Confectionery is one of those things which people will probably continue to eat, irrespective of endless scare stories about it being the “sole reason” for people being overweight and the offerings of alternative ingredients in expensive products which in themselves have health risks and are frequently less nice to eat.
I am frequently approached by people at an early stage of starting to make confectionery as a business and keen to understand how to go about it. I would not claim to offer all the answers here, but rather to highlight some of the most important areas and to help you start thinking. You will certainly have many questions having read this, and I would encourage you to follow up by holding a detailed discussion of your particular set of ideas with someone like myself who has experience in the industry
A vital aspect of your approach to the confectionery market is to understand the degree to which trust is important. A high proportion of confectionery is either shared with someone else, bought for a child or bought as a gift. The person buying the product must be able to trust what they are buying to be wholesome and safe but also to represent quality and value. They need to be proud of their purchase and the product
Confectionery should always be considered a treat or indulgence (or an occasional snack), it is very definitely not a food and should not be considered or consumed in that way. Unfortunately, this is not the emphasis of most of the advertising you will see, but is another way in which you can differentiate your approach.
It is important to consider, develop and place your products with this in mind. The major global manufacturers don’t quite see things in this way and continue to emphasise high tonnage and low cost in their business models which results in very little true innovation and increasingly ingenious attempts to sell large bars
Niche products, innovation, fast consumer response and wholesome ingredients with low impact packaging are your key opportunities. Effective and truthful use of the internet as a medium to get your message across is another key opportunity. It allows you to start local and the get useful feedback on every aspect of your business at minimal cost. It also allows you to exploit a wider market without excessive distribution costs.
So, you want to start a confectionery business. Not a bad idea if you have some interesting ideas and skills. You may have a great idea for a new product – good news, because there is precious little innovation in the mass market at present. There is, unfortunately, a big difference between making a product by hand and tasting it around a table with friends, and consistent, economic manufacturing of a quality product which will survive distribution and still deliver its key characteristics six months down the line in a retail outlet or the consumers cupboard
There are, lots of issues which you have to consider, one or two of which are both extremely important and frequently not fully considered
• Creating and making a product is (relatively) easy, the difficult bit is getting it in front of people who will buy it, and what is more, buy it more than once
• Sourcing ingredients and packaging on a small to medium scale has some real challenges and you may have to adjust recipes and ingredients away from your ideal to allow for this
• Most new businesses will lose money initially due to set up costs, but it is vital that you have a clear and rational plan for at least making the business break even and for paying yourself a reasonable salary
In the Beginning
By all means start small, very small. Start by making things in your kitchen, but still apply all the disciplines of hygiene, wholesomeness and care because you are going to be asking people to trust you and eat things you have made.
Also keep meticulous records of recipes and processes, these are not only important when you come to reproduce products on a larger scale, but equally a record of things which did not work so you can avoid repeating mistakes and wasting ingredients. In addition, you need to get an understanding about how stable your product is when kept under normal domestic conditions for a few months so put some samples on one side and taste them every month.
See if you can get your products in front of customers cheaply, for example through a market stall or farm shop. You need to be sure that your “big idea” is actually other people’s “big idea”, that they will pay money for it, and what is just as important, buy it again.
This phase can take as long as you want, you may be doing this part time while working or just living life, make sure you have developed a product (ideally more than one) which you understand, are able to make consistently and to sell.
Becoming a Business
Starting or radically extending a business in confectionery is an exciting and challenging thing to do and extremely satisfying if it is successful. The purpose of this article is not to discourage you from doing so, but rather to highlight some of the important issues you have to consider, choices you may have to make and where it may be useful to seek specialist advice.
It is important to realise that confectionery is not a particularly high margin sector other than in very specialist parts of the market, quality ingredients and packaging and reliable equipment are expensive and properly designed facilities are needed to achieve consistent quality and product integrity. Also remember that the large and small companies already in the market are not just going to sit back and let you compete with them – they are going to try to eliminate you. It is a tough market to enter, even tougher to thrive in and not easy to be successful in long term.
A very important initial consideration is identifying your target market and consequently how and where you are going to sell the product. You need to be realistic about this. You (and your friends) may think a product with all sorts of good words and innovations is a splendid idea, but who (other than your friends, for a while) is going to want to buy it more than once at a price which is viable is what you have to think about.
Look at where the unfilled niches are in the market and aim at those. Some may be fairly obvious to your mind, but ask yourself “why hasn’t someone else done this”. The answer may well be that your idea is original and your product and presentation superior, in that case fine, but do look at the mistakes other businesses (large and small) have made and learn from them.
Have a very clear idea of scale. How much you can make in your initial facilities, realistically how much the next stage should be and what investment in facilities, equipment and time are going to be needed. Don’t forget that sales outlets, sourcing ingredients, processing, proper packaging and disposal of waste (eg wash water) are all going to start to move into different levels of difficulty as you expand. There may be opportunities to share facilities and even equipment with other small scale manufacturers, but do make sure you have proper written agreements to avoid expensive disputes
It is important to get your idea into the market place quickly and successfully (and hopefully turning a profit) not just for commercial reasons but because it reduces the opportunity for someone to copy (or steal) your idea and compete with you. “First mover advantage” is important with any novel product.
If you have a real innovation then it may be worth considering patenting your key ideas and concepts. This requires a lot of professional help and is not cheap, but it will be useful if you want to approach third parties to manufacture or even license your products.
The Market Place
Getting your products in front of potential customers and presenting a wholesome, trustworthy and good value image is extremely important. As a new face you have to convince people that your company can offer something which others cannot.
As a new, small or medium sized business this is a significant challenge. You will be unlikely to have access to major supermarkets and larger stores who will be buying centrally and require a scale (and pricing) with which you cannot hope to compete.
