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The next time you taste a variety of home-made chocolates in Ooty or Munnar, think of Mangaluru. It could have been made from small slabs of industrial chocolate sourced from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada. 

The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (CAMPCO), Mangaluru, which has a chocolate factory in Puttur, has begun supplying small slabs of industrial chocolate to these places for the past two months. After adding value – say mixing it with dry fruits – those who make chocolates at home sell it in the market there, said M. Suresh Bhandary, Managing Director, CAMPCO.

Till recently, the cooperative was supplying large slabs of industrial chocolates weighing 25 kg and above to these places. They were standardised slabs as they had a percentage of ingredients such as sugar, milk powder and cocoa decided by the factory.

There were fewer choices before customers, but now customers have more choices. They could purchase small slabs in which the percentage of ingredients are varied. Some preferred more cocoa content and less milk powder, while a few wanted slabs with more milk content and less cocoa and less sugar. Some preferred plain slabs. “Now the cooperative is catering to that untapped market,” Mr. Bhandary said.

In adding value to the purchased slabs, makers of home-made chocolates could add flavours, a quantity of sugar decided by them and sell to retail consumers. There is a demand from ice cream makers and bakery owners for small slabs to use as cake coating or as topping in ice creams, he said.

According to Mr. Bhandary, some small slabs are being sold in Chennai also. “In the last two months there was demand for 20 tonnes of such slabs. We are hoping to sell at least 250 tonnes of such slabs by the end of 2015-16. Our target is to sell 1,000 tonnes of such slabs later,” he said.

Mr. Bhandary said the cooperative was also exploring market potential for small slabs in Delhi and Kolkata. “As they are custom-made, the cooperative is hopeful of better marketing for the product,” he said.

Some small slabs are being sold in Chennai too