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ChoColate…at what priCe

April 2009

How to establish a fair price ? Professionals from everywhere in the world wonder about this major issue, within the rough economical context the world is facing. We tried to provide some answers to this issue in our report. One thing is for sure: best quality is what mat-ters to you. More than ever, it has to remain your unique gui-ding principle… and ours ! You can definitely count on us

Yours chocolately,

Michel CLUIZEL

le de la Chocolaterie MiChel Cluizel • page 2

Chocolate and the crisis

Of course, one can live without chocolate… But it is so much better to live with it ! It provides an irreplaceable, pleasurable and comforting feeling. Chocolate is engraved in our taste memory since childhood, and is known for its beneficial effects on spirit and health. Therefore, even in time of crisis, people will keep on enjoying this simple, yet precious delight.

Chocolate at all costs

Chocolate is more expensive than other food products: it is made of ingredients from dis-tant countries, and its proces-sing requires advanced, costly equipment. However, profes-sionals and consumers of each country realize how diverse chocolate product prices can be: prices depend on brands and quality commitments, as well as on packaging line, pac-kaging size and distribution networks.

How can one set sellingprices

Professionals have two options: the first one is an accounting one, which consists in adding up costs (raw materials, workforce, rent, power supply, etc.) and profits. The second one is a marketing option, which aims at identifying how much the consumer is willing to pay for such a product, by taking competition into

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account, among other elements. The best approach remains the fol-lowing one: comparing these two options in order to make a decision.

Multipliers what a conve-nient thing

Most retailers use the technique of multipliers. Multipliers are applied to purchase prices befo-re tax, in order to get the selling price, taxes included. They are lower for preconditioned pro-ducts, which are displayed in shops and sold to consumers in bags. Bulk chocolate bonbons have to be conditioned in boxes or ballotins, which are someti-mes made up according to the customer's selection. Therefo-re, cost of packaging and acces-sories also has to be taken into account, as well as costs for storage, cash immobilization, and workforce dedicated to box filling. Multipliers may also vary according to VAT rates, which differ from one country to another, and sometimes, as it is the case in France, according to the type of chocolate product (5.5 % or 19.6 % VAT).

Margin fin-ding the right combination

Multipliers and margins also depend on:- the outlet location: rent level, image and market prices may differ depending on whether the outlet is located in the countryside, in a small or me-dium-sized city, at the center or

in the suburbs of a city.- the activity performed by the shop: outlets that only sell cho-colate have to apply higher mul-tipliers than outlets that also sell pastry, delicatessen products,… since fixed costs, such as the rent, have to be covered with a lower turnover. Then, what you actually earn on each product is measured in cash value (euro, dollar…), not in multiplier or in percentage.

price by weight or price by item

Outlets usually choose to use price by weight to sell their chocolate bonbons. However, an increasing number of shops are now starting to sell choco-lates using packaging prices, proportionally higher for small boxes than for bigger ones. This strategic choice matches the fair price notion. The cost of a small chocolate box and its accessories, as well as the time spent for wrapping, are almost the same for all sizes of boxes. This way, customers are en-couraged to buy bigger boxes. Practical Inconvenient: this technique requires calculations for each size of chocolate box. And if required by the law, as it is in France, each price has to be displayed with its correspon-ding price by weight.

Where to head for in the face of the crisis

In times of crisis, some consu-

The economic crisis encourages consumers to pay even more attention to prices. Therefore, professionals have to charge "fair prices".

le de la Chocolaterie MiChel Cluizel • page 3

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In order to please consumers who pay more attention to pri-ces, and also show a growing demand for quality, here are a few guidelines that you may fol-low:1. First of all, do not disappoint customers, and therefore, pre-serve quality: do not purchase cheaper products or change the recipe you have always used to make your products;2. Clearly display your prices, in order to reassure customers and secure their loyalty;3. Offer quality products, regar-dless of price levels, and provide variety in packaging, especially small packages for "budget pri-ces".4. If you are a chocolate ma-ker or a restaurant owner: save time and therefore workforce by simplifying decorations or using semi-finished products, such as Façonnables (see picture 1);5. Try to get better terms of sale by grouping your purchases at your best supplier (market spe-cial deal or loyalty discount), by ordering in advance (early dis-count), etc.6. Promote the quality of your products, with supporting evi-dence: origins, quality com-mitments (use of "Noble Ingre-dients" chocolates for instance), etc. Outlet chains that manage to grow on the market know how to communicate more with less selling points, why wouldn't you ?

