Luxury Chocolate Business Assumptions.

[Choco Loco]

Dear Chocolatiers and business Gurus 

 

I am looking to start a high end chocolate boutique in a 60k ppl affluent town in the US. I am working on my financial projections. Please help estimate daily sales numbers (avg. price per piece and amounts sold).
 

Also, can anyone give me an idea of the cost (per unit?) of importing ready made chocolates from France and Belgium into the US (wholesale price per piece and associated importing costs). Thank you very much! 

[Alex]

Re your first question, I'm wondering how anyone can give you any sort of reasonable answer w/o knowing the town -- and even then, any sales numbers someone here could provide you (assuming they're willing to do so), would apply only to their location.

 

Re your second question, I'm wondering why you haven't simply contacted the companies directly.

[Choco Loco]

Yes, hoping that somebody will be willing to share ballpark numbers. I absolutely understand, that nobody will give me an exact number for my particular location.
If you are not willing to share, that’s fine.  
For your second question, I did contact two and haven’t received answers yet or maybe they just ignored. If somebody already knows the number this is a much easier way to get initial estimates, so I am giving it a try.  
 

[Kerry Beal]

I think that most of the chocolatiers and chocolate business people on this forum make their own bars and bon bons rather than importing. 

 

I suspect pricing from various companies will vary depending on the amount you buy - so you'll have to do your research on question 1 first to estimate what you might sell to know how much you can buy. 

 

The product will come frozen and you'll need sufficient freezer space and a proper management system for the gradual thawing of product to prevent sugar bloom. 

 

Have you been in any stores that are doing what you are proposing? You might want to do a little visiting around to get an idea of their pricing as a place to start. 

 

Maison du chocolat in NYC

 

Neuhaus in the US

 

Leonidas

 

Santa Barbara Chocolate

 

Belgiums Chocolate Source

 

 

 

 

[Choco Loco]

Hello Kerry, 

 

thank you very much for the valuable insights.  I did not think about freezers.  Yes, I definitely figured out the pricing in the area. I am struggling with the assumptions for cost and volume that can be sold.  I am at the initial stage where I run numbers and see if this business makes sense at all but volume is very tough to estimate even though it is clear the demand will be high.  

[pastrygirl]

60k people is a small town.  Is it a tourist destination? 

 

It's all about marketing.  How will you sell the product? 

[Choco Loco]

It’s a very densely populated town in the most densely populated state. Not touristy.  Affluent.  I am not looking to invest meaningfully in marketing. Everyone in the town will know right away. Plus it will be on the main street with heavy foot traffic. 

[gfron1]

I highly encourage you (since you're in the US) to reach out to your Small Business Development Center. Their experts can walk you through the development of a business plan, which will cover all of these questions and more. Please take this comment in the spirit of helpfulness it is intended - your original question suggests that you have very limited knowledge of running an operation like this, and the failure rate of new businesses is so high, and in chocolate with ever rising CoDB the risk is even higher. My original SBDC consultant (which is a free service) told me that their job is to talk me out of starting a business, because if they couldn't do that then I likely had a solid plan for success. Best wishes in following your dream!

Edited February 22 by gfron1 (log)

[Choco Loco]

Thank you. I absolutely would do it after figuring out feasibility of this potential business.  I actually have a strong business side and created a few business plans. I am looking for help with a couple  assumptions, that are specific to the business I am unfamiliar with.  

[gfron1]

1 hour ago, Choco Loco said:

Thank you. I absolutely would do it after figuring out feasibility of this potential business.  I actually have a strong business side and created a few business plans. I am looking for help with a couple  assumptions, that are specific to the business I am unfamiliar with.  

OK, it sounds like you've got things well under control then. I would suggest browsing the pastry forum which has a few topics on starting a chocolate business. Those might have what you're looking for.

[Choco Loco]

Thank you very much.  Will do.  I saw people helping with the numbers on the forum and thought it would be a good way to try.