When people think of chocolate bars it might be brands such as Cadburys, Galaxy, Lindt, Hershy. The list goes on. And people will compare what we make to chocolate like that.
But artisan chocolate makers like us and others similar to us are making totally different products when compared to these big name brands. So what makes us so different?
Here are some of the things we do at Frankly Delicious that we believe sets us apart for ‘big’ chocolate.
Sourcing - When it comes to making chocolate the most important ingredient is the cocoa bean you use. We source a very high quality level of cocoa, which in turn makes high quality chocolate. Whereas commercial cocoa can have a wide range in quality. From really good cocoa to quite low quality (things which lower the quality might be too small beans, improper fermentation, rotten cocoa pods being harvested and mixed in with the large crop. This could easily end up in the chocolate that goes into mass produced products)
Ethics - We will only use cocoa grown by farmers who are treated equally and fairly. Meaning at the end of the day they earn a fair price for their crop. Unfortunately, there are systemic issues such as extreme farmer poverty and the use of child labour on cocoa farms across the world, with an estimated 1.5 million children working illegally on cocoa farms. One of the ways to help end these issues is to ensure cocoa farmers are paid fairly for their crop, work and time. Which isn’t always the case for commercial cocoa supply chains.
Quality- The quality of cocoa we use is also known as ‘fine cocoa’ like fine wine and other foods. And this cocoa has often got more desirable and varied flavours. To develop these flavours and to honour the hard work cocoa farmers put into growing the cocoa, we roast the cocoa at lower temperates when compared to commercial chocolate might roast at. Over roasting cocoa can cause a bitter flavour which is one of the reasons a lot of mass produced dark chocolate tastes bitter!
Flavour- like wine and coffee, each origin and region where cocoa comes from has a unique flavour profile. Which when made into dark chocolate showcases the different and varied flavours. We only use natural flavourings in our chocolate bars too and don’t substitute cocoa butter for other fats like palm or vegetable oil which can be found in a lot of mass produced chocolate products.
Flexibility- we don’t have to go through multiple approval processes, meetings and long decisions making processes to try new products and flavours. Meaning we can get new products to our customers in a quick time frame.
Innovation- The demand for vegan chocolate has sky rocketed in recent years and there have been a lot of profits launched by many different brands of all sizes. And I’ve tried quite a lot of vegan chocolate and I think most of it still doesn’t hit the spot! Because of our flexibility we can trial very small batches of new products and get feedback from testers in less than 7 days.
Care- we really do care. About where we get our cocoa and that the farmers are treated fairly. We care about our customers who might not have been able to eat chocolate in the past due to allergies, intolerances and not eating animal based products. We care about the planet and try to do as much as we can in reducing things like our plastic usage and using sustainable energy. The list goes on. And there’s just the two of us behind this business, so when people give us feedback, we take it onboard.
People over profit- this is one that’s very important to us. We want cocoa farmers and entrepreneurs to flourish, so paying a high price compared to commercial cocoa just makes sense. We don’t want to cut costs and make a lesser quality product from a cheap ingredient. We want to make the best possible chocolate, using the best possible cocoa. And this means people need to get paid what is not only fair but vital to pay them for their knowledge, time and skill.