Photo by: Sovan Philong
Adrian Restle displays delicacies made from his imported chocolate.
Adrian Restle displays delicacies made from his imported chocolate.
via Khmer NZ News Media
Thursday, 10 June 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullins
CHOCOLATE wholesaler Grand-Place plans to begin making its high-quality chocolate in Cambodia next year, managing director Adrien Restle said.
Selling its Belgian-inspired sweets to the Kingdom’s restaurants and bakeries as well as “all but two” of Phnom Penh’s leading hotels, the wholesaler imports about 70 percent of its chocolate from its production facility near Ho Chi Minh City and the rest from points further afield, notably Europe.
Chocolate is damaged at temperatures higher than 28 degrees, making transportation of the treat a challenging process under the Kingdom’s hot sun. Rather than continuing to ship products in temperature-controlled containers all the way from Vietnam, Restle said, the logical next step is production in the Kingdom itself.
“We plan to manufacture made-in-Cambodia chocolate,” he said. “Cambodia imports lots of its finished products. My idea is to lead a transformation, to have production [of high value-added goods] in Cambodia.”
The plan is part of Grand-Place’s vision to produce quality chocolate entirely in Asia, he said. A test batch of cocoa beans is presently growing in Vietnam. Once harvested, a separate firm will process the beans under contract, and then return the cocoa to Grand-Place to make chocolate.
Eventually, the firm would like to conduct a similar experiment in Cambodia, but Restle admits this is a longer term project. “There are no cocoa trees in Cambodia, but they can be planted here,” he said, and added that growing cocoa in the Kingdom would require working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture.
The firm plans to double its staff in Cambodia from four to eight in order to make the products, with an eye to employing 12 people once production gets rolling in a year. Restle credits his current Khmer staff with boosting the firm’s domestic sales to the mass market.
“I can work with five-star hotels, but it’s my colleagues who are driving sales with bakeries,” he said.
Grand-Place bills itself as a chocolate company from Belgium, rather than as a Belgian chocolate company, a distinction based on the origin of much of its chocolate.
To officially label the chocolate as “Belgian” would require its manufacture in the famously chocolate-friendly European country, but Restle contends that Grand-Place’s Vietnamese-made products are indistinguishable from its products in Europe. Grand-Place uses Belgian recipes, Belgian training, and is Belgian owned, he says.
Cambodians prefer sweet compound chocolate over more bitter couverture types popular in Europe, he added.
“In Asia, people are not used to couverture’s bitter taste. People here prefer sweeter products,” he said.
Sweet tooths throughout Asia may lead Vietnam-based Grand-Place to expand further afield. It already sells its products through an office in Japan, but is eyeing new locations, possibly in India or China. “There are over 1 billion people in China, of which maybe 1 percent eats chocolate. The potential is huge,” Restle said.
Expansion in the Kingdom is stymied for now by lack of demand, he said. The firm’s main office was in Phnom Penh, with a satellite office in Siem Reap, but Restle said the next domestic target, Sihanoukville, is some years away from supporting a Grand-Place outlet.
Chocolate is a plastic product that could be molded to meet patrons’ wishes, he said, and Grand-Place holds workshops every six months aimed at increasing chiefs’ knowledge.
“The first