A lot of young women are taking their love for chocolate very seriously.
Loosely speaking, they seem to be turning their love into business. These women have started their own chocolate brand and it's all about being soaked in the aroma of cocoa for Neelam Chandiramani, Mubeena Shariff, Rashmi Vaswani and Lydia G Feelan.
“No one should be denied of classy, homemade chocolate that is made with a personal touch," seems to be the general thought that binds these women together.
Neelam, who just started "Cocoa Dust" a month ago, says she was really bored of her old desk job.
“I'm now officially unemployed," she laughs, but says it feels good to be her own boss. “I love experimenting with flavours, fillings and make liquor chocolates as well. A lot of people tell me my chocolates taste like Swiss chocolate, and they melt in your fingers if you don't eat them quick. Watching people's submissive expressions as they eat it, is the best feeling ever," smiles the dame, who is holding a stall at Soul Sante in a week.
But for all these women, it doesn't end at baking them. “Packaging is my favourite part of it," says 32-year-old Rashmi Vaswani, who runs "Rage Chocolatier". She gets orders in bulk and loves packaging it as per her customer's wishes. “It all started as a hobby. I held stall after stall and one fine day when I got an order for 100 chocolates. That's when I started Rage," she says, keeping her range of chocolates from Rs150 to 2,500.
It's important to have affordable chocolates, especially now, considering Christmas is around the corner.
Lydia, who takes special orders during festive season is on her toes this time. “I used to give my friends chocolates, and they all began ordering it. Now I get corporate orders and my family helps me make them, if it's a huge order," says the woman.
Of course, keeping it affordable isn't the easiest, especially if you get all ingredients from abroad.
Mubeena Shariff, who moved to Bengaluru from the US, says, “I felt there was a high-end chocolate brand missing here. That's why I started my brand."
She even hand paints her chocolates and says her brand is labour intensive. “I make jasmine, green tea and chocolates even with sesame flavour. You will never know a good combination until you try it," she says.
