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| Dr Sikora |
What’s the background?
Until recently T&T’s cocoa industry has been languishing in the doldrums. Then along came people like international chef, Duane Dove, who started using Tobagan cocoa to develop a unique line of chocolate products for the Swedish and other markets. The large French chocolate manufacturing group, Valrhona, also began differentiating the products that came from cocoa estates here in T&T. Recently, a new national strategy for the cocoa sector was submitted to the government and this aims to rejuvenate the sector and also to focus on ways that greater value adding can be achieved here rather than in some overseas country.
What do we have to draw on?
It’s actually quite interesting as there is perhaps more than we think. Let’s look at a few examples:
- Chocolate-makers such as Coppeneur and Rausch in Germany are using brands such as ‘Trinidad’ and ‘Tobago’ for their high-end chocolate products. Coppeneur even state they use Trinitario cocoa on their high end product labels.
- ‘Gina’ (see Champion of the Month) has developed a range of exotic chocolate truffles made right here in T&T.
- In addition to Duane Dove, a second international chef based here in T&T has recently bought an abandoned 100 acre cocoa plantation here in T&T and intends to develop an estate-branded range of chocolate products.
- A local T&T entrepreneur has been making a high quality drinking chocolate moulded in the shape of a cocoa pod and her business has started to grow rapidly in recent time.
- The Grenada Chocolate Company’s products have won gold medals in international competitions and they have a brand that is recognised as being one of the top four for specialist high quality organic chocolate in the world.
What else do we have?
A move by the Cocoa Research Unit to become more involved in innovative cocoa-based product development. Several concepts are currently on the drawing board. There is also an interesting informal ‘public-private-partnership’ that has developed between ‘Gina’ and a post-graduate intern at the CRU. Together they are exploring ways to develop a more exciting and unique product experience for discerning high-end consumers.
What about the focus?
In the field of innovation where the effort is focussed is of major importance. One of the product concepts being considered is an alcohol-based cocoa liqueur. However, there are already quite a few products in the market internationally that already have an established presence e.g. Godiva Chocolate Liqueurs. The challenge will be to find a unique slot in the market that differentiates the product - and they are looking at one particularly interesting possibility.
What about consumer trends?
This was an area that visiting Professor, Dr Marek Sikora of the University of Agriculture, Krakow, Poland, talked about during a recent CRU seminar at the UWI St. Augustine campus. He said that one of the big trends impacting upon the product development process was growing consumer concerns about their personal health and wellness. Greater numbers of customers are actually reading the ingredient labels on products and increasingly shunning those which contain industrially modified ingredients and chemicals. The demand for products that only contain natural ingredients is growing strongly. Dr Sikora’s research group is working on finding natural materials that can substitute for things such as chemically-based or chemically modified thickening agents used to make cocoa-based and other food products.
What does this mean for T&T?
All these developments are positive as the focus is shifting away from trading bulk cocoa internationally at ‘give-away’ prices towards opportunity areas where T&T will gain a much greater value share. It’s very exciting!
Useful Links:Valrhona Cocoa Research Unit
Key Question: What could we do with cocoa in the non-food product areas e.g. health and wellness?
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