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When it comes to keeping chocoholics sweet, flavoursome innovation and a respect for tradition is the way forward for Belgian chocolatiers, says Renée Cordes
Belgians are very choosy when it comes to chocolate, and they have every right to be. Through top craftsmanship and marketing know-how (albeit sometimes from foreign owners) this country of ten million has produced some of the world’s finest chocolate and some of the biggest names in the industry. So is it any wonder that Belgians consumed some 5.7kg of chocolate per person last year, above the 5.3kg western European average?
Retail outlets vary from the small, family-owned establishments – even towns of 10,000 people will boast one or two top chocolatiers – to major branded chains such as Godiva, Neuhaus and Leonidas, known for its signature streetside windows. Even the choice at the average grocery store is huge, with most of the shelf space taken up by Belgium’s long-time top-selling brand, Kraft Food’s Côte d’Or.
“With their country a major chocolate manufacturer, Belgians are not only big consumers of chocolate, but also connoisseurs,” says Marlous Kuiper, a London-based analyst with Euromonitor International who has done extensive research on the Belgian and Dutch confectionery markets. “They like tradition and high quality.”
It’s not only the Belgians that recognise good chocolate though, consumers across the world are becoming increasingly discerning and knowledgeable about chocolate, in much the same way they have about wine. “In the last five years chocolate has really become a new modern luxury,” says Catherine Willemart, senior product manager at Godiva, whose Brussels factory churns out chocolates for Europe, Asia and duty-free sales.
The challenge facing all chocolate makers is how to satisfy these more refined palates, without tampering too much with tradition. The level of quality remains high, with most Belgian chocolate producers using a much higher percentage of cocoa than their counterparts elsewhere in the European Union. In 2001 local manufacturers launched the voluntary Ambao label (the name comes from the Swahili word for cocoa) guaranteeing the absence of vegetable fats; the campaign was prompted by then-new EU legislation allowing up to 5% non-cocoa fats.
Starting with high quality chocolate – the bulk of it from Barry Callebaut AG’s factory in Wieze, Belgium – producers here have one important competitive advantage. All companies contacted for this feature insist that innovation is a priority, illustrated in the flood of new products on the market in recent years, from fruit-flavoured pralines to biscuits, spreads, ice-creams and even beverages.
“We are always doing research into new praline tastes, shapes, packaging and new trends, as our competitors are also doing,” explains Carolien Beckers, spokeswoman for Neuhaus, whose Swiss-born founder, Jean Neuhaus, introduced the first filled chocolate on the market in 1912 and named it praline.
Today, the Brussels-based company, with a presence in more than 50 countries, launches some ten to 15 new pralines annually; most recently, it introduced three new pralines with 75% cocoa as well as a new line of Origine tablets using cocoa from Venezuela, Madagascar and Sao Tomé in west Africa. Beckers has learnt there are national differences when it comes to chocolate preferences. Asians tend to prefer more exotic flavours such as cinnamon and pepper, whereas in Belgium there is an increasing popularity towards extra-bitter chocolate.
Belgian producers still dominate the national market, representing 90% of tablet value sales and roughly 30% of boxed assortments and seasonal chocolate, according to research compiled by Euromonitor International. US food giant Kraft remains the undisputed leader in chocolate confectionery, led by its Côte d’Or brand. The name Côte-D’Or, which dates back to 1883 (long before Kraft’s 1965 entry into Belgium), refers to present-day Ghana, where some of the cocoa beans used in the chocolate were imported; the elephant logo is now one of the country’s most recognisable.
Over the years Kraft has been constantly introducing new variations of the brand, most recently the fruit-accented Sensations Noir Framboises, introduced in 2005, which blends dark chocolate with raspberries, the sixth in the Sensations range launched in 2000. Belgians also like their chocolate in huge quantities, like Kraft’s top-selling Cote d’Or 400-gram milk tablet.
Great things, of course, also come in smaller formats, like pralines from Godiva, which positions itself as a luxury brand. Founded in Brussels in the 1920s by the Draps family and acquired by the Campbell Soup Company in the 1970s, Godiva is famous worldwide. Its Brussels factory, opposite the Simonis metro station, produces more than two million kilos annually, of which 80% is for export (the company also has a factory in Reading, Pennsylvania). It distributes chocolates through its own shops and at counters in large luxury stores such as Harrod’s in London and Galeries Lafayette in Paris. In addition there is an increasing network of franchises, as well as the duty-free business at airports and on airplanes.