ChocolaterieMiCHel ClUiZel's choices

Since the creation of their first Chocolate bonbons back in 1947, Marc and Marcelle Cluizel always gave priority to quality. Michel Cluizel and his children pursue this goal, using another key to suc-cess: selling the best products at a fair price. In order to guarantee the best quality at the best price, Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL

takes responsibility for the proces-sing of basic products into semi-finished or finished products, and does not resort to subcontracting. The Chocolaterie purchases ingre-dients right after harvest (cocoa beans, almonds, hazelnuts…) and take responsibility for storage. This option, which is costly in terms of cash account, turns out to be cost-effective in terms of interme-diate costs and allows optimum storage conditions (temperature, hygrometry…). Lastly, Chocolate-rie MICHEL CLUIZEL selects, in every country, the best distribu-tion network available. In France, products are directly sent from the Chocolaterie to professional re-tailers and restaurant owners.

What about 2009

Some companies have carried out hidden cost cuts, disclosed by French magazine “60 Millions de Consommateurs” in its Sep-tember 2008 issue (changes in recipes, simplification of packa-ging with no change in prices…). Unlike some of its competitors, Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL sticks to its commitment on the quality of ingredients, recipes and products. However, in order to take the economic context into account, the decision was made to choose less "workforce demanding" decorations for its 2009 Collection of Chocolate bonbons (see picture 2), with a view to maintain limited price by weight.

mers do not change their habits in terms of chocolate consump-tion. Others choose to lower the budget dedicated to chocolate, as a precaution, or because of their reduced purchasing power. Therefore, the latter choose to purchase the same amount of product at lower prices, or a smaller amount of product, with the same quality level. Wi-thin this context, which remains temporary, professionals must keep their established clients, and adapt to others. Purchasing cheaper in order to sell cheaper, by finding new suppliers, leads to lower quality and disappoint-ment of a large segment of your clientele… who will turn to competition! And by the end of the crisis, within one or two years, consumers will remain loyal to retailers and restaurant owners who will have managed to stick to quality.

top-of-the range product so expensive

Restaurant owners will all tell you the following: "To make a very good dish, you need to use very good ingredients". A recipe is supposed to reveal the flavours of the ingredients you use, and the latter cannot give a flavour they do not have! This rule obviously applies to chocolate desserts and plated desserts… And using top-of-the-range couverture chocolate is not more costly than using mid-range chocolate (see one framed). Moreover, using top-of-the range Laboratory Pro-ducts enable you to communi-cate on the quality of chocolate and therefore on the quality of your products, in comparison with competition. Lastly, if you want to compare prices from different suppliers, you should always take into account net prices of comparable products. You should therefore consider terms of sale, compare choco-late bars of the same weight, or distinguish a Chocolate Cru (cocoa beans from one region) and a genuine Single Planta-tion chocolate !

Choosing mid-range chocolate ins-tead of top-of-the-range chocolate, or blend chocolate instead of plantation chocolate comes to saving 0.27 €, excl.VAT, for a chocolate dessert sold 19 to 20 € incl.VAT, i.e. 1.42% of the selling price if we consider a chocolate quantity of 10% of total ingredients. To please your clients and face competition, is this 0.27 € difference worth ? Yes it is ! Even if it means you will have to increase the price of a dessert, you will get a much better chocolate flavor (and therefore a much better dessert) and will have the opportunity to promote your dessert.

le de la Chocolaterie MiChel Cluizel • page 4

Jacques potDeViN,

publiC aCCouNtaNt,Statutory auDitor

There is no ideal profit margin, there can only be an average margin.

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“ ”Could you tell us more about your occupation ?I am a public accountant and a statutory auditor, and I run the JPA International network, which embodies the activities we perform un-der the JPA label, with approximately 110 offices, in 43 countries. I also carried out institutional duties for our trade as the Chairman of the Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes - National Company of Statutory Auditors - and, more recently, as the Chair-man of the European Federation of Accountants.

What were the specific European issues you had to deal with ?

I was particularly involved in the handling of two major issues: the implementation of the new guideline on the legal control of national audit office, called “Commissariat aux comptes” in France, and the evolution of international accounting standards applying to small and medium-sized companies.

What does sustainable trade mean in the field of business ?

