You may remember that we wrote a blog post about how fine chocolate ISN’T like wine, craft beer and specialty coffee. If you haven’t read the post yet, you can read it here. Or if you want a quick summary – fine chocolate is often compared to these industries as they are all luxury/specialty products that have seen a rise in consumer demand, and in their willingness to pay more for these products. There are many similarities and lessons that the fine chocolate industry can learn from each of these industries. But there’s one critical difference hildren, whereas coffee, beer and wine are products that most people don’t consume very much until they are adults. So our challenge in the fine chocolate industry when it comes to both educating and marketing to consumers doesn’t simply involve selling them a product, it involves helping them to relearn what they think of as chocolate. 

As our industry grows and we work towards our common goal of educating consumers about why they should buy fine chocolate instead of mass market chocolate, it is our belief that this critical difference is one that can help our marketing and education efforts.If we are to help consumers understand the differences between “fine” chocolate and mass market chocolate, and persuade them to open their wallets to spend more, then perhaps the place to start is meeting them where they are.

On the same panel, Brad Kintzer from TCHO Chocolate mentioned that their best seller is a dark chocolate bar with almonds and sea salt. It’s not one of their fanciest bars, it doesn't have the most unique flavor profile, but people love it. It probably tastes similar to the hunks of chocolate bark that they grew up eating as kids, but better! It's an "entry" chocolate, it's approachable, and it helps them appreciate a chocolate bar with high-quality ingredients in a familiar context.

Another recent comment from an industry colleague at the Northwest Chocolate Festival was "Chocolate makers make chocolate to impress other chocolate makers".Unfortunately, I can't recall who said it but it struck me as such an interesting point. Are we actually making products that consumers want? Are we focusing on the details that they actually care about? Maybe this is the time that we need to pause and take stock of where we are.

Please don’t misunderstand our point – we love a 70% single-origin chocolate bar that has coaxed the perfect delicate flavor balance out of the beans. Comparing bars of similar percentages from different origins is a great way to showcase the different flavor profiles that a chocolate bar can have. There are chocolate makers creating beautiful chocolates, and we don’t take anything away from them at all. They should be celebrated for turning a product with so much positive childhood association into something that can be enjoyed on a whole new level in adulthood.

But if the average person in the U.S. thinks a mass-market chocolate bar is where it’s at, then maybe a 70% single-origin bar isn’t where we should start to help them appreciate fine chocolate. Going back to the Starbucks example for a moment, are we shoving lattes and frappuccinos® down people’s throats when we should be meeting them where they are, with drip coffee? Especially when they’ve been happily eating milk chocolate mass-market chocolate bars (i.e. drip coffee) since they were little kids?

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