exclusive boutiques, besides leveraging e-commerce to scale up the Fabelle brand. ''With the launch of our premium luxury bars, it gives us an opportunity to further scale up our presence in the premium food stores. Currently, we have 400+ stores and looking to expand this further.''

For Entisi Chocolatier, besides their two boutiques in Mumbai, the brand is now moving to other formats including premium supermarkets and exclusive stores, says Thakker. “We also do many collaborations with other brands to educate people about the origins of cocoa and different kinds of chocolates.”

Bliss Chocolates has 20 Smoor stores in Bangalore and Delhi, apart from being online and a presence in the modern trade. “In the next 3-5 years, we are looking at adding 120 exclusive stores and enhance our retail presence. This will help increase our revenues by at least five times,” says Sharma.