Smaller local shops and food markets and farm shops can be attractive opportunities, particularly if you are willing, in the case of local shops, to offer good trading terms, quick and flexible response to their needs and a decent profit margin. Food markets are an increasingly important route to market for entrepreneurs and the costs are relatively low – in effect you provide the whole supply chain.
Other areas of opportunity can be places like local garden centres, farm shops, tourist attractions, sports clubs, smaller entertainment venues local hotels restaurants and guest houses and events organising companies. All of these are looking for innovative products and ways to make customers visits “memorable” and you can be part of that.
There are also internet based organisations which will provide space for you to promote and sell your product and a degree of endorsement which will make consumers more likely to order your product. This will require a degree of organisation in terms of recording sale information, packaging in which to despatch product without it risking damage or contamination and of course ensuring payment is received
We often talk about innovation and the ability of small businesses to respond to change. Getting your product in front of customers and getting those customers to seek it out and to buy it more than once is as important an opportunity for innovation and change as the product itself because it ultimately provides the revenue stream
Commercial Considerations
It is important to remember that you are starting a business, and as such it needs to be properly run and founded and not likely to lose you large amounts of money. The following section may seem a distraction if making confectionery is your central idea, but it is important to understand the commercial side of things to a degree, even if you are very small and some does not yet apply
As with all small businesses there are a number of financial aspects which need to be understood and monitored carefully, particularly cash flow, profit and value creation. Without these your business will rapidly founder and possibly you with it. However much the confectionery may be your interest, first and foremost you have to run a business for profit, at least in the medium to long term
If you are already involved in the industry, then you will probably be aware of some of the obvious difficulties in starting a new business in confectionery. Hopefully you will have a number of useful contacts with suppliers and distribution systems who will be helpful.
As an existing business, perhaps in a completely different field, you may see logical opportunities to expand into confectionery either based on capacity or capability in manufacturing or because you have a strong distribution system or partner which can take additional products.
Whilst in either of these situations you will have significant skills and experience there will invariably be areas of the new business with which you will need assistance from a consultant or new partner.
If you are already a manufacturer but have a demand for a new product from an existing customer then perhaps with some technical advice on manufacturing things should be relatively straight forward, but it is important that the new initiative does not result in existing business suffering lack of attention or resources and that the new project genuinely creates value. It can be extremely attractive to produce a new product for an existing customer, but you need to consider the overall effect on your business, the product not selling, or the customer finding an alternative source at a lower price – because all of these are always possible.
Sometimes an attractive local sales opportunity will appear or can be found and because the sales, marketing and distribution costs will be low this is an excellent way to start a new venture. However, do always “start small” in this situation and also be sure that you are actually creating a positive cash flow and making at least a small profit. It is also very important to take a little time to understand the potential customer base and to make sure the product, the type of location and the time of year are all compatible, some products can be extremely seasonal and require careful management of stock levels.
In addition to some luck and a lot of hard and often frustrating work, you are going to need to satisfy a number of basic conditions in order to have any chance of being successful.
You need to establish a route to market – how and where are you going to get the product in front of potential customers and consumers and give them a good reason to buy the product. Whilst the internet has been very effective for many start-up businesses it may not always be a very effective route to the consumer for confectionery products from a new manufacturer – unit size and purchase volume will be small and people prefer to see and touch such products rather than just reading a description. Remember, you know how good the product is, but that does not mean people will take your word for it! There are companies who will be willing to place your product on their website, in effect “endorsing” you as a reliable producer and you should seek out and explore this route
However, that is not to say that the internet and social media are unimportant. It is very important that you have a good (professional) website which allows you to get your message across about the product and its unique characteristics and to excite people about the product. It is also an invaluable and relatively low cost means of demonstrating to retailers and other outlets that you are serious and professional and are supporting their sales of your product. There are increasing numbers of specialists who can help you to create a website and link it to social media, Twitter, etc. Social media also offers an effective way to communicate with consumers and gain both their vital feedback on product and their endorsement
It is important that your product is shelf stable and manufactured in a consistent and safe manner. Confectionery products in UK and most of Europe are rarely if ever distributed or displayed in controlled conditions and have to be able to withstand elevated temperature and humidity for protracted periods. The product must also retain its intrinsic quality for at least six months, because remember that it will generally take a few weeks to produce stock, supply your customers and make it onto the shelves. Retailers will not thank you (or re-order) if they have to remove out of date stock or field customer complaints about stale product.
In order to make a reliable, consistent, quality product you will need a reliable source and supply of ingredients and a defined recipe and process for converting them into your finished product and systems for monitoring quality. Your customers will want the same product every time they buy the product (noting the effects of winter and summer temperatures) and you cannot afford to disappoint them – the first time they are dissatisfied with the product will be the last time they buy it, whether they tell you about it or not. You will need to understand your recipe and process well enough to adapt them for changes in raw materials (natural materials always vary) and to incorporate small amounts of recycled scrap material – there will always be material from which to reclaim the value.
Manufacturing a product on even a small commercial scale is quite different from making small batches by hand. You are going to need proper, hygienic, food safe premises not just for manufacturing itself but also for storage of ingredients, packaging materials and finished product. You will also need water and energy supplies and a means of disposal of wash water and other effluents and waste materials (and appropriate permissions from relevant authorities)
Your product will have to be wrapped and labelled with appropriate information which accurately reflects its ingredients, composition and shelf life. Wrapping and branding are things which the customer sees before he consumes the product so they are important in establishing the image and anticipation of the product. Wrapping is also the primary protection for the product from such issues as moisture and flavour loss or pick up of “off flavours” and mechanical damage.
The people you need for production will need appropriate selection, skills, training and management as well as changing and hygiene facilities, an area to take breaks and so on. They will also need a good, safe, working environment and you have to allow for all of this in your plans, layout and space. This applies in principle even if the “workforce” is just you yourself and a family member, at least initially.
