Basic Tips to Start a Chocolate Store or Café

India's chocolate confectionery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.6 percent from 2016 to 2020, a research has revealed.

It said that over two in five Indian consumers (44 percent) find sweet or sugary snacks like chocolates and cakes to be healthy, while over one in three (35 percent) Indians believe these snacks provide them with energy.

According to the research, 43 percent of Indians consume sweet or sugary snacks like chocolate and cake between lunch and dinner, with over half (53 percent) reporting that they tend to snack in between meals because they get hungry.

Here are a few tips for aspiring businessmen to help them in starting a chocolate store or chocolate cafe:

Market study:

It is very important to study the market before setting the foot on the floor. Know the demands of the market, the customers, their taste, choices, and preferences.

Chocolate is a thing, which one finds hard to deny but if there are plenty of options available already in the market then, it becomes difficult for multiple chocolate stores or cafes to sustain.

Talk to the local specialty store, if possible and gather the information about the product which is leaving the shelves faster than any product.

Moreover leaving the traditional or regular chocolate, how about trying to make a whole new recipe or product out of chocolate, this will help in fetching some bites in the market.

Find the right place:

Choose carefully the area, where you are going to set up your chocolate shops or cafes, who all are your competitors in the area, check, their product quality, product variety and something which appeals the customers, to make room for yourself, where you can extend your wings.

Check how far is the market, from where you need to get things for your store.

Also one needs to see how the crowd is in that area, near colleges or center of the market complex.

Hire smart people:

It is another important aspect to take care of while setting up the retail store. Hire people who are well trained, punctual, sincere and smart at their work, as the entire business also depends upon the aura, hygiene, and behavior of the staffs as well as the displayed food products.

One cannot miss out on how important an accountant is for the business, who will take care of profits, expenses, salary, and billings.

Marketing:

Make sure you have sent the advertisements for different media channels, to let the customers know about your existence.

It will add on to your favor if you add some coupons or gifts for the first 100 customers or something as such.

Chocolate is a thing, which attracts people of all age group. Make sure to send the appropriate ads on television in between breaks on cartoon channels for children and in big banners across the city.

Children love the toys or tazos free gifts with chocolates or hampers. This will work for grownups as well.

Sell Your Story

Human interest can be best described by the way they react to sad stories, or happy stories or any stories for that matter.

Try and add a pinch of the story in your chocolate products and in advertisements. This will keep the interest of the customers as well as the staff, you hired to write stories.

Stories sell because people get bought by the stories.