It is a guarantee for consumers to purchase a product that meets their expectation, i.e. a quality product, with quality taste, manu-factured according to methods that ensure safety and transparency in terms of ingredients. When consumed, product should meet the expectations that led to purchase decision.The crisis that is affecting our economy proves that the act of consuming is the one that drives economic activities. It is there-fore important to establish and maintain the trust a consumer has in the product he purchases.

How can a small or medium-sized company still make it ?

Laws, regulations and guidelines are always regarded as compli-cations. The truth is they are also designed with a view to or-ganize and facilitate management by providing simple, efficient, standardized and cheap tools. While techniques keep progressing and tools remain available, great principles always remain the same. A company can only stand up to crisis and keep growing if it achieves resources surplus, that is, if it makes profit. In order to do so, management obviously has to analyze and control their margins.

What is the use of this margin ?This margin is used, on the one hand, to offset fixed costs, and on the other hand, to offset variable costs. Variable costs are expenses that are not conditional on the company activities while variable costs are the ones that are related to the company activities (the big-gest part of variable costs being purchase costs). Traditional trade activities usually imply significant fix costs. Once profit break-even point is reached, the remaining margin is dedicated to profit. This is when you understand that specific “commercial operations” can be performed as long as there is no need to make the exact same margin on every product, and during every period of the year.

There is, therefore, no such thing as an ideal margin. There can only be an average margin, which depends on demand variations, needs to attract customers and necessity to cover one’s fix costs in order to ensure durability and growth for the company.

World ChocolateMastersThe 14th Chocolate Fair of Paris hosted the prestigious “2008 World Chocolate Masters” contest. Seven French chocolate makers took part in the competition, in front of a pa-nel of 17 renowned of professional judges, presided over by Jean-Paul Hévin, Meilleur Ouvrier de France. The best chocolate makers of the country were honored! Among them was Vincent Lechevallier, a chocola-te maker and the technical advisor of Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL.

Prize for the winner of the compe-tition: gain the right to r e p r e s e n t France at “2009 World Choco la te Masters”.

Vincent Lechevallier started working as a confectioner; he then specialized in chocolate. He did not wait long be-fore winning his first awards in France: Trophée des Chefs d'Or in Marignane in 2007, Prix du Plateau de Bonbons de Chocolat at Trophée Pascal Caffet in Troyes in 2007… Metz Concours Créativa, which he won in 2008 led

him to “World Chocolate Masters”. The 7 French chocolate makers who took part in the contest had to make very tricky pieces: a chocolate artistic piece of 1.5 m on the theme of Haute Couture, 2 chocolate bonbons, one chocolate dessert and one small cho-colate piece.

Through 8 hours of work, in front of the audience and the jury, Vin-cent Lechevallier made a 2.15 m Eiffel Tower. “This Eiffel Tower is like a piece of Haute Couture ; I ad-ded elements that remind the metal discs of the dresses Paco Rabanne created in the late 60s”, Vincent Le-chevallier explained.

At the close of this wonderful yet very trying contest, Vincent Leche-

vallier won the 2nd prize of “World Chocolate Masters”. He paid tri-bute to the winner, Sébastien Tru-delle: “We went to school together, I am really happy for him!” ».

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“The secret of our suc-cess ? Being able of adapting to the progres-ses, trends and opportu-nities of the market.”

Just like Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL, Mr. and Mrs. Plisson’s business is a family business. “Back in 1980, my husband and I took over the pastry shop & bakery of my pa-rents, Mr. and Mrs. Vernois, which was set up in 1960”, Mrs. Plisson explains.

The secret of success“In 1990, we created a tearoom, where we also served dish of the day. The same year, we moved to Ta-bour street, right in the city centre: we realized that the catering activity was booming, and made the decision to go into this business. We did not wait very long before our project was successful. The secret of our suc-cess? Being able of adapting to the progresses, trends and opportunities of the market.” Mrs. Plisson explains, calmly. Now, we offer a coherent and much appreciated range of products and services: catering services on the spot and for special events, bakery, pastry and wine shop.

Development and loyaltyMr. and Mrs. Plisson know how to adapt to market developments…just like they know how to be loyal to their suppliers! « My parents were already clients of Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL », Mrs. Plisson explains. “And so are we ! Selling and using Cluizel Chocolate is a family tradi-tion, since the history of our Bakery-Pastry shop makes us guarantors of quality and savoir-faire. Our clients

“Being able to make my recipes different from the ones competitors use and meeting the expec-tations of my customers by using exceptional chocolates turns out to be a very economically attractive option.”