An important decision you have to make related to your manufacturing operation is to decide just how “fundamental” you plan to be. Are you for example going to try to manufacture chocolate from basic ingredients such as cocoa beans, take an intermediate step by using cocoa mass or are you going to purchase chocolate from specialist suppliers. The scale of your manufacturing operation may influence this to a degree, but making good quality chocolate is actually quite demanding and difficult on a small or even medium scale, and if your focus is on a finished product it may be a complexity you need to avoid.
I cannot recommend strongly enough getting good, professional, experienced advice when it comes to looking at the important and very challenging transition from “making” to “manufacturing” at any scale. There are complexities and many things which seem almost an aside when you make something by hand but which can be extremely difficult and expensive to achieve on a larger scale.
The understanding, development and monitoring of the financial side of the business is something which you cannot afford to neglect, however boring it may seem to you. Even using second hand machinery, the start up of even a small scale manufacturing operation will not only require significant capital, but also more cash to provide working capital (it is going to be some time before anyone actually pays you and supplier will want immediate payment) and to provide distribution, marketing and sales support. If you are unsure about basic financial issues, VAT, company structure and reporting, tax etc. (and the chances are you are) then find an accountant with experience of small businesses to advise you. The phrase “a good accountant will save you more then he costs you” is generally true, but he will also keep you onside with HMRC, VAT, etc.
If you are completely new to the confectionery business then you definitely need to take good advice on how to proceed and be prepared to commit quite a lot of money to the project – equipment and ingredients are not cheap in this industry and the costs of marketing, distribution and sales to get an entry to the market can be as much as the “technical” investment. It is wise in this situation to use consultants at an early stage to guide and advise you on appropriate choices and to make sure your plans are realistic and viable. Be prepared to listen to advice which you may not want to hear.
It is not enough to “just survive” financially, you have to have reserves to cater for the unseen challenges which will certainly occur and to finance some growth. You may be prepared to accept a small salary for yourself (but you still have to live) but your employees will expect to be paid and you should have a plan for how this project is actually going to repay your efforts – either by becoming profitable and paying you a salary or by creating value (through a product, brand or a market position for example) and a position that you can sell on to someone.
Above all else you must plan and achieve a positive cash flow. Most small businesses don’t fail because of profitability, they simply run out of money because they don’t have cash flow. It is all very well to define a business plan which shows each product being massively profitable, but the result is generally that you don’t sell very many and end up with a lot of stock and no cash. You have to sell at a price which gives you a small profit certainly (although part of your marketing expenditure can be short term loss leading) but you need turnover which provides cash for buying ingredients and paying wages. A well thought out pricing strategy is important – otherwise you could end up with a warehouse full of out of date stock and real difficulty paying the bills
By this point you may be feeling thoroughly discouraged and perhaps a little depressed, but I have only been trying to point out the practicalities. A good idea, hard work and attention to detail will result in success – but are there any short cuts to get you started quickly and will less investment?
If you are creating a new product the most obvious short cut is to get someone else to do some of the hard work for you – find someone else to manufacture the product. There are a number of good third party manufacturers who will help you (for a price of course) but this then allows you to concentrate on the distribution, marketing, selling and promotion of your idea. A third party manufacturer will also have knowledge, scale and efficiency of manufacturing which you cannot hope to achieve as a new business. A good service agreement is important ensuring that you retain ownership of the product, its formulation and ingredient specifications and that you have sufficient flexibility in supply quantity to cope with changes in demand you can plan for. However, most third party suppliers will probably require a scale of production rather larger than you can support initially, so this may be a second or third step rather than a first
Alternatively, if you consider your strength to be in manufacturing (or you have a manufacturing process of which you wish to retain full control) then the opposite course may be worth considering – finding someone to handle the distribution, and sales of the product. There are good agents, wholesalers and and internet businesses who will undertake this on your behalf. Marketing and promotion are more difficult areas for this strategy and it may be difficult to outsource this.
Ingredients and Packaging
Ingredients and packaging will be your major ongoing expenditure so it is important to understand some of the key issues.
Sourcing
Some ingredients are much easier to source in the sort of quantities you will need than others. Whilst there are good and reliable suppliers of small commercial quantities of things like chocolate, raisins, nuts, etc., other materials like sugar, glucose, some vegetable fats and cocoa powder are generally only available in either largish retail packs (very expensive) or in significant quantities (often a pallet load)
The cost, shelf life and storage requirements of some of these ingredients and packaging can be a major problem for small and medium sized manufacturers and other than possibly co-operating with other similar businesses there is no easy answer. Another issue to bear in mind is potential “redundancy” of materials if products have to be modified or discontinued due to consumer preferences – no point in continuing to make something which doesn’t sell but you may have to develop a product to use up some surplus ingredients.
Some suppliers will co-operate to the extent of selling you “sample” quantities but this is an issue you need to consider at an early stage, there is nothing worse than having everything in place and suddenly discovering you have to buy an amount of an important ingredient which, even if everything goes well, would in theory last you a year or more. You may well have to accept higher prices and even recipe changes to accommodate these problems
If you are going to make claims about your ingredients – where they come from, “natural”, “organic”, etc. then you have to be sure your suppliers can support the claim and that the ingredients will continue to be available at a reasonable cost.
Packaging can be even more challenging as special print runs of even conventional materials will result in huge quantities and high costs. Specialised materials such as compostable films which are only available from a few suppliers can be even more difficult and of course you need to make absolutely sure your artwork is correct and to be at the print run if at all possible, to ensure the colour, odour etc. is fully acceptable.
It may be that at least initially you have to settle for a plain unprinted wrap with the details added by carefully applied stickers which can be printed in reasonable quantities fairly cheaply. Whilst this is laborious it is better, once again, than having to purchase and store large quantities of wrappers which can be a fire hazard as well and locking up a lot of cash
Recipes, Keeping, Costs and Records
You will (hopefully) have recorded recipes, process, procedures and conditions as you have developed the product(s) you are hoping will be successful. It is of course as essential to record those that did not work as those that did in order to avoid repeating mistakes. You actually learn a lot more from “failures” than from “successes” as long as you take a little time to understand why they were failures.