All the creative work at Godiva in Belgium is done by a three-person research team
constantly working on new formulas. New products can take anywhere from four months to two years to develop, including focus groups, trial runs on the assembly line, developing new packaging, marketing strategies and training sales staff.
There’s always been tremendous pressure throughout the chocolate industry to launch new products each season but it’s become even more competitive – Christmas is the biggie, followed closely by Easter, with Valentines, Halloween and other holidays gaining ground. This past holiday season, Godiva had a huge success with its effervescent Pop Chocolates, which literally fizz in the mouth with lively fruit flavours like cranberry and raspberry.
For those who didn’t try them it’s too late, as they are no longer available; that’s part of the allure of seasonal chocolates. At the start of this year, Godiva introduced six new fruit varieties to its Truffes line, including apricot, pear, cashew and raspberry. Interestingly, American consumers prefer a more pronounced fruit flavour while Belgians don’t want the fruit overpowering the chocolate, so Godiva caters to those preferences. It also sells kosher and fat-free lines in the US.
Belgium-based chocolaterie Jacques, owned by Switzerland’s Barry Callebaut, doesn’t do any seasonal promotions but releases about four new products a year, according to marketing manager Sabine Lejoly. Recent additions include a new white chocolate bar with grated coconut and corn petals, a milk chocolate tablet praline crisp and a 100 gram dark chocolate tablet rich in polyphenols – natural compounds found in the cocoa beans with reputed health benefits.
One young Brussels chocolatier who says he doesn’t care what’s in fashion is Laurent Gerbaud, who produces high-quality chocolates that even he admits are an acquired taste. Gerbaud, who works out of an atelier he opened off the rue Antoine Dansaert in 2001, draws his inspiration from Asia in combining unsweetened chocolate with exotic ingredients such as roasted and salted Sicilian almonds, dried apricots and Persian cranberries. He only uses Belgian chocolate for less expensive, private-label products (which corporations may give to clients or customers), but uses more expensive beans from South America and Asia for his speciality items, for which delicatessens and others are willing to pay up to €75 per kilogramme. (In Brussels, his products are for sale at AM Sweet, 4 rue des Chartreux.)
Gerbaud is constantly searching for new taste sensations, and dreams of a formula using yuzu, a kind of Japanese citrus fruit whose taste he describes as a peppery grapefruit. “I don’t make new chocolate just to make new chocolate, but only when I find something I like,” he says. His own tastebuds changed when he lived in China, where consumers don’t like sweets as much as they do in the west.
Controversially, he doesn’t even believe in the concept of Belgian chocolate, arguging that everything boils down to the quality of the raw materials and the process. Still, not even he can deny that he and other Willy Wonka-wannabes derive inspiration from living in a place where chocolate is so omnipresent.
“Belgium has a tradition of perfectionism, from its Rubens paintings to its fabulous cuisine,” says Godiva spokeswoman Viviane Burgess. “Chocolate and praline are more than just a tradition and are an essential part of the Belgian history."
- Chocolaterie Jacques (Callebaut) – Grand Cru degustation tablet
- (white chocolate with grated coconut and corn petals, 100g)
- Cote d’Or – Milk tablet (400g)
- Galler – Milk Praline (individual)
- Godiva – Platinum Collection of 16 pieces and Gold Ballotin (500g)
- Guylian – Seashells (assorted box of 22 pralines, 250g)
- Laurent Gerbaud – L’Invitation du Voyage (boxed assortment of nine thin pieces of nut and dried fruit-flavoured chocolate, 175g)
- Leonidas – Manon Blanc (individual white chocolate, hazelnut paste & coffee)
- Marcolini – Raspberry Hearts (individual chocolate ganache, infused with raspberry pulp, coated in white chocolate and glazed with raspberry juice and cocoa butter)
- Neuhaus – Pralines Tentation (toffee filled with coffee ganache); Caprice (toffee with vanilla fresh cream)
- Thérèse Leduc – Coffrets de Chocolats (a fine selection of praline chocolates)
Chocoholics can indulge themselves at the Choco-Laté festival at Oud Sint-Jan site, Mariastraat 38, 8000 Bruges from April 28 – May 1. Visit www.choco-late.be for more details.
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