Bernd Siefert is one of the most re-nowned confectioners in Germany. He perfected his skills in France and in Italy before taking over the very tra-ditional family pastry shop. He won many awards, among them the 1997 World Champion title, which conso-lidated his dazzling rise. The books he wrote are bestsellers, and the semina-ries he organizes are one of the most well-attended in the profession.

Choice of excellenceBernd Siefert liked the products of Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL right from the beginning. “I was loo-king for excellent quality products” he explains. « When the German distributive firm Confis Express of-fered me these products, it did not take me long to be convinced: the “Noble Ingredient” quality commit-ment and the extent of the range definitely distance the Chocolaterie from other suppliers. »

He also admits that he has favorite products. « Among the range pro-vided by Chocolaterie MICHEL

CLUIZEL, I usually use a lot of “High Cocoa Content” and ‘1ers Crus de Plantation’ couverture chocolates. As for fillings, I prefer using the ‘Praliné Pâtissier (almonds and hazelnuts 50 %)’. I also use some decorations and coupelles, alternatively with the ones I personally make: they allow multiple uses and obviously make me save time! The price of these semi-finished products, which can appear to be high at first sight, is jus-tified if you consider the workforce savings they allow. »

A journey of flavorsBernd Siefert obviously pays great attention to the expectations of his well-informed customers. “We use the best raw materials and the most valuable ingredients for our products. Michel Cluizel’s products meet our requirements. In my opinion, they are like a “journey of flavours”. ‘1ers Crus de Plantation’ take us right to the middle of cocoa plantations! »

He is obviously the kind of confec-tioner who puts ingredient choi-ces forward. “My customers trust me. They value the fact that I pay great attention to presentation and decorations and that I always look for state-o-f-the-art flavour combi-nations. They particularly appre-ciate the fact that I use ‘1ers Crus de Plantation’ couvertures and ‘soy lecithin-free’ chocolate. »

« Chocolate only stands for some part of the production cost of my products: therefore, being able to put my recipes forward and to meet the expectations of mys customers by using exceptional chocolates turns out to be an economically at-tractive option. The final touch, re-lated to the creative aspect of the re-cipe, obviously remains essential. »

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Jacques potDeViN,

publiC aCCouNtaNt,Statutory auDitor

Bernd Siefert,a Confectioner in Michelstadt, Germany

M. and Mme Plisson,Baker, Pastry and Caterer in Orléans (France)

are lovers of premium quality pro-ducts. Some of them only come once a year, for Christmas or Easter cele-brations. We cannot fail in pleasing them ! ».The range of products of Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL is also synony-mous with development and tradi-tion. “At the moment, we are testing Façonnables: they were one of the new items of the last cocktail party we organized!” This new contribution will probably be another evidence of how strong our relationship with the Chocolaterie is: “In 2007, we deve-loped our range of "chocolate" pro-ducts, with a view to strengthen our leadership on the market and face competition.”

A well-consideredstrategyMr. and Mrs. Plisson’s customers are from the city centre; it is therefore a rather “top-of-the-range” clientele. It is the kind of clientele that demands innovative, quality products, with a careful presentation. These custo-mers are willing to spend more, but want quality products. “In this context of financial crisis and increase in pri-ces of raw materials, we try our best not to increase our prices. In order to hold our course and maintain the quality of our products, we chose to save on fixed costs and to trust the professionalism of our employees…”It is therefore essential to find and apply a fair price !

le de la Chocolaterie MiChel Cluizel • page 6

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Chocolaterie Michel Cluizel will take part in the following fairs:• Fancy Food Show (New York) : from June 28th – 30th 2009. • Salon du Chocolat in Paris from October 14th to 18th 2009.• Tax Free TFWA Fair, in Cannes, from October 19th to 23rd 2009.• Europain (France): from March 6th to 10th 2010.• Sial Fair (France): from October 17th to 21st 2010.

“Dark Mangaro” and “45% Grand Lait” 100 g Chocolate Bars were awarded One Star at the Great Taste Award, after a tasting session by 160 experts that took place in Great Britain, in July 2008.

In order to promote its chocolate bars, prepared with Michel Cluizel chocolate, Bakery, Pastry shop Yannick in Haguenau (France - 67) and its representative for Eastern region, Serge Dantzer, made a Wall of Chocolate Bars.

The box of 25 Praliné & Ganaches Macarolats, made of surprising 100% chocolate maca-roons, was awarded the “Trend and Innova-tion” prize at the Sial Fair in October 2008, in France.