Once you have a prototype (and have made it a few times to understand the process thoroughly) you can then re-examine it for the following
• If you wrap it in a representative way does it “keep” under typical shop conditions – does it retain flavour and texture and hopefully no signs of spoilage. Your products will have been made for some time before the consumer sees them, so you really need to aim at a shelf life of 6 months
• Do you really know the actual cost of ingredient, packaging and overheads such as power, heat, your own time, etc. There will inevitably be some scrap material, even if only associated with cleaning, you need to include this in your calculations.
• Have you considered the costs you have had to incur for equipment, changes to buildings, etc. and how much does it cost to distribute and advertise the product. Initially you might be happy to recover just the ingredient and packaging costs in the price, but longer term you have to have a financially viable proposition.
• Are you aware of any particular sensitivities in the costs. Sometimes a particular ingredient or process step can be responsible for a high proportion of the costs, is there a cheaper alternative which won’t degrade the product.
• If you are prepared to lose a little money initially to establish yourself in a market you still need a pricing strategy which will ultimately make the product profitable
Losses, Scrap and Giveaway
It is extremely easy to lose a significant amount of your expensive raw ingredients through easily avoided errors including poor storage, spillage, not emptying bags completely, inaccurate weighing and not following recipes accurately.
Any manufacturing process produces a little scrap material – cleaning equipment, selvedge and cutting losses, poor control of process, variations in ingredients, etc. You must design and develop recipes and processes which minimise these losses and properly store any scrap material which does arise. You must also ensure that your recipes can absorb at least some of this material so that you can minimise losses. This is rarely taken into account as everyone assumes their process will be “100% correct”, but it virtually never is.
“Giveaway” is the term used to describe the effect of making products over weight due to poor weight control and to ensure that the declared weight on the wrapper is achieved. It is another issue which is rarely addressed well by small start up businesses. In essence this results in you giving away expensive finished product to the consumer for free.
Everyone assumes that their process, recipe adherence, weight control is “perfect” but it never is. You should be able to construct a “mass balance” which aligns material in with good product out to the market. There are inevitably some process losses (typically moisture) but you should be able to get a close compliance by hunting down the differences between dry material in (ingredients) and dry material out (number of products times declared weight).
It is extremely useful to extend this calculation to ingredient costs as this will give you a real understanding of the sensitivity of your product costs to individual ingredients and possibly highlight ways in which you can reduce costs and improve profitability
Product Presentation
The consumer’s first “contact” with the product is with the packaging) not just individual wraps but also cartons), so this is vitally important.
Similarly the consumer’s first contact with you and your company is extremely important. Picture of you in a white coat and hat in spotless surroundings is worthwhile as it will create an image of hygiene and professionalism. Flyers, posters and other promotional material need to be professionally produced and well thought out, emphasising the key points which you believe differentiate your company and products from those of competitors.
If you have a stand or presence somewhere make sure it present the “story” you have to tell, even edge cards for shop diplays can be a great help to get you noticed.
Proper and accurate information on the label needs to include:-
• Ingredients listed in order of weight
• Any potential allergens in BOLD in the above list
• Any claims to “natural”, “fair trade” etc. in brackets in the above list
• Nutritional information including total energy, fat content, etc. This can generally be calculated from the ingredients listing and the composition of the ingredients
Never under estimate the value of having your product look professionally wrapped and cartoned. This is all part of the “Trust, Quality and Value” statement, remember that you are asking someone to purchase and consume something they have never seen before from a company they have probably never heard of so you need to establish credibility from the outset.
This may come from an inferred approval – sold and labelled with the name of a well known tourist attraction, for example – or by carefully establishing the credentials of your company, the product and its ingredients. This is where selling directly at something like a local food market or shop may allow you to interact directly with the customer and to make your case personally
If you are selling the product through smaller shops make sure the shopkeeper and his staff know about you and the product so they can answer customer’s questions or even refer them to you or your website
A well thought out website for online sales is also vital. Again, this needs to establish credibility and offer the opportunity for dialogue – make sure customers can feed back their thoughts and opinions so you can develop a dialogue with them and continuously refine your products and the ways in which they are presented
Equipment
Moving from small scale hand operation to something larger will probably require some machinery, but that in turn requires a thorough understanding of what you want that machine to do. Scaling up recipes, processes and operations is more difficult than generally recognised
You should consider at least discussing what you are planning with someone who has relevant experience and they may be able to guide you to appropriate sources and specifications of equipment
New equipment can be extremely expensive and whilst there are cheaper sources of machinery (including many from China) caution is required as you may have no recompense if equipment is faulty or even dangerous. Loynds is one company which imports small scale manufacturing equipment from China and upgrades it to EU standards and may be worth considering. There are also small scale equipment manufacturers in Italy and elsewhere in Europe
There are various sources of second hand equipment out in the market place and several companies who will refurbish equipment for you. Again, caution is required as buying from overseas suppliers may expose you to risk and equipment may not be fully functional or tested to required standards (pressure tests, electrical safety, etc.). There are a number of UK based second hand machinery suppliers, for example AMP Rose.
Buying a machine is only part of the equation, it will need installation and appropriate services (power, hot and cold water, compressed air, steam etc.) which in turn need to be of the right specification for the equipment to work safely and successfully. Machine also need to be cleaned regularly, so consider this in your installation plans, particularly the location of and access to drains.
Note that packaging equipment can be as important as manufacturing equipment. Not only will professionally packaged products be much more attractive to the consumer, but they will protect the product better. There are some packaging methods which align with particular products for technical reasons – for example “twist wraps” will retain the shape of softer products better than flow (pillow) wraps. Conversely a sealed small flow wrap combined with the appropriate material gives the product excellent protection against moisture and odour and may facilitate individual piece sales rather than requiring secondary packaging such as a bag.
