Baking January 2019

IN THE
REGIONS
John also makes a beetroot and Shiraz chocolate,
and a liqueur Muscat, both flavours, he says, which
are popular among male customers: a minority, it
seems, in John’s customer base.
“One of the things I’ve learnt in nearly 10 years
now of making chocolate is that men like
chocolate, but women love chocolate. And it
doesn’t matter whether the females are four years
old or 80 years old—it’s the same attitude.”
John says as much as 85 to 95 per cent of his
customers are female.
“I’ve got one particular chocolate—the blackberry
and balsamic—and I sell 99.9 per cent of those
to women. Occasionally a guy will take one but
generally not. I’ve asked both males and females
why and why not, and I can’t get a proper answer.”
So, being constantly surrounded by premiumquality
chocolate, would John ever pick up a block
of Cadbury?
“The best answer I can give to that is from my
daughter. She went to university and while she
was there she used to complain to me all the time:
‘Dad, I’ve been brought up on good wine and
good chocolate, and on a student’s income, I can’t
afford it!’
“And I do hear that a lot from my customers. Since
they’ve had the chocolate here they realise they
never knew what good chocolate was about!”
After yet another trip to Savour, John’s now trying
his hand at patisserie.
56 BAKING BUSINESS
ONE OF THE THINGS I’VE
LEARNT IN NEARLY 10 YEARS
NOW OF MAKING CHOCOLATE
IS THAT MEN LIKE
CHOCOLATE, BUT WOMEN
LOVE CHOCOLATE.
“Since my last course I’ve been supplying tarts
and other dessert-orientated things to cafes
here in Demark and also Albany, which I’ve been
enjoying immensely. The chocolate’s still there
but it’s just a different presentation rather than a
straight chocolate itself.”
Venturing into patisserie is a way, perhaps, that
John is finally realising his childhood dream of
becoming a chef.
“Maybe if I had have become a chef when I was
younger I might have ended up doing pastry. It’s
something I think about now and then,” he says.
“Maybe this is my way of getting back to it.”
Dark Side
Chocolates
uses only high
quality Swiss
couverture, with
cacao beans
sourced from
sustainable
cacao
plantations
around the
world.