Arrived by the air in July, the new conche will allow a 200% increase of production.

On September 1st, Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL Training Workshop organized an open house day, on the theme of chocolate, for Meilleurs Ouvriers de France in Pastry Making and for the pupils of Damville school.

Marc Cluizel and Philippe Parc (MOF award in Pastry Making and World Champion in Pastry, Chocolate, Ice-cream making) designed a tech-nical DVD called "Chocolate inspirations" which will provide you ideas of desserts, petits-fours and mignardises, as well as advice and tricks about the use of Laboratory Products.

Chocolate Fair of Paris. From October 29th to November 3rd, 2008, presentation of the new items of Michel Cluizel Col-lection in sneak preview, and visit of the stand by Minister Xavier Darcos, beside Pierre Cluizel, on the opening night.

October 2008, Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL becomes Partner of Air france "Espace Première" with the 4 chocolates Ballotin, offered to flight passengers.

Cluizel and Costes Partnership: cubes Costes made of dark and milk chocolate from ‘Maralumi’ plantation, in Papua New Guinea. Cubes are available in 2 sizes : 90 g and 220 g and and are distributed in the universe of Brasserie & Hôtel Costes in France.

A number of training sessions, which took place in different French regions, were organized during fall and winter: Dives (14), Grenoble (38), Dardilly (69), Jouy-en-Josas (78)…

On the occasion of 2008 Yuletide, the French Red Cross, Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL and RELAY teamed up to contri-bute to the effort of childhood protec-tion creating a 9 chocolates box.

In September 2008, Canadian Chefs took part in a training session given by Philippe Parc at the Training Workshop of Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL.

In October, Swedish distributor Choklad-huset presented Michel Cluizel products at the Chocolate Fair of Stockholm.

Mid-October: distributor DELTA FLEISCH took part in an international pastry making contest that took place in Ger-many. On that occasion, Michel Cluizel Chocolates were presented and a Mini-Nuancier ‘1ers Crus de Plantation’ was offered.

In November 2008, on the occasion of the Cioccoshow, which took place in Bolo-gna, the great Italian pastry Chef Fran-cesco Elmi organized 4 evening perfor-mances dedicated to the tasting of dishes prepared with Michel Cluizel chocolate.

On November 14th, a television crew of the Brazilian channel TV Globo filmed a report on the skills of French chocolate ma-kers, broadcasted on midday television news program, at Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL premises.

From February 1st to 4th 2009, Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL had a stand at the ISM in Colo-gne, Germany.

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All the chefs who took part in the Chef of the Year Contest that took place in September, in Iceland, used Michel Cluizel Chocolate to make the desserts they prepared.

In October, advertising inserts in English newspapers The Times with a view to promote the products of Collection Michel Cluizel, especially chocolate bars.

le de la Chocolaterie MiChel Cluizel • page 7

laboratory products

2009spring - summerCatalogueNew Fruit Theme. Discover the new Summer chocolate decorations: cherry, straw-berry, kiwi, orange, apple, pear, banana… For fruity cho-colate desserts and bonbons, 4 new transfer sheets.Available from January 2009 on.

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gruétine Kit In order to ease the use of Gruétine, we designed stencils, cylinders and nonstick mats, which professionals will find in our new catalogue.

new plasticMoulesPoultry Yard theme PVC tin kits. They enable you to make chocolate moldings with ori-ginal shapes: Rooster, Hen, Chick.

newbonbons

Espeline : Chocolate ganache with cranberry and Espe-lette sweet pepper bonbon. Nougatelle : Red berries soft Nougat. Réglimantine : Li-quorice Heart of ganache. Vayassimo Bouchée: ganache with orange peels.Available from September 7th, 2009 on.

for the nextterm

New box 25 ganachesprepared with dark chocolate ‘1ers Crus de Plantation’ (270 g)Available from September 28th, 2009 on.

The Façonnable Guide was created by Chocolaterie MI-CHEL CLUIZEL in collaboration with P. Parc, and provides original recipes and presentation ideas of sweet and savory Petits-Fours, Small Cakes and Plated Desserts.

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New Michel Cluizel Écrins Assortment of dark and milk chocolate bonbons, decorated with a new green ribbon. Available from February 23rd toEaster 2009.

