BEING ENTERPRISING WITH CHOCOLATE.

Our neighbourhood consisting of 274 homes and approximately 1196 persons answered a questionnaire recently on their chocolate habits, Mind you this is a mere middle-class neighboured in Tangerang, Indonesia. A place most of my blog readers have never heard of.

These are our findings: 60% of all homes buy at least 100gm of chocolate(bars or wafers) a month.They spend approximately a $1 for this purchase.20% 200-400gm(Spending up to $3 a month). The rest, 20% purchase up to 800gm ($8) a month.We found that total expenditure of chocolate from this neighbourhood per month was a staggering $657 a month, devouring 65kg a month.To put it in perspective, $657 is at today exchange rates is the monthly income of the upper-income group. It amounts to about 19 doctors visits and nearly a year of fees for a slightly above average private school.

Our little community's annual per capita consumption is 650gms.Interestingly close to the national per capita of chocolate consumption. Obviously lot of room for expansion!

On the other hand the 28 home-industries in this area purchase between 30kg to 120kg per month for making chocolate, chocolate confectionery, cakes, browning, donut and other dipping. But take into consideration that this is a particularly industrious area. Our average monthly turnover on chocolate is $8000. Highest monthly sales have hit $14,000.

Our chocolate are sold to to retail outlets like convenience stores, bakeries,bazaars, theatres, corporate sales, schools and one-to-one customers and packs to events like birthday parties. Our products include chocolate snacks, drinking chocolate,tarts, chocolate crispies, fruit covered chocolate and chocolate wafers and biscuits.

We don't produce bars, round or square pralines or anything you can get in the local supermarkets or mini-marts. Our chocolate snacks are little irregular rocks, some bursting with whole nuts, raisins, candied fruits bits and caramel,twisted shapes, triangles, crumbs and whatever irregular shape we can make. We flavour with cardamon, chili, cinnamon and other spices, wherever inspiration takes us.The group tries to come up with a surprise each production run.

Our community works with pots and pans and usual household equipment.Loose cooperative movement has evolved into an efficient "production line", home kitchens, linked together.

Chocolate from this community kitchens cost approximately $1 to $5 per hundred grams.
Occasional specialities are sold for close to $7 per hundred grams. Under trial are "health Chocolate" with beet or carrot sugar.

The community group now plans to hold a Chocolate, Food Fare at the local school hall with special invitations to retailers, corporations, mini marts and supermarkets with a view to contract sales.

We would rate ourselves are being moderately successful. The community itself has a very buoyant entrepreneurial stirrings. Other business from households include, baking, catering,packed-lunches, hair salons, school-bus(my wife), health foods, vegetable and fruit juices made to requested recipes as well as little known and well know healthy recipes,two boutiques,purified water, cooking gas agency, tuition in English and Mathematics, phone-cards and a photo-copy centre. The security guards in the area also run a very efficient real-estate business.

Perhaps there is a good chance we will ride out the global financial crisis without much help from the IMF.