Chances are they've come from a
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And chances are the chocolatier is a woman They have given a part of their life to something that is both divine and sinful at the same time. This is a story of a bevy of women who are spreading happiness by making and selling chocolates and making good money out of it.
Chenddyna Schae She started with a stall in Bombay Store on Bangalore's M G Road and began offering free samplers. A repeat act at Christmas got her visiting cards of Merill Lynch and Citibank. She's now moving into a full fledged factory Priti Chandriani She is a qualified filmmaker from the US. But her passion for chocolates got the best of her. She went to Belgium to learn the art of making chocolates. And returned to set up Chocossieur in Worli area of South Mumbai Reshma Sengupta The owner of Open Oven is a Home Science graduate with an intense training at the Taj Bengal Bakery. She started her journey in 2005 `purely out of passion'. She now has two outlets on Camac Street and Royd Street, Kolkata Mansi Hemdev She's a commerce graduate from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She gave up her job at the British Council to convert her mother's boutique on St Mary's Road into a `snackery' cum chocolate laboratory.
Karma Café was born K Laxmi Laxmi was trained by her husband in chocolate making.
After two years, the 47-yearold became a full-fledged boss of Chocolate Hut. She caters to Accenture, Airtel, Reliance, IDBI and Citibank, and has a kiosk at Microsoft f you've read Joanne Harris' Chocolat or watched Lasse Hallstrom's movie by the same name, you're familiar with the tale of Vianne Rocher, a woman who starts a chocolate store in a conservative small town in France and kicks up a storm with her indulgent offerings.
Across cities in India, women are going the Rocher way, and displaying what a little imagination and a strong entrepreneurial streak can do. Take Chenddyna Schae, for instance. A catering student from Mumbai, she moved to Bangalore after her wedding. Two children later, she found herself bored at home and returned to her hobby from her singleton days -- chocolates. "I trained the children's nanny and together we came out with a few batches in June 2001.
After much experimenting, I felt confident to explore the market," recalls the 47-yearold. So she a put up a stall in Bombay Store on Bangalore's high street, M G Road, just before Diwali that year and began offering free samplers to all those who walked. She clocked great sales. A repeat act at Christmas got her not just cash but even visiting cards of executives of companies like Merrill Lynch and Citibank.
Schae discovered the huge potential of corporate orders in burgeoning Bangalore. And her business outgrew her kitchen and even an apartment she rented solely for this purpose. She's now moving into a full-fledged factory in north Bangalore, with 12 staff.
Since you must've begun receiving your stock of Diwali chocolates, look at the back of the pack. Chances are they've come from a local chocolatier.
And chances are the chocolatier is a woman.
"Women have an innate sense of understanding taste and presentation. It's just something that goes beyond training," says K Laxmi, who runs the Chocolate Hut chain in Hyderabad. Laxmi was trained by her husband Prakash Murthy, who used to work with another local company and whose job profile included training homemakers and students to make chocolates.
After two years of just experimenting with friends and family, the 47-year-old is pretty much the boss of what has turned out to be a family business. Murthy takes care of the sourcing of ingre dients and her elder son Karthik, an MBA, manages her retail chain and pitches to companies. And not just does she not just does she cater to festive orders from Accenture, Airtel, Reliance, IDBI and Citibank, she also has a kiosk at Microsoft.
There are many reasons why small chocolatiers are a hit with companies, despite the presence of goliaths like Cadbury's. For one, there is a much wider variety to explore from -- not just truffles, pralines and liqueur, but a whole host of innovative options like tea and cinnamon, like the ones you can find at Priti Chandriani's Chocossieur in Worli, south Mumbai. And the focus on quality ingredients that gives the taste a rich, wholesome feel. Besides, you have the freedom to make the chocolates look like those great Godivas you picked up at dutyfree shops and put them in a box that reflects your corporate brand identity. Being small certainly has its advantages, but what comes with it is a set of expectations.
Reshma Sengupta (37), the owner of Open Oven on Kolkata's buzzing Camac Street and Royd Street, is expanding slowly on the retail front, and not for want of retail space.
"For me quality and 24x7 monitoring is most important.
That's why I don't believe in growth through the franchise model," says Sengupta, who's planning two more stores.
After all, the slightest slip in quality and your customer will have a good reason not to come back to you. For, it is in the changing taste buds, what with all the travelling, exposure and endless shows on Discovery Travel & Living, where the market is, a market that will love you and pay a premium for its decadent indulgence.
Geetanjali Acchra, CEO of Cocoa World in Delhi's Greater Kailash, made Rs 50 lakh last Diwali from corporate orders alone. The minimum order from a company is 500 boxes, that means a bill of roughly Rs 2 lakh. If you want your company logo embossed on each piece, pay Rs 50 per piece. And if you plan to pick up a box for your sweetheart, be prepared to pay between Rs 800 and Rs 3,000 a kg (for the sugar-free variety).
"Our USP is gourmet chocolates such as coverture chocolates, made of very high quality cocoa beans that cost much more than others and are rare to find in India," says the 33-year-old. But that's what the likes of actor Anil Kapoor and designer Ritu Beri queue up for.
Celebrity clients, in fact, are a big flaunt factor. Schae has catered for events like the birth of cricketer Rahul Dravid's son. Railway minister and fire-brand Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and Indian Merlin P C Sorcar, Jr, have been Sengupta's customers.
Lakshmi's client list boasts of names like the late Y S R Reddy, Chandrababu Naidu and actor Nagarjuna. In Chennai, film-maker Rajeev Menon is a fan of Mansi Hemdev's Karma Café.
Hemdev, actually, is a wild card entry into the world of cocoa delights. This commerce graduate from Stella Maris College for Women in Chennai is all of 22 and worked with the British Council for two years before taking over her mother's boutique on St Mary's Road and converting it into a `snackery'cum- chocolate laboratory.
And no, it wasn't the Hersheys-every-hour pangs that got her into it. "My real estate was available in this area and St Mary's Road doesn't have any other casual eatery," she says. The brown treats are dished out by friend and business partner Sandhesh Reddy, who is known for his eight chocolate desserts named after the seven deadly sins and the last one, titled, `happy ending'.
Even for Mumbaikar Chandriani, life isn't all about her Belgian chocolates as the 53-year-old juggles a career in film-making as well. That, combined with a hawk's eye for quality, means that Chandriani does not give herself the option to expand. So, just a few orders and no retailing for her. "I retail from home and my sales have come from word-of-mouth publicity. People who tasted my chocolate keep coming back," she says.
And how does she manage to juggle the two professions?
"Film making happens throughout the year. But for chocolates, the peak season is Diwali, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Raksha Bandhan. On these occasions I take less film-making work," she says.
For the rest, however, the work-life balance causes enough stress. Some, like Sengupta and Lakshmi, are lucky to have their families join in. But for some like Schae, the festive season just spells chaos. Around Diwali, it's not uncommon to find even her children and their friends helping with the packing, right on the family dining table. "After the wedding season in June, I'm relatively free till Raksha Bandhan," she says. "That's the time to take a vacation and relax."
