Wholesale Chocolate Prices

[Bentley]

I'm just an amateur working out of my home for fun. I buy chocolate one bag at a time as I need it from a couple of different online sources.  I pay about $90 for a 6.6lb of Valrhona Jivara, $80 for a 6.6lb bag of Valrhona Opalys, $105 for an 11lb bag of Cocoa Barry Ocoa.  

 

I'm curious what kind of pricing professional chocolatiers can get.  

[Jim D.]

An amateur?  From your posts, I think you may well have passed that designation long ago.  I had thought you were near opening a shop.

 

But, aside from that, your $80 for 3 kilos of Opalys is a good price--it's usually in the $90+ category at retail.  But Chocosphere does offer wholesale accounts, and the Opalys price is approximately $72.  The only catch is that your order must total at least $250 (excluding shipping), so that means I have to order 4 bags of Opalys at a time (unless I'm getting something else).  I use Felchlin for dark and milk, which no one is allowed to sell aside from AUI (big mistake on Felchlin's part, I think, but no one asked me), so I can't order those from Chocosphere.  Unfortunately  I live a long way from Oregon, so shipping is substantial.  I asked Pastry Depot (in Atlanta) about ordering Opalys in quantity, and the price they offered was well above Chocosphere's.  Could I ask where you get your Opalys at the price you mentioned?

[Bentley]

26 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

An amateur?  From your posts, I think you may well have passed that designation long ago.  I had thought you were near opening a shop.

I had gone pretty far down the path of opening a shop...but I ultimately couldn't make the economics work.  I'm in SW FL and Real estate is too expensive in my town,  it's very hot year round here and shipping to most of the country is very expensive.  And I'd be competing directly with Norman Love locally.  To do what I was hoping to accomplish would require ideally locating in the midwest where I could ship to 80% of the country in 1 day for less than $10.  In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't open up - probably would have lost a lot with the pandemic.  

 

Thanks for the info on prices. I would have expected a bigger difference.  I wonder if the big guys like Chris Elbow or Kate Weiser are getting even bigger discounts for volume.  

 

  I get most of my retail chocolate from Pastry Depot.  They have a somewhat limited selection of chocolates, but enough for me and Atlanta is close enough so that I can use their free shipping option and still receive my package in a couple of days.  Valrhona is on sale now there- 10 to 20% off.  

Edited October 9, 2020 by Bentley (log)

[Jim D.]

30 minutes ago, Bentley said:

I had gone pretty far down the path of opening a shop...but I ultimately couldn't make the economics work.  I'm in SW FL and Real estate is too expensive in my town,  it's very hot year round here and shipping to most of the country is very expensive.  And I'd be competing directly with Norman Love locally.  To do what I was hoping to accomplish would require ideally locating in the midwest where I could ship to 80% of the country in 1 day for less than $10.  In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't open up - probably would have lost a lot with the pandemic.  

 

Thanks for the info on prices. I would have expected a bigger difference.  I wonder if the big guys like Chris Elbow or Kate Weiser are getting even bigger discounts for volume.  

 

  I get most of my retail chocolate from Pastry Depot.  They have a somewhat limited selection of chocolates, but enough for me and Atlanta is close enough so that I can use their free shipping option and still receive my package in a couple of days.  Valrhona is on sale now there- 10 to 20% off.  

 

Thanks for the info on the Valrhona sale.  Even though the site states that the free shipping option is not applicable to chocolate, that's still a good price, and they currently have a 30% off offer with no minimum.

[Muscadelle]

Interesting... I pay around CAD92 $ for Organic and faire trade chocolates from Valrhona. Waina - Andoa Lactee and Oriado

[Rajala]

Seems like you need to pay a hefty extra for Valrhona, by living in the USA.

[Bentley]

3 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

Thanks for the info on the Valrhona sale.  Even though the site states that the free shipping option is not applicable to chocolate, that's still a good price, and they currently have a 30% off offer with no minimum.

My chocolate has always shipped free from Pastry Depot.  Still, it probably will save more to use the 30% code instead of the free shipping code.

[pastrygirl]

The best news to come out of the pandemic is that chocolate is now on sale. If you have any contacts at Valrhona, ask them about overstock. They have a lot of whites plus some of the inspirations at deep discount due to being close to the sell by date. Shipping from Brooklyn would be much gentler on you east coasters. (I bought 6 assorted bags for approx $400 including $100 second day air shipping. But with cooler weather and shorter distance you could risk ground shipping) 
 

AUI also has some Felchlin on sale and I believe they’ve lowered their shipping minimum to $150. The container was already at sea when COVID started, then they lost all their summer hotel & cruise ship customers. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by pastrygirl (log)

[Jim D.]

6 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

Shipping from Brooklyn would be much gentler on you east coasters.

 

Are you referring to a company in Brooklyn?  

[Bentley]

13 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

 

Are you referring to a company in Brooklyn?  

Valrhona US is in Brooklyn.

[pastrygirl]

13 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

 

Are you referring to a company in Brooklyn?  

