It is not possible to cover in any detail all the myriad of possibilities which there are for products in the confectionery business in an article such as this. There are some basic ideas and guidance here, but unless you are reasonably experienced in all aspects of the industry you will need to seek advice from a consultant with plenty of experience.
Of course you may already have a product or range of products in mind, but in this article I want to discuss some of the classes of product you might consider and the advantages and disadvantages some of them have. It is likely that your product will fit into one of the categories discussed below, but it is likely that “your” centre is something completely different. In that case it will be wise to consult someone with experience of the industry to make sure you are not trying to do something genuinely difficult (or even impossible), and if so how it can be made easier.
If you do have a product in mind then you probably need some professional help in terms of putting together a formulation, seeing if the product has a reasonable shelf life and what it is going to cost to make. You will also need advice on how to pack the product – what material to use, how to protect it, etc.
Product shelf life is often forgotten, but confectionery products have to be shelf stable without refrigeration over relatively long periods. Packaging provides a degree of protection, but the formulation must be essentially stable and packaging of sufficient quality to prevent the product changing or picking up taints.
Chocolate itself is quite stable, but many common centres are less so and may interact with the chocolate itself. For example many nut oils will rapidly migrate from a centre into chocolate and soften it.
Another factor which should always be considered when thinking about a recipe is scrap and rework. There is always some material which has to be reclaimed to at least realise the value of the ingredients and by considering this from the outset the potential loss of value can be avoided and the quality issues associated with its inclusion can be taken into account.
Extending the table in the previous article a little we have the following categories:-
|
Product |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Selling |
| Panned Goods(small, individually coated centres packed in bags) | Simple to makeEquipment cheap
Wide range Easy to pack |
Need to make centres | Most outlets |
| Moulded Products with and without inclusions(Classic chocolate bars) | Relatively easy to makeGood consumer appeal
Premium image |
Difficult to manage in hot climatesNeed air-conditioning
More expensive to pack |
Gift shopsRetailers |
| Moulded products with fillings | Attractive, interesting productsMuch scope for innovation | Very complex to make | Gift shopsRetailers |
| Filled Bars(Often known as Count Lines) | Wide appealWide range
Opportunity to be innovative |
Complex to makeCentre formulation and making
Good packing needed Need air-conditioning |
Retailers |
| Self Lines and Assortments | Attractive gifting productsPremium pricing potential | Very complex to make | RetailersGift Shops |
| Bulk supplies to third parties | Allows increased tonnage and plant utilisationWide range | Needs moulding facilitiesCan facilitate competitors
Difficult to make a profit on this alone |
Third party users |
Several of these product categories depend on the centre to establish a point of interest and difference. There are plenty of products in all the categories with very ordinary centres, if you are going to make your product stand out then it needs to be something exciting, so be creative. Hopefully that is why you want to get into the business in the first place – because you have an exciting idea for a centre or inclusion.
With so little innovation in the confectionery market at the moment there are real opportunities for people with imagination to exploit the new communications media to communicate with and to excite the consumer – even if your business only starts in a small local area. You can sell at a wide variety of locations beyond the obvious – gift shops and events such as country markets which are increasingly an opportunity for interesting, quality, novel products.
Ideally you want centres which are easy to handle and even store over a short period so that the business can be developed gradually and people in the business can develop skills without the process being too time critical. This is an area where a well experienced consultant can help.
Panned Goods
Panned goods are produced by coating a centre in chocolate in a rotating pan. Depending on the centre you may need to pre coat it with a gum base to help the chocolate adhere (particularly to things like nuts) but from then on the process is simple. On a small scale all you need is a pan (easily available second hand) and some cold air to set the chocolate after each application. The great thing about panning is that the chocolate does not need tempering, just cooling to about 38°C. Things like the speed of rotation, rate of application and so on are easily (and probably best) learned directly with a little expert help. Once the product is coated and smoothed it can be glazed with a commercially available glaze or dusted with cocoa powder or icing sugar and it is finished and ready for packing.
