Trick-or-treat bar.
Pic courtesy: Paul&Mike
For those amongst us who don’t pay attention to the fact that our chocolates come from trees, cocoa prices have been rising sharply this year, largely due to poor harvests in West Africa where the bulk of the world’s cocoa supplies come from. Disease and climate change are said to be the reasons for the low yield that has chocolate makers the world over in a tizzy with no way out except increasing prices while squeezing margins and lowering the quantity of cocoa used.
However, for craft chocolatiers, the crisis has provided an opportunity to be inventive in a market that consumes chocolates like there’s no tomorrow but without too much discernment, to put it mildly. Consider these figures: India’s chocolate market hit US$ 2.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach US$ 5.3 billion by 2032, according to the India Chocolate Market Report 2024-32 by IMARC (International Market Analysis Research and Consulting). As Chaitanya Muppala, CEO of Hyderabad-based Manam Chocolates, which was recently listed by Time magazine as one of the ‘World’s Greatest Places-2024’ says, the cocoa crisis is a “tailwind of sorts”. “At least, people are beginning to understand that chocolate is something of value — the crisis has sparked conversations about where it is coming from, who is growing it, whether it is chocolate at all, to begin with, or just coco compound passed off as chocolate — this can only be a good thing.”
Considering this is also the gifting season in India and the competition is cut-throat in this sector, innovation becomes critical. Vikas Temani, Founder and CEO of Paul & Mike, says since craft chocolate brands are naturally categorised in the premium sector, they cannot resort to making the chocolate bars smaller or compromise on ingredients like many brands worldwide have done. “We have already increased the prices of our products by 20 per cent...we do not want our consumers to suffer any further — the only other way to tackle the price rise is to get more creative.” Unusual fillings, for instance. The multi-award-winning Indian brand already has several unique offerings, with ingredients ranging from rose and jamun to candied ginger, rum and Szechuan pepper. They have recently introduced Halloween trick-or-treat bars as well as mendiants, a French confection topped with dried fruits and nuts.
Muppala believes the focus of Manam is on gifting experiences since he also retails his chocolates. Precisely why their wide range of products includes everything from brownies to tarts, macarons and tablets with flavours as exotic as pistachio fudge and as everyday as chai-biscuit! “I come from a background of mithai, and for me, chocolate is about self-indulgence, the sheer joy of popping a high-quality bonbon or simply grazing on a chocolate-coated popcorn at a party — I want to bring that sense of ‘mithai happiness’ to chocolate.”