Product Categories
An important differentiation is in the current ingredients and specification of products which may be called “Chocolate” and those for which this description is forbidden
There is a very clear set of compositional and labelling regulations covering chocolate (The Cocoa and Chocolate Produces (England)). The fundamental issue is that to be described as chocolate in any of the categories the product must use cocoa butter as its main fat with only small amounts of other fats permitted. There are strict legal limits on other ingredients which can be added and the levels at which they must be present.
This in turn means that great care is needed with certain ingredients (particularly milk fats, nut pastes and other vegetable fats) which will make chocolate very difficult to temper and will soften the product.
Products using alternative fats can be manufactured but require clear labelling that they are not chocolate per se. An additional difficulty for the small manufacturer is that good quality alternatives to cocoa butter which do not need tempering are fairly expensive and can be difficult to source in small quantities.
There is of course interest in “sugar free” and “low energy” products. However, these require specialist ingredients (to replace the bulk of sugar) which are expensive and have handling difficulties. These alternatives tend to be lower in sweetness than sugar and thus frequently need high intensity sweeteners to supplement the flavour.
There are a number of different categories in the confectionery business and they all require a subtly different approach. These include:-
• Chocolate (panned goods, solid moulded, filled, etc.
• Chewy (Nougatines, Caramels, Mallows, etc.)
• Gummies (Jellies, Chewy)
• Sugar panned products
• Hard candy (Sugar/Sugar Free hard boilings etc.)
• Chewing Gum/Bubble Gum
Of these I would advise against the last two.
Hard candy can be produced very cheaply on a large scale and then packed in a variety of ways, so competing with established manufacturers will be extremely difficult. It is also a category which is difficult in which to innovate and to guarantee repeat purchases. Sugar free boilings have some additional technical difficulties and in addition to high cost require labelling to highlight potential dangers of over consumption
Chewing gum requires quite specialist equipment and ingredients (which are difficult to source on a small scale) to produce a quality product. Although technically not difficult to produce (flavours are “added” rather than created during processing) the equipment for small scale production is expensive and as a product category it has a degree of resistance from many people chiefly associated with ”disposal”.
There are many existing excellent sources of information on recipes, specific ingredients, manufacturing method and processes, etc. It is well worth investing in and thoroughly reading some of the more authoritative ones, particularly:-
• Beckett’s Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use (Beckett, Fowler, Ziegler)
• Sugar Confectionery Manufacture (E.B.Jackson)
• Sugar Confectionery and Chocolate Manufacture (R Lees)
These (and others) all cover the technical aspects of confectionery manufacture in great detail and there is little point in attempting to reproduce all of that here. There is also a wealth of information on the internet, but care is needed as some of the advice is not particularly good and it tends to be focussed on “kitchen” rather than small scale manufacturing as such.
The following is a more general review of the issues involved and some of the difficulties in the categories mentioned above.
In addition, it is worth offering some thoughts on two important ingredients in particular
Glucose
Glucose is used in many sugar confectionery recipes, it has an important role in supressing crystallisation and acting as a humectant. Whilst chemically “glucose” is a single substance (also known as dextrose), the materials generally referred to in the confectionery industry as “glucose” are a mixture of different polysaccharides in the form of a syrup (usually 80% solids) the specification of which is adjusted depending on use.
Standard glucoses are identified by their “DE” or dextrose equivalent. The most common are 42DE and 63DE. 63DE is sweeter and less viscous than 42DE and contains more shorter chain polysaccharides. In addition there is a wide range of specialist glucoses such as HM (high maltose) which can be used for their specific properties.
Although an excellent shelf stable ingredient, glucose can become brown and bitter if stored at elevated temperatures (>50°C) and because of its viscosity it is relatively difficult to handle physically when cold.
Cocoa
Cocoa is an attractive but emotive ingredient and is extremely important, however there are very real issues which you need to consider.
• You can buy cocoa beans but raw cocoa is a very crude material with a high microbiological count. It needs to be isolated from other ingredients and sterilised (and generally roasted) and the shells removed before use. There are a number of country sources with widely varying quality and characteristics. Probably best avoided as a raw material for smaller manufacturers
• Cocoa nibs are more attractive if you wish to incorporate them directly in the product, they should have been sterilised (if UK sourced) and can be raw or roasted. Again quality and flavour can vary considerably and you should find a reliable and consistent source
• To make chocolate you require three different sources of cocoa products:-
– Cocoa mass, finely ground roasted cocoa nibs. Fairly easily sourced but very difficult to produce yourself on a small scale, the roasting and grinding equipment is expensive and complex to achieve the required particle size. There are sources of cocoa mass which attempt to portray poor and often acidic or smoky flavours as “artisan” or “exclusive”, which they are not, they are merely inferior quality products. Always be sure of the flavour and quality, buy from a major, reputable supplier who will supply consistent, safe products
Very finely ground cocoa mass is subjected to very high pressure in a cocoa press to expel cocoa fat from the mass. The resulting hard cakes of cocoa solids with residual fat then have to be ground very finely and cooled to produce cocoa powders. The cocoa fat has to be filtered and is generally deodorised before use in chocolate
– Cocoa solids, most often encountered as cocoa powder at either 11% or 22% cocoa fat content. It may be difficult to source on a medium scale and impossible to produce on a small to medium scale. Very cheap sources tend to have poor or even undesirable flavours. Much the same considerations as for cocoa mass above
Cocoa powders are available in a wide variety of colours and flavours from the major suppliers. This can give a wide range of opportunities to the small to medium user to modify otherwise standard chocolate products
Cocoa butter (ie cocoa fat) is essential for making chocolate products as chocolate contains far more cocoa butter in relation to cocoa solids than do cocoa beans. Fairly easy to source in moderate quantities but flavour and hardness can vary widely depending on source. Impossible to produce on a small to medium scale as with cocoa powder.