An interesting if slightly more challenging extension is to coat the finished (unglazed) product with a sugar shell, which will probably need some expert assistance. However this then opens up a lot of additional sales possibilities for personalising the products – colouring the product in a company’s colours, or the colours of a local team and so on.
Product can be most conveniently bagged in various quantities and bags can be personalised for particular sales points – “musket balls found in the castle grounds – don’t they taste good!”
Because panning is so relatively simple and needs little equipment it is also ideal for making the production in itself an attraction – an operation could for example be set up in a coffee shop panning treats (for example coffee beans or small biscuits) to serve in the shop with bags available to take home.
Panned goods have an extremely wide appeal and are relatively easy to make, so represent a good starting point for a small business with a good idea.
Moulded Products
Chocolate can be readily moulded either by hand on a small scale or using a small and relatively simple moulding plant on a medium or large scale. Chocolate needs to be tempered before moulding and can quite easily have inclusions added to it – although there are some limitations in terms of size and composition. Because there are so many products in the market place from large established manufacturers you need a genuine point of differentiation to be successful.
Moulds need to be professionally made and looked after and cleaned carefully. They are an expensive component – particularly for a mechanical plant – so select a single size which says something about your product and if possible can take different fill levels without being too obvious so that you can adjust the bar weight.
The advantage of making a moulded product by hand on a small scale is that it gives great flexibility to include different colours and inclusions in products which are extremely difficult to achieve mechanically. However, the labour cost will be high and as production (hopefully) increases a point will be reached where mechanical production will become necessary, so don’t make the product too complicated!
Whilst chocolate can be tempered by hand if you have the necessary skills this is not really a practical option even for small scale manufacture as the process is laborious and inconsistent. There are many tempering machines on the market in a wide range of capacities, most of which only need power and hot and cold water connections. A tempering machine will provide a batch or a flow of consistently tempered chocolate ready for use. Checking that chocolate is tempered is actually not easy, there are “tempermeters” on the market but they are quite expensive. Having a tested and properly recorded procedure and set of conditions is the most effective method for a small producer. If chocolate is not properly tempered the first indication is generally that it is difficult to demould.
Inclusions can be mixed in to the tempered chocolate but there are some limitations:-
- Any inclusions need to be significantly smaller than the depth of the mould you are using – whilst obvious this is often forgotten
- Don’t add too much as it will make the appearance of the bar look uneven
- Inclusions when added need to be as close as possible to the temperature of the tempered chocolate as possible – within a couple of degrees Centigrade
- Some inclusions can affect chocolate – raisins for example can release moisture and broken nuts can release nut oils which can soften chocolate
Moulds also need to be very close to the temperature of the chocolate before they are filled. They will need to be reheated (a standard fitment to most moulding plants) after their previous use. Moulds also need to be washed and carefully rinsed and dried periodically. There is the opportunity to have a mould in a shape special to your business or to where it is being sold or other novelty shapes, but do not detract from the overall quality of your product.
After liquid chocolate has been put into moulds, the moulds must be vibrated or tapped to allow air bubbles to escape from the chocolate. This action needs to be controlled carefully, particularly when inclusions are present as excessive vibration can cause light inclusions to float to what is the back of the unit (ie the exposed chocolate surface in the mould). This makes the units look unpleasant and difficult to wrap because of the uneven back surface.
Once filled the moulds need to be cooled in either a cooling tunnel or cooling cabinet at an appropriate temperature (around 12°C minimum) for about 20 mins. As mentioned above it is vital to ensure that the products are not so cold as to attract condensation when they emerge from the cooler which may require some rise in temperature towards the end of cooling. It is also important to ensure that water droplets are not carried into the cooler from a cooling battery. Condensation will cause affect the appearance of the product but will also result in flavour problems and will exacerbate issues such as infestation by moth grubs.
