Introduction:
Companies that produce chocolate are having to create ways to make a profit with their products.
The main reason is the constant increases in the price of cocoa on the foreign market.
In Manaus, a factory is introducing fillings of exotic fruits from the Amazon into chocolate eggs and other products to win over consumers.
Artisanal packaging with regional content is another way to profit from chocolate sales on the market.
Interview:
JORGE SILVA, Marketing Director of Bombons Finos
Executive Production
JULIANA FONTES
Editing and Finalization
ALEXANDRE ALMEIDA
Production and Direction
AMAZON AGENCY
TP: 07'45"
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"Bombons Finos was created in 1998".
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"Our idea has always been to work with regional flavors",
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"to work with exotic fruits that could bring a bit of Amazonian culture to other products, such as Easter eggs".
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"We produce around 30,000 chocolates per day. They are varied, including chocolates, candies, bars, jellies".
- JORGE SILVA, Marketing Director at Bombons Finos
Our focus is to work with fruits that we sometimes don't even know, such as araçá-boi, buriti, cubiu, very exotic fruits, very different."
"We can control the entire production chain, from obtaining the fruit, where we plant these fruits,
we harvest these fruits, use them in the form of pulp, and then take them to the chocolate production chain,
where we make the jellies, fill the chocolates, and have the final product".
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"At Easter, we have a very large and considerable increase, but we try to dilute it throughout the year.
We have been producing Easter eggs since January".
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"We melt about 300 kg of chocolate per day, and we end up increasing it during the Easter process.
After that, it goes through a process called tempering, where the chocolate will lower the temperature to create a kind of thermal shock.
After that, they are placed in molds,
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they are taken to a centrifuge, where the process is usually done by brushing.
So, if you do it manually, it will be this type of brushing.
Here, we do it automatically".
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The chocolate receives the filling.
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"Finally, there is the internal packaging, and then the external packaging, with all the care that we try to bring".
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"We get this feedback, especially from local people, regarding changes we've made to traditional recipes.
For example, our Poço de Poço takes almost 50% less than the traditional recipe, 50% less sugar.
So, we really try to bring more flavor, more quality."
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"On days when there is no production of Easter eggs, we produce the bonbons.
They are very similar, but the process of making the bonbons is much faster.
It is much more automated. The fillings are inserted automatically.
The Easter egg is much more artisanal. It requires a more delicate process, even greater care.
So, when we produce around 1,000 bonbons, we produce 10 Easter eggs."
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- JORGE SILVA, Marketing Director at Bombons Finos
"We believe that more than 80% of our products come from Manaus, because there are many people who come to Manaus and are interested in these products, and like to take them with them.
There are other people who live in Manaus, but want to introduce them to people from outside, who are interested and curious about the flavors of the Amazon.
But we also have direct sales from the factory to direct consumers through our platforms,
and also through our distributors, who buy and resell these products from other states.
In addition to Amazonas, we have resellers in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Ceará".
"We have a lot of demand, we receive many orders to be able to reach markets abroad, especially the United States,
which is a market that seeks our product a lot.
But there is some bureaucracy that needs to be resolved in this process.
The process of exporting Amazonian products has some difficulties due to the characteristics of the foreign market".
"Cocoa, especially cocoa from the Amazon, is very well regarded.
It ends up being a premium product, and when it leaves Brazil, it leaves with this premium product characteristic.
Cocoa from the Amazon has a different consistency because it is from a tropical region.
It is very different from cocoa from Bahia, for example.
There is a real difference in flavor."
"It's a product quoted in dollars, so it fluctuates according to the stock market.
Nowadays, the dollar is very high, so it really does have this characteristic fluctuation.
But in addition to that, cocoa plantations around the world have been suffering from several problems, mainly climate factors.
Cocoa prices have increased enormously from one year to the next.
We are having to absorb these costs in our line in a creative way,
trying to work more with fillings, trying to bring a little more of this fruit, a little more of the originality of the Amazonian fruit.
So we try to get around these problems with creativity."
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"Our flagship product is the sweet, which has chestnut.
In addition, we have seen a huge increase in candies, açaí, araçá-boi, and the most different products."
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"At Easter, we try to focus on eggs, which are the most sought-after products at this time of year.
But beyond that, our line continues.
We have products that are reminiscent of Easter, such as chocolate bunnies, chocolate carrots, and especially handmade packaging,
wood scraps, various types of materials that we try to use, preferably recycled and recyclable materials.
The issue of sustainability, but also trying to align our packaging with an Easter vibe as well.
This mix of regional, handmade, with the Easter motif ".
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"What impresses us most is the originality, where we try to combine regional flavors with local culture."
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"Our product has the flavor of the Amazon, and besides, it's not just chocolate.
It's an Amazonian experience where you open that product, smell the sweet, and you see that it was actually made with fruit."
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