Last Day.. kind of.

Today was my last day at Chocodiem. Well, the last day of ISP at least. Starting this upcoming week, JP has hired me as an employee (yay!!)
My assignment for this weekend is to read from the book "Business Plans for Dummies" and work on some stuff JP wanted me to think about. I worked on a display case today for four windows in order to get the name out about Chocodiem. I created fake chocolate flowers that look just like the real ones but won't melt on the display case as the sun hits in. I'm going to work more on the display case this week and then we will order the shelves from Bed, Bath, and Beyond later this week.
Katie and I also worked on some advertisement stuff for bringing attention to the Naked Truffle.

JP, thank you so much for allowing me to spend these last four weeks with you and Chocodiem. Working with you has been such a pleasure and I have learned so much. I cannot wait to continue to work with you as the business grows. 

Chocolate bars

Two customers came in who bought the chocolate feather bars. One was a wedding planner of a place called "opulent events." Talked to her for a while, she was so interesting to speak with.
After talking to JP, we started to think about expanding more into the events space. Storefront is great, but it seems like a lot of our focus should shift on events-- communions, weddings, sweet 16s. These would allow quantity orders that require less "guess work" in advance as to what a customer might want.

Painting, Chocodiem Classes

The yellow looks great.
The second display case is coming in today. The second one will be on the opposite side of the store and filled with macaroons. I tried the mango macaroon which was interesting because it had actual mango chunks in it. I liked the mint one more though.

JP also is thinking of adding in a 'dipping station' -- a fondue station where we could hold events such as wine and chocolate pairings nights or birthday parties, etc. I spent the afternoon by starting to  look into things we will need for this (individual microwavable dipping bowls, etc)

I wish I had more time to help JP plan the classes- I would have loved to help start this. It will be a long time before we can actually execute on this too.

Painting today

Painting and Moving things around.  The store is a mess.

Weighing and Packaging

2 ounce chocolate bags. So delicious.

Chocolate Comets

JP told me about a problem he was having. He had made some chocolate flowers that were made with chocolate balls underneath as opposed to a stem underneath. Unfortunately, because our temper machine is broken, the flowers were falling apart. After brainstorming with JP, I came up with the idea to break off the top 'flower' part and sell the bottom parts seperately. They were completely presentable, and JP and I decided to sell them as chocolate commets.

With the abundance of chocolate 'pieces' that we had from the flowers, we put them together in bags and sold them as is. I think we brainstormed a great solution to this problem!

[Pictures] Display Case is looking great!!

[Pictures]

Presenting a new product

We're working on a secret new product.

As JP told me, communication will become key to explain to customers what it is all about. Today,  I looked at JP's first shot at communicating our next product. JP  attached the excel file providing a schematic overview of the different components I will play with in his email. I will think about how to present an improved version to the customer.

Organization

More organization.. All Day.

Chocolate coursage and bouttiener

With the help of the aforementioned prom client, JP figured out how to make the coursage and bouttiener work. Hopefully it will hold together. (updated with pic below)

Other than that, I spent the day working on more organization. Because this is still a new space for JP, he needs lots of help organizing. I am working with the other girl who works here, Katie.
The ribbons were messy, and the packaging boxes were everywhere. We began rearranging his stuff by category in the new organization system up front, but we're going to need more time. I'll work on it tomorrow.

Prom Chocolate

I spent the day helping JP make chocolate flowers (completed with stems filled with flavored ganache). I learned his technique of attaching the flower to the stem, but I'm sworn to secrecy. They look very cool, especially because JP prints the top of the chocolate with a flower pattern-- another technique I learned. A lady stopped by the store to ask us to make her daughter a chocolate coursage and bouttienier which is pretty interesting. JP has no idea how to do this though because chocolate is a tricky thing to get on a bracelet. I'm going to help him brainstorm some ways of doing this project-- it's a really great idea and if it works, it will create an interesting niche market.

Communion, Mango pralenes, and almond biscuits

Somebody dropped by the store early in the hours to ask us to create something for his daughter's communion that was just a few hours later [usually clients aren't this last minute in their requests]. The client is holding a celebration at the restaraunt right next to chocodiem, and he wanted to pick up his chocolate within a couple hours. We had to throw together something relatively quickly. For the kids, we individually packaged white chocolates filled with peach cream. For the adults, we gave dark chocolate filled with caramel ganache. I spent the rest of the day working with JP as he made more mango pralenes and almond biscuits.
In other news, I'm gaining lots of weight (well maybe not, but I feel like it)

Chocolate flowers intro

Today was my second day at Chocodiem and cecause itis Friday, it was my last chance to help JP with Mother's Day preperations. I spent my entire day completely rearranging and replenishing the Chocolate display case.
Before doing so, I learned how JP creates his chocolate flower masterpieces that are inserted with Caramel or other flavorings. I'm not supposed to share his secret, however I can attest to the fact that they taste delicious :)
After learning this technique, I spent a few minutes talking to JP about how we should rearrange the store to increase the floor space while also making the aesthetics more visually pleasing. I arranged chocolate flowers on the side table while also making them more presentable. After doing this, I took out all the chocolates that JP had arranged and suggested a way to make these chocolates, and the 9 new chocolates that JP was bringing in, more presentable. For a large portion of my afternoon, I rearranged this Display Case. 

First Day

 Today was my first day at Chocodiem, a Beglium-based chocolatier located in Clinton, New Jersey. Upon arriving at the store-front, I met Jean Paul (JP), my internship mentor, and saw the glass Display Case in which the chocolates were waiting to be sold. The presentation of the display case pretty, but I could tell that JP was still in the midst of restocking the shelves. He took me on a tour of his store-front and the back where he creates, mixes, and experiments with the chocolates. He showed me all his machines as well as the ingredients. The machine that was supposed to temper the chocolate, unfortunately, was broken (it worked on and off). JP told me that it might have been because of the humidity and that he intended on getting a third humidifier. The purpose of tempering chocolate is to improve the consistancy, smoothness, and gloss so it can be propoerly molded. Tempering requires a chocolate to go through a process of heating and cooling, and if not executed properly, the chocolate will not be ready for presentation. Unfortunately, tempering chocolate by hand takes way too long so for now JP has to deal witH the machine. Mother's Day is generally a busy time for chocolatiers, and this is going to be Chocodiem's first Mother's Day as a storefront. (Chocodiem had been around as a wholesale retailer only until October) JP needed a lot of help with packaging, so afer I learned more about each machine and the way he processes each chocolate, I helped him make chocolate boxes and wrap chocolate flowers.

Ingredients List and Nutritional Facts

I spent the day organizing the Ingredients List and Nutritional Facts for JP's products in one binder so that he has it for future reference.

Each label has the product name, processing instructions, ingredient, storage, and relevant allergen information.

One processing example: "best using temperature is 20-22 degrees celcius or 68-72 degrees fahrenheit. Workable straight out from pail or whipped. Melted at 30 degrees celcius can be used as flavoring for creams or as a soft glaze."

I think that putting this information all in one place will really help him.