Chocolate should release from the moulds readily, if this is not the case then the chocolate has not been properly tempered (or has lost its temper before moulding), it will not have a crisp texture and may show a white or streaked surface immediately or shortly after demoulding.
Moulded bars need to be wrapped as soon as possible after demoulding (not least to avoid any chance of moths laying eggs on them) and then stored at about 20°C for several days before despatch to allow them to harden fully.
Wrapping of moulded bars represents a great promotional opportunity. You can highlight where and how the product is made, where the ingredients are from, where it is being sold, anything to differentiate it in the eyes of the consumer.
Moulded products with liquid or gel fillings, whist interesting and attractive to the consumer, are technically difficult to produce and should be well down the agenda of a small or medium sized producer unless this is a key element of their offering.
Filled products can be produced manually or mechanically by first making and cooling a chocolate “shell” in the mould which is then filled and cooled before chocolate is added to seal the back of the unit and it is finally cooled.
Alternatively these products can be produced mechanically using the “one shot” process where both components are deposited together using a special mechanical depositor. This approach needs a considerable degree of skill and experience and there are certain specific limitations on the centre material, including:-
- The temperature of the filling must be close to that of the tempered chocolate
- The viscosity at the temperature of depositing must be very close to that of the tempered chocolate
- The degree of centre fill is generally about 40% maximum (depending on the weight of the product, smaller products much less)
Filled Bars (Count Lines)
In principle this category comprises a centre enrobed in chocolate. Obviously the type of centre being used will dictate the forming method, with the chocolate enrobing process being more or less generic. Making and forming the centre is the most important element in this category.
Centres can be formed in several ways, depending on their characteristics including:-
Sheet and Cut – material is formed into a sheet and stabilised (most often by cooling) before slitting into ropes and cross cutting into individual units. This can range from a simple manual process on a steel slab to a large scale continuous process. This technique can produce products with several layers of different characteristics. Note that this technique will always result in the creation of some selvedge from the cutting process which has to be reclaimed.
Extrusion – material is extruded directly into ropes and cross cut into individual units. In a similar process material can be formed into ropes using a grooved roller. The centre needs to be suitable for extrusion, in particular not vulnerable to crystallisation of fat expression.
Casting – material is cast into shaped forms and solidified before the individual units are enrobed. One common method for doing this is to use a starch moulding process to produce the units.
Once the individual units are formed they are coated in chocolate. This can be as simple as hand dipping or by passing through a curtain of tempered chocolate in an enrober. Excess chocolate is removed by an aircurtain and vibrating mesh belt integrated into the enrober. The coated units are then cooled in a similar manner to moulded units before wrapping.
Self Lines and Assortments
These are essentially small, single bite, versions of various moulded and enrobed centre units. In order to manufacture the range of products generally needed for this category on a small to medium scale considerable confectionery skills are needed together with a distribution channel.
Because this sector is heavily biased towards gifting and premium products, it requires a degree of reputation and trust on the part of the customer. This takes time to establish and needs appropriate, premium, packaging, sales and distribution.
There are already a number of well known and local businesses in most areas in this sector and unless the proposal is something truly original it is probably best avoided until other sectors have established an appropriate brand and reputation.
Bulk Supplies to Third Parties
This is a very interesting potential area of activity even if the business is buying in chocolate in large quantities and especially useful if a business is manufacturing its own chocolate as it provides the potential to fill production capacity.
In most markets there is generally a demand for chocolate and couvertures for the biscuit, cake and ice cream industries as well as a demand from other smaller finished product producers. Of course it is important not to facilitate potential competitors, but the types and quality of product supplied to third parties can be controlled.
Chocolate and couverture products are rarely supplied in liquid form unless the operation is on a very large scale. More normally they are moulded into small pieces – ideally about the size of buttons but small moulded bars about 50g are also used. This is to make handling and melting easier.