at Sun, 27 Nov 2005 20:02:14 GMT in <1133118296.007217.168900
@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, (annead) wrote :

>Hi all...
>
>I'm seriously considering opening a Chocolate Cafe -similar to
>Starbucks - with a variety of hot and cold chocolate drinks with
>pastries and some candy bar sales, etc. I haven't really seen anything
>like this where I live (DC area) but know of several in Europe. What do
>you think? Thanks for your comments!!
>
Location will be crucial. Here in Seattle the prototype is Dilettante
Chocolates, with chocolate cafes in Capitol Hill, Pike Place Market, and
6th avenue downtown. Note that they've sited them in areas with high foot
traffic. That's the critical aspect because unlike coffeeshops where people
often drive in, chocolate tends to be more of an impulse that hits you as
you walk by. Site the exhaust vent so that it blows out to the street. Be
sure to display rather decadent things in the window.

If you're going to carry chocolate bars, try to pick up brands you can't
just find on any street corner, but that are real, legitimate bean-to-bar
manufacturers, not just somebody repackaging someone else's couverture.
Resist the urge to charge excessively for them. Companies like Amedei,
Pralus, and Bonnat make good choices because they're fairly limited in
availability. Cluizel, Valrhona, or Scharffen Berger, by contrast, are
great chocolates but bad choices because they have wide distribution. And
make sure that with whatever brands you stock you carry most of their line,
not just one or 2 items.

Choose carefully your brand of chocolate to make the drinks from. For
instance, it'd be nice to go with a high-end chocolatier, but that means
the price for a drink would be exorbitant. Guittard is a good choice
because as a domestic brand they're cheap, and they're every bit as good as
any chocolatier in the world - on a par with Cluizel, Domori, etc.

Offer a variety of drinks at a variety of intensities. Some people will
like the strong, espresso-like hit of a pure unsweetened chocolate simply
melted and put in a demitasse, but others will want something mild and
milky - a good high-end hot chocolate. Price fairly and offer realistic
sizes (viz. is anybody going to want to drink the equivalent of 200g of
chocolate? Probably not. OTOH, people will be equally turned off if you
serve ordinary hot chocolate in 4-oz demitasse cups).

Good luck.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)