Chocolate Ingredients

Santa Barbara Chocolate purchases a variety of raw materials sourced from around the world. All our ingredients have more than one origin source. We present possible options for each ingredient, as we cannot guarantee only one source at a particular moment. This guidance covers most of our main ingredients.

 Pure Chocolates (not for single origin chocolates)

* Europe: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Lucemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Sweden

* West Africa: Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Thomé, Congo

Chocolate Ingredients for the Chocolatier

For those who have spent their years immersed in the joy of culinary baking school honing their skills with blood, sweat, tears and of course chocolate- the future can be bright. After the smeared and stained aprons are left with the culinary diploma, young chefs and artisans should consider opening their own retail bakery shop.

Strong Foundations to Build Your Culinary Dreams

First rate culinary schools such as the majestic CIA in California, The San Francisco Baking Institute and the ICE in New York all provide sterling culinary programs for young and seasoned chefs who want to perfect their craft in everything from artisan specialty breads to pastry art and of course chocolate and confectionary. With hands on training, renowned masters sharing their secrets and first class equipment, these culinary schools can lay the strongest foundations for students to build their dreams.

Investing your Skills After Culinary School

Afterwards many artisans, bakers and chocolatiers can opt to invest their skills into opening their very own retail bakery. A small, independent bakery shop can expect to pull in anything up to $150k a year with the larger shops earning an estimated $500k a year. These figures are really quite astounding but you can really hit home with even bigger figures when you work to build up your shops reputation as being an outstanding provider of culinary pleasures.

The Secret to Chocolate Success

One of the most valuable pieces of advice young master chefs and chocolatiers should consider is sourcing their ingredients. When it comes to finding a source for your ingredients you should be very careful about the choices you make. Sourcing high quality ingredients is paramount to building up a solid reputation for your store and many first time retail bakers make the mistake of buying from big box retailers.

Avoiding the Big Box Retailers

Why is buying from big box retailers a mistake? Well buying from a big box retailer means that you are failing to put your best foot forward, which for young entrepreneurs is the difference between succeeding and failing. By buying cheap and low quality ingredients you are severely undercutting the quality of your work. Even if you have a skilled hand, a chefs creations can only be as good as the ingredients that have gone into the design. The second mistake is that these big box companies are using exactly the same ingredients to create their own range of sweets, chocolates, pastries and other baked goods at a cheaper cost than any independent baker could ever hope for. In short you are feeding the competition and taking two steps back with every small step you take forward.

Steering Clear of Luxury Marketing Ploys

Another mistake eager baker’s make is to pay through the nose for the pleasure of working with luxury brand goods. Even though working with high quality ingredients is important you want to make sure you are not getting swept away with the clever marketing ploy that sits behind many so called luxury brands. Some of these high end brand ingredients charge premium costs for the pleasure of fancy packaging and in the end they don’t really make the difference when it comes to the finished product of your own baked goods. Thus bakers have to charge their customers a higher rate to break even and can often lose out and get crushed under the financial wave.

How to Make it Work

So what then, is the secret behind creating high quality products without breaking the bank or serving the competition? Just how do you get your business to stand out from the crowd and reap the joys of owning a retail bakery shop that works?

It may sound all so simple but the trick is to find high quality ingredients at fair prices.  This means steering clear of the temptation of big box cheap wholesale prices and avoiding the pretty packaging of overpriced luxury brands. It means finding an honest and independent supplier who believes in fair partnerships, high quality and excellent customer service.

Growing your own company from the ground up can be hard work but you can start your future in the brightest way possible and that means choosing a supplier that can offer you exceptional quality at exceptional deals and with exceptional customer service to match.

Dedication to Chocolate Inspired Dreams

For eager young chefs or seasoned chocolatiers who dream of owning their own piece of heaven, Santa Barbara Chocolate could be the very solution you have been seeking. This is an independent Californian company that was founded on truth and offering their customers high quality chocolate and compassionate customer service. Santa Barbara Chocolate believes in not only supplying superior ingredients at honest prices but also building close working relationships with their partners. The breadth of experience, the passion for chocolate and the dedication in helping you achieve your dreams means that Santa Barbara is more than a partnership; it’s a relationship that matters.