* World Champion (Pastry, Chocolat, ice cream and MOF Pastry.

for easter, discover

New Easter box Contains an Egg decorated with fruits and filled with choco-late fish (available in two sizes: 180 g and 420 g, dark and milk chocolate).Only available for Easter,in Paris (France).

Juju the RabbitNew milk chocolate 37% cocoa (45 g) molding that will please both kids and parents. Available from February 23rd toEaster 2009.

le de la Chocolaterie MiChel Cluizel • page 8

(melted) at a temperature of 35 °C/95 °F to 40 °C/104 °F. Once the cooling cycle is over, the couverture is heated up in order to reach the required spout output temperature. This way, the couverture always remains tempered and fluid during the work of chocolate.3/ Manual tempering coating machine:The couverture is poured on the marble, then put back in the ma-chine. The heating temperature is increased by 2 °C/35,6 °F, ac-cording to the guidelines of couverture specialists. Another way of performing manual tempering consists in doing a seeding sprea-ding directly inside the machine.

II. Advice and tricks applying to these 3 types of temperingThe automatic and dicontinuous tempering coating machine tends to over-crystallize or over-grease after some time. We therefore ad-vise you to work the chocolate at a higher temperature than the one recommended by couverture specialists. Moreover, the addition of warm couverture (between 40 °C/104 °F and 45 °C/113 °F) can prevent over-crystallization, without de-tempering the couverture.When using a automatic and continuous tempering coating ma-chine, you should melting temperature right from the beginning: this way, you will make sure the temperature inside the tank is high enough. Perform tempering cycle and increase temperature by 1 °C/33,8 °F or 2 °C/35,6 °F in order to achieve the best pos-sible result (instructions provided by manufacturers).When using a manual tempering coating machine, it is always better to perform tempering on the marble, in order to for the couverture to remain as fluid as possible. It is also possible to perform seeding spreading; however risks of thickening are higher because of the addition of minigram-mes. Minigrammes can initiate crystallization and couverture stirring inside the coating ma-chine too quickly, and therefore make the couverture too thick right from the beginning. Once spreading is performed, you can also increase the temperature by 1 °C/33,8 °F or 2 °C/35,6 °F and add hot couverture (40 °C/104 °F- 45 °C/113 °F) as soon as the mixture thickens, in order to maintain fluidity.

III. Advice related to the use of couvertures• Performing slow melting, at a rather low temperature, will al-low you to achieve good fluidity and to de-stabilize all the cocoa butter molecules.• It is essential to implement the instructions provided by manu-facturers with regard to tempering curves. • Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL couvertures require a higher melting temperature when used in automatic and continuous tempering coating machines, because of the bigger amount of co-coa butter, which justifies the purchase price. Working at a higher temperature will not de-temper chocolate provided the tempering curve is correctly implemented from the beginning.

Couvertures and coating machines

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Report prepared in collaboration with Vincent Lechevallier, a chocolate maker and the technical advisor of Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL. For more information, please get in touch with Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL

The first coating machine was crea-

ted in 1903 by a French chocolate

maker, Mr. Magniez. In 1965, the

first automatic tempering coating

machine was installed in France, at

Chocolaterie MICHEL CLUIZEL. No-

wadays, the coating machine is an essen-

tial tool for the chocolate maker. However,

its use subtleties remain quite unknown.

I. Crucial factors in the purchase of a coating machineThe purchase of a coating machine depends o, several criteria, which should be thoroughly considered:• Volume of yearly output.• Anticipation of a possible increase of volume and of extension projects.• Expected use: some coating machines are very simple to use while others require some technical knowledge about chocolate.• Location. Ideally, you should allot a specific room to the prepara-tion of chocolate, in order to avoid contact with volatiles products such as the flour. You should never locate the coating machine near a door or a window, in order to avoid draught, nor near air conditioning system, which could make chocolate cool down. Some machines enable you to gain space while being very effi-cient: coating conveyors switch from horizontal to vertical position (modular coating machine), and some machines may be used as « molding machines » for the preparation of Easter figurines, when fitted with a specific conveyor belt that « vibrates » the tins.

There are 3 types of coating machines:1/ Automatic and discontinuous tempering coating machine: The machine tempers the whole mass that is inside the tank (31 °C /87,8 °F for dark couverture), with a small delta difference*, and cools the couverture down before heating it up in order to reach the required temperature (30 °C/86 °F).

*Delta difference: difference between the output spout temperature and the tank temperature.

2/Automatic and Continuous tempering coating machine:The couverture that is inside the tank always has to be de-crystallized