Some cocoa butters will be sold as “natural” and will have a very strong roast cocoa flavour. Usable in small quantities but as a sole source will be far too strong in flavour
Deodorised cocoa butters should still have some cocoa flavour but should be mild. These are most suitable but avoid those with no flavour at all and any with off flavours.
Cocoa butters also vary in “hardness” when solidified and even in temperability due to variations in the composition of the cocoa butter triglycerides and (particularly) the presence of mono and diglycerides due to poor sourcing and processing
Chocolate
Manufacturing good quality base chocolate is difficult and expensive and has many potential pitfalls. In particular it is difficult and relatively expensive to do so on a small scale, even from part processed materials such as cocoa mass. If you are planning to do this, have a very, very clear rationale and understanding of why you are doing it. There are plenty of people who will supply you with excellent quality chocolate in reasonable quantities and this is a sensible consideration particularly in the early stages of your business.
Good quality chocolate requires the largest particles to be below about 28µ (microns) and to have a good fluid viscosity. Many chocolates are finer than this and only biscuit coatings significantly higher. Large scale chocolate making generally uses 5 roll refiners to grind and conches to liquify, but the throughput and cost of this type of equipment (several tonnes per hour) is way beyond the needs of small scale producers. An alternative is the “Refiner Conche” type machines which are available in small sizes and are fairly simple to operate, although milled sugar is needed for maximum performance. There are a number of manufacturers but MacIntyre machines are probably the best in terms of performance, wear and temperature control. A cheaper alternative is one of the Chinese built machines upgraded to European standard by Loynds. All of these machines are extremely noisy in operation and tend to need their own sound proofed enclosure.
The approach of buying in chocolate does not need to limit your flavour or quality options, it is relatively easy to combine a base chocolate with other components to make something close to your ambition. You can add additional cocoa mass, subtle flavours, small quantities of nut pastes, etc. to differentiate your product.
Obviously if you are trying to “do something completely different” this may not work, but don’t under estimate the investment in equipment, materials and skills needed to produce chocolate (or anything like it) which is consistent in delivery to the consumer
Chocolate also needs to be handled with care, it is extremely sensitive to temperature and to moisture contamination, contamination by other fats at extremely low levels and of course has (in most cases) to be tempered before use. Tempering involves the creation of the desired crystal form in the chocolate fat system as it cools and is essential to producing a product with gloss and “snap”. In tempering chocolate is taken through a very specific and accurately controlled temperature cycle with vigorous mixing. This can be done by hand but require some skill to be consistently successful, there are also small scale batch and continuous tempering machine available and if you are intending to handle chocolate on any reasonable scale it is well worth considering one of these
The one exception to this need to temper is chocolate panning, where a coating is built up on a core in a rotating pan. This allows a very wide variety of products to be produced flexibly and relatively easily and can be a very useful technique to adopt. Pure chocolate can be remelted with care (generally keeping below 50°C) and solid inclusions sieved out (with some difficulty). However liquid centres and raisins, which contain moisture or fats other than cocoa butter cannot be recycled easily. Any moisture will make chocolate gritty and viscous and fats which are not compatible with cocoa butter (which is most fats used in confectionery in essence) will soften the chocolate and prevent effective tempering.
Chocolate Products
Whilst chocolate all its forms (dark, milk, white and anywhere in between) is attractive to a wide range of consumers, as a new entrant with higher costs and hence pricing you do need points of difference to interest consumers. Flavours, fillings, formats, packaging, these all present opportunities for you to establish a unique identity and interest.
Cycling products through the seasons or even special products for individual events are some opportunities which can present themselves for a small or medium sized flexible business
For the best surface finish tempered chocolate is moulded in solid plastic or metal moulds. When properly tempered, chocolate contracts slightly as it solidifies and will therefore release from the mould quite easily. Chocolate also needs to be cooled carefully after moulding as too low a temperature can actually slow or stop crystallisation of the fats. Generally, temperatures should not be below about 12°C to 15°C and care needs to be taken to avoid condensation on the product when removed from the cooler. Chocolate also need several days to achieve its full hardness after cooling, holding at around 20°C.
Solid moulded chocolate bars are relatively easy to produce and pack, but they do need differentiation to appear attractive. This can be in terms of the product itself but can equally be a special pack for a tourist attraction or local farm shop.
Moving from solid products to filled products introduces a degree of complexity but also opportunity for a wider product range. However, filled products can also be a significant creator of scrap, particularly in inexperienced hands so care is needed. The simplest method is to fill a mould with liquid chocolate and invert it while still liquid before cooling. This produce a hollow shell which can be partly filled with a centre of some kind before more chocolate is used to seal the back of the product. A wide range of materials can be used as centres, but nut pastes need care as the nut oil will migrate into the chocolate and cause it to soften.
Pre formed centres can be coated in chocolate (“enrobed”) to make attractive products but the discipline of tempering and cooling still needs to be applied
Chocolate panned products
One of the simplest and potentially most attractive categories within chocolate is panned coated goods. The manufacturing process is relatively simple and the equipment, at least on a small scale is cheap and straightforward to operate. There are some skills and particular materials involved, but it is relatively simple. Panning requires a low temperature, low humidity air supply and specialist ingredients to precoat and to seal and glaze the product (although cocoa powder or icing sugar can be applied for a dusted product) These sealing and glazing products are easily obtained in reasonable quantities
Chocolate panned products can subsequently be sugar panned in different colours and flavours, and this could be used to produce products carrying the colours of a local company or sports team. The flexibility of small scale manufacturing is a real opportunity for this type of differentiation.
Product can be packed in small bags of various sizes and designs which can easily be made attractive and interesting.
