NEVER BEFORE have we been so passionately obsessed with chocolate. Most of us admit to at least occasional cravings, and many of us simply must have 'something sweet' at the end of each meal.
Chocolate is one of the only foods I know of that both stimulates and soothes--we enjoy it as a pick-me-up and a calm-me-down, an exciting treat and a relaxing reward.
Today, we no longer need a reason, a season or a special occasion to celebrate with chocolate--fine chocolate provides us with a reason to rejoice. We seek the pleasure of it slowly melting in our mouth as much as we continue to seek ways to assuage our concerns about the national state of affairs, the economy, and all our daily stresses. Collectively, we seem to have a timeout/reward mentality of 'I deserve this indulgence.'
So how do we manage to view our daily chocolate fix as a healthy habit?
First, there's the spate of good news about the health benefits of dark chocolate. Then, there's the fact that increasingly, both mass premium and fine chocolate are coming in smaller and smaller portion sizes.
A Lesson From Cookie/Snack Categories
Not surprisingly, as an on-the-go nation, convenience is often a major factor in our food choices. Both cookie and salty snack segments are mastering the transformation of 'unhealthy' into acceptable. By offering super sweet cookies and fried salty snacks in smaller pieces, smaller bags and smaller portions, savvy marketers are repositioning 'off-limit' snacks into quick and easy, portable treats that can be perceived as sensible. One snack manufacturer has even trademarked 'the right snack for sensible munching,' touting its 100 calorie mini bites as 'right-sized' just for you.
Within the chocolate segment, while the healthy appeal is bringing in consumers, in both mass and specialty, giant bar sales are declining as miniatures and bite-size squares proliferate.
We're indulging in less chocolate more often, which translates into smaller more frequent portions. We justify our treats as they're cleverly concealed in less-than-100-calorie packs, or individually wrapped small bars and squares that help us indulge in a small bite to appease our insatiable sweet tooth.
We've watched the solid chocolate bar segment explode, particularly in dark chocolate, where there are more varieties than ever before. My prediction is that the next major area for growth will be single-serve chocolate bars and squares. Thin and individually wrapped, more like wafers than bars, these small chocolate indulgences are the ultimate portion-controlled treat-for-me.
Several companies have already launched products that feed our desire for 'just a taste' of fine chocolate. Often premium with high cacao percentages, they are designed to melt slowly and evenly--ideal for savoring the flavor versus mindless gobbling.
Downsized bars hover under 28 grams, or one-ounce--an ideal size to feed our fantasy that a little chocolate translates into a lot of pleasure while helping our health as well. This is especially true when it's a high percentage dark chocolate, or even the newly emerging sector of 'dark milk' chocolates, particularly those with 38 percent plus cacao content.
Ghirardelli, Valrhona, Michel Cluizel, Domori, Scharffen Berger and Dagoba offer a variety of individually wrapped squares for tasting. At the New York Fancy Food Show, I tasted several 100 percent cocoa mass single origin squares from Domori, which highlighted the distinctive characteristics of the cacao.
We're already seeing 'flights' of single origin chocolates--squares packaged together for chocolate enthusiasts to compare and contrast the various flavor profiles and 'terroir' of range of chocolates from different farms, regions and countries.
Along this track, some premium chocolate companies are already marketing tasting kits with a range of small bars or squares. Many include descriptive brochures and tasting guides to further enhance the experience.
Tasting Kits Are On The Way
For example, E. Guittard recently launched a Single Origin Chocolate Tasting Kit featuring 16 10-gram (0.35-ounce) single origin bars--four each of Sur del Lago, Quevado, Chucuri and Ambanja--all 65 percent cacao content. An educational booklet is included with tasting recommendations.
One of the first proponents of chocolate tasting kits, Michel Cluizel offers a slight variation with its 'Once Upon A Bean Tasting Kit,' a lesson in the making of chocolate from bean to bar. The kit features samples of whole unroasted cacao beans, roasted cacao nibs, cocoa butter and chocolate liquor, in addition to unique, paper thin white, milk and dark chocolate tasting discs.
Dagoba promotes the idea that a small chocolate square can satisfy a discriminating palate, and offers 20 68 percent cacao single origin squares (Costa Rican, Ecuadorian and Peruvian) in its Single Origin Tasting Kits with a tasting guide.
For retailers, both small bars and squares offer an outstanding changemaker opportunity. For year-round gifting, expect to see innovative packaging for these kits from the simple to the sublime--from more environmentally conscious packaging to keepsake carved wooden boxes with drawers.
As nutritionists urge us to limit our portions, there's profit potential in smaller packs and pieces of candy and chocolate. While we're learning to appreciate our chocolate, the future is bright for controlled indulgence. Finally, we can have our chocolate, and taste it too.
EDITOR'S NOTE
Joan Steuer is president of Chocolate Marketing. In this regular column for PROFESSIONAL CANDY BUYER, Steuer covers chocolate and candy trends, writing about new products, category predictions, and challenges facing the industry. Contact Steuer with comments and ideas at: jsteuer@propressinc.com.