Valrhona US hq is in Brooklyn, I bought directly from them. I can ask my west coast rep for a contact in your area if you like.  The Opalys is sell by next month but it’s sealed bags so I’m risking it. 

[Rajala]

Just now, pastrygirl said:

The Opalys is sell by next month but it’s sealed bags so I’m risking it. 

 

I can't see that you'll notice any difference for a few months at least. And they have a best before date on their bags if I don't remember it wrong. Not like a "use before" date or whatever. We have two different dates here, where one is just a recommendation where as the other type of date needs to be strictly followed.

[pastrygirl]

 

Made in January, best by November so they only give it 10 months which is on the short side anyway. I figure if I can sell it in holiday stuff it’ll be eaten by spring, or max 15-18 months from manufacture. 

[Jim D.]

58 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

Valrhona US hq is in Brooklyn, I bought directly from them. I can ask my west coast rep for a contact in your area if you like.  The Opalys is sell by next month but it’s sealed bags so I’m risking it. 

Yes, if it's not too much trouble, I would like the name of someone in the east.

[pastrygirl]

Back to the original question - I use mostly Felchlin and AUI does give a volume discount above $750 (but of course that doesn't apply to sale items).  I don't know much about Valrhona's Cercle V but there appear to be perks associated with using a lot of their chocolate - trips, social media, hopefully discounts. 

 

I buy Valrhona and Cacao Barry through Peterson (wholesaler here and in NJ), Valrhona Dulcey is around $81/3kg, raspberry Inspiration was about $106,  and CB Zephyr is around $88/5kg

 

Caputo's has a good selection of Valrhona, might be worth a wholesale inquiry.  https://caputos.com/

 

[teonzo]

12 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

The Opalys is sell by next month but it’s sealed bags so I’m risking it. 

 

Problem with Opalys is after you open the bag. If it's in the bag and has been stored correctly, then no troubles. After you open it, better using it within 2 months or less.

 

 

Seems like you pay double the price for Valrhona if compared to prices here in Europe. Which is a pretty big increase, even considering transoceanic transportation and import fees. US producers should have caught up about expertise and technology, so it's strange that there is no US competitor with similar quality and lower prices.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[pastrygirl]

2 hours ago, teonzo said:

US producers should have caught up about expertise and technology, so it's strange that there is no US competitor with similar quality and lower prices.

 

We have quality chocolates and we have lower priced chocolates but not much overlap between the categories

 

[Jim D.]

5 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

We have quality chocolates and we have lower priced chocolates but not much overlap between the categories

 

And I think that European (or non-American at least) cachet accounts for some of it.  "Valrhona" is the word that catches people's eye, even if they don't know much about chocolate.  And the Valrhona corporation long ago realized this and priced their product accordingly.  I have had some Valrhona products that I thought tasted mediocre at best (Satilia being one). It would be interesting to do a blind tasting of the best of Valrhona and the best of Guittard and see what happens.  Once I tried to talk Chocosphere into packaging small amounts of lots of different chocolates for this purpose, but I guess this would not be profitable enough.

[Chocolot]

On 10/9/2020 at 6:33 PM, pastrygirl said:

Back to the original question - I use mostly Felchlin and AUI does give a volume discount above $750 (but of course that doesn't apply to sale items).  I don't know much about Valrhona's Cercle V but there appear to be perks associated with using a lot of their chocolate - trips, social media, hopefully discounts. 

 

I buy Valrhona and Cacao Barry through Peterson (wholesaler here and in NJ), Valrhona Dulcey is around $81/3kg, raspberry Inspiration was about $106,  and CB Zephyr is around $88/5kg

 

Caputo's has a good selection of Valrhona, might be worth a wholesale inquiry.  https://caputos.com/

 

 

The wholesale end of Caputo's is Apriori.  https://aprioridistribution.com/. I get good pricing from them, except on Yuzu inspriation! That just about emptied my bank account!

[Kerry Beal]

Question from a fellow in NY near JFK. Has been buying Barry Callebaut from Restaurant Depot - looking for better pricing and more variety. Anyone have any ideas? I really only know Canadian suppliers. 

[pastrygirl]

@Kerry Beal send him to Peterson for Valrhona and Barry Callebaut, Albert Uster for Felchlin.

 

https://petersoncheese.com/products/catalogpage.asp?tagID=179&tsID=26&catID=17#t

https://secure.auifinefoods.com/felchlin

  

[Kerry Beal]

Thanks much

[curls]

Also have him check with Chef’s Warehouse for the Valrhona and Barry Callebaut. AUI for Felchin.

[Vojta]

I don't know if its any help, but in the middle of Europe I get 1 kg (2.2 lb) of Callebaut N°811 for 13.4$, which is like go to chocolate of everyone. You can find cheaper brands, but you dont want to and more expensive like Valrhona aren't being sold here. And if I am not wrong you can get it for 7-8$ in Belgium, where it's made.

[Kerry Beal]

How about online sources in the US that might be less expensive?