The type of product you decide to make is also going to have a big impact on the difficulty and cost of starting your business. This is probably an order of difficulty, particularly once you move from hand production
1. Chocolate panned goods (avoids tempering and can utilise bought in centres)
2. Solid moulded bars (requires tempering and proper cooling facilities)
3. Solid moulded bars with inclusions (in addition requires inclusions, again these can be bought in)
4. Bar lines (ie enrobed products) with simple centres (simple solid centre can range from something you make to biscuits which can be bought in)
5. Filled moulded bars (centre filling is demanding and the centre material needs to be stable and compatible, even when products are moulded by hand)
6. Bar lines with complex centres (centres which themselves require significant skills to manufacture)
7. Manufacturing your own chocolate (easy to say and aspire to, much more difficult to do)
8. Assortments (require a significant stock of product before you can begin packing and, frequently, expensive packaging
9. Specialist chocolate type materials (such as those using non-traditional materials such as plant “milks” or polyols in place of sucrose
Chewy Products (Caramels, Nougatines, Mallows)
These are all relatively straightforward products but do need quality ingredient and careful processing to produce high quality consistent results.
Caramels need the right balance of milk solids (preferably from condensed milk as it is easier to get a smooth caramel this way) sugar and glucose syrup (to act as a humectant and to reduce the risk of crystallising.
Caramels generally contain some vegetable fat in addition to milk fat from the milk ingredients as well as an emulsifier and salt. Various flavours and ingredients such as syrup and molasses may also be added to give a range of products. Scrap finished product such as cutting losses can be incorporated at a reasonable level to reduce waste.
Caramels are generally cooked in either a steam heated or directly heated vessel with vigorous stirring to prevent burning on the heated surface.
The texture of a caramel is critically dependant on the temperature to which it is cooked (and hence the moisture content) This requires an accurate thermometer and a well defined method to measure the temperature. Typical cooking temperatures are 120°C – 140°C, higher (160°C) for a butterscotch or peanut brittle both of which contain a much lower level of milk protein as otherwise they would burn at the higher temperature
Much of the flavour of a caramel comes from the cooking process where the milk proteins react with various sugars to produce flavours and the characteristic brown colour. Once the final cooking temperature has been reached caramels should be cooled to stop the flavour development reactions and prevent burning
Flavours are generally added at the end of cooking or during initial cooling
Caramels and fudges are usually cooled as a relatively thin layer (15mm – 30mm typically) on a cooling table – a metal table which has water cooling pipes through which water at a controlled temperature can be circulated. Once tipped onto the table caramels are left to cool without any agitation other than to mix in flavour.
Fudges are really a caramel which has had some of the sugars crystallised. They tend to have a higher proportion of sugar than caramels and have less natural flavour development. Once the cooking temperature reached there are really two options
• Cooling with the mixing in of some milled (icing) sugar sufficiently to prevent further flavour development and then resting or with a little mixing to allow crystallisation. The milled sugar initiates crystallisation. Little of no mixing will result in relatively large sugar crystals and a brittle grainy fudge.
• Cooling and adding milled sugar and flavours while agitating vigorously. This results in finer sugar crystals and a smoother generally more chewy product.
Caramels and fudges can have inclusions added, but care is needed as nuts may absorb moisture from the mass and become soft and others such as raisins may absorb enough moisture to create a microbiological hazard.
Nougatines are a more complex product as in confectionery terms they require the combination of an aerated component produced from a mix of a protein (often egg white or a soya alternative) dissolved in sugar and water with a sugar/glucose high boil.
Colours and flavours are added at the end of the mixing process which is carried out gently to avoid deaerating the aerated component. It is also possible to add nuts and other solid inclusions, but care needs to be exercised as any with a high moisture content can give rise to spoilage and some such as nuts will absorb moisture from the nougatine and soften
The balance between the two components and the cooking temperature of the high boil component gives a very wide range of textures from relatively soft to quite tough. The aeration and presence of the protein makes the product easier to bite through and more chewable
Aerated caramels and fudges can be produced by using a caramel in place of the sugar high boil component
Soft mallows take the level of aeration further and are so soft when produced as to require moulding, generally in starch. Mallows are generally produced using a gelatin solution mixed with a sugar glucose syrup cooked to a relatively low temperature before vigorous aeration. In order to achieve the required degree of aeration the solid content has to be relatively low at the aeration stage so the product is generally deposited into mould cavities formed in starch. The products are then dried at a modest temperature for some time (around 48 hours) to achieve a stable moisture content and to allow the gelatin gel to form properly.
Although there are alternative aerating agents for mallows, none currently produces the same soft and elastic texture as gelatin
Gummies
Gummies comprise of a wide variety of chewy products which are fairly easy to make, although they do need some specialist knowledge and care in their manufacture
They basically comprise a mix of a gelling agent, sugar, glucose, flavours and colours cooked and deposited into a starch mould before drying and cooling. Although final solids depositing into metal or plastic moulds is technically possible it is significantly more difficult to manage
A number of different gelling agents can be used, including gelatin, pectins, starches and gum Arabic. Each gives a different texture and of course gelatin is not vegetarian. Gelatin gives to most elastic product and gum Arabic the hardest. Frequently gelling agents are used in combination to achieve a particular texture and also for cost saving – gelatin in particular being relatively expensive and potentially variable in its performance
It is important to ensure that the gelling agent is fully hydrated before adding it to the sugar/glucose mix before cooking as otherwise it will not perform properly and achieve the required product characteristics. Some gelling agents, particularly pectins, also require a specific pH in order to form a gel
The sugar/glucose gelling agent mix is cooked to a solids content at which it has a viscosity which can conveniently be deposited, usually into a starch mould. Although some starch based products can be deposited at final solids most products require a period of drying and cooling. This ensures that the product is at a high enough solids to be stable and also during the cooling phase for a full gel to form. This is particularly important for gelatin products as gelatin gels take many hours to achieve their full strength
The starch into which mould cavities are formed needs to be at a controlled moisture and temperature and may need drying between batches
Once deposited the products need to dried as quickly as possible but at a controlled temperature and humidity. Drying can take between 24h and several days depending on the formulation and final product as well as the conditions used. Cooling and final gel formation is typically 12 hours
Too high a temperature will result in degradation of the gelling agent and browning of the product. Too low a humidity can result in skinning and even extended drying times.
After drying and cooling the product is removed from the starch and cleaned before oiling or sanding (steamed and typically coated in fine crystal sugar) to prevent it sticking before holding for 24 hours before packing to allow the product to stabilise.
Sugar Panning
Sugar panning is slightly more complicated than chocolate panning and there are two different types
• “Hard” panning where a crisp shell is formed
• “Soft” panning where the coating is soft and chewable, frequently a layer of hard panning is applied over a soft panned base
In both cases a centre has successive layers of sugar built up on it by applying and drying sugar solutions to the unit in a rotating pan. After each application the sugar syrup coating is dried using warm air
In hard panning only a sugar solution is added and dried. This can incorporate colours and flavours in addition to sugar.
In soft panning icing sugar is added after the sugar syrup and the before drying.
Both of these processes take a substantial time to create a reasonable thickness of coating – several hours. They are therefore fairly expensive in terms of the time taken and the capacity of the equipment used
Hard Candy, “Honeycomb”
Whilst high boilings in general are very generic and almost impossible to make profit from for a small producer, there are a few products which are popular and can be used both alone and as an ingredient for other products.
It is possible to buy small scale sugar confectionery equipment or to make by hand, but the products are difficult to differentiate from those commercially manufactured.
“Honeycomb” in confectionery sense has very little if anything to do with honey (although you can add a bit if you wish) It is basically a high boil sugar/glucose syrup to which a small amount of sodium bicarbonate has been added at the end of cooking.
The bicarbonate decomposes and forms carbon dioxide which causes the sugar boil to expand into a foam instantly and to caramelise rapidly. This is not the caramelisation normally experienced in caramels, it is browning and flavour development caused by the high pH and temperature degrading the sugars.
The process is quite hazardous to carry out by hand, the expansion is extremely rapid and the product very hot (140°C) when it is mixed. Great care is needed until you are familiar with the process.
It is essential to spread and cool the mass as quickly as possible on a cold table. If it is not cooled then it will rapidly over caramelise and give burnt, unpleasant flavours. There is a certain amount of judgement needed in terms of the cooking temperature, the temperature at which the bicarbonate is added, the thickness of the sheet and the rate of cooling from the cold table and from cool air blown across the top of the sheet. All of these will affect the flavour and degree of expansion and hence texture of the product
When completely cold the material will be very brittle and difficult to break up without a lot of dust and fine granules being formed. If the material is warmed slightly it becomes less likely to shatter. Dust and fines can be recycled to the initial sugar boil in small amounts without affecting the flavour too much.
Butterscotch and Nut Brittles are made by adding fats (particularly butter) to a high boil sugar/glucose mix which creates a product which is not as hard and glassy as a pure high boil. The moisture is low enough such that nuts added will not soften as long as they are roasted before use.to make a nut brittle.
Although butterscotch can be cast into thickish pieces, both it and particularly nut brittle are easier to enjoy in thin sheets, cut into slabs while still pliable
Chewing Gums
Chewing Gum and Bubble Gum require the use of a “gum base” which generally has to be bought from a commercial supplier. These gum bases are a mix of various food grade polymers, waxes, emulsifiers and fillers and require specialist ingredient sourcing and mixing technology.
To produce a gum, gum base is melted and mixed with fillers, milled sugar (or milled sugar alternatives and sweeteners) flavours and colours. This and the subsequent sheeting steps require specialist heavy duty equipment as the mass is extremely viscous.
After sheeting and cooling the material typically has to mature for some time to become firm enough to be formed into strips for packing or smaller tablets or small balls for sugar or sugar free panning
Due to the specialist ingredients and processing this is not a technology for a small business. In addition there is substantial opposition to gum products in the market place due to the issue of gum disposal after eating.
Improving Nutrition
By offering improved nutrition it is possible to differentiate products and to make them interesting and attractive to consumers. You may have some original and interesting ideas here. However, this needs to be done in ways which:-
• Do not degrade the characteristics of the product, it still has to taste delicious and wholesome.
• Do not contain large amounts of very expensive ingredients – you have a hill to climb to get people buying your product without them appearing to be expensive. A small price premium may even be an advantage, but don’t turn potential customers off with high prices
• Do not include ingredients which require a limit to consumption or warning notices. Many “sugar replacers” for example, can cause unpleasant intestinal effects if consumed to excess, and children are particularly vulnerable to this.
• Where you are making a claim about the source or other characteristics of your ingredients, products or processing you must be certain that you can substantiate such claims.
There are people who have very genuine allergies and sensitivities to common ingredients. Be very aware that even very low levels of contamination can affect these people so you must be extremely careful and be willing to highlight risks (for example “produced in an environment where nut are also handled”
Unfortunately there are far more people who think they have allergies than actually do and these will be the people who will loudly question you about the smallest details (often trying to show how knowledgeable they claim to be). Be willing to cut short discussion by saying that as a small producer you cannot guarantee things in the way that larger suppliers may be able to and suggest they do not buy your products.
Whilst relatively inert things such as fibres and unusual flavours or inclusions are fairly easy to handle vitamins and similar active additives require specialist handing and careful weighing as they are added in very small quantities
Many vitamins are sensitive to temperature, moisture and pH so may degrade rapidly during processing and storage, for example in gummies.
Note also that in order to make any kind of health or nutritional claim you have to be able to support the claim with proper scientific and technical information which can be proven. Many of the claims for products and ingredients on the internet are some way away from this level of rigor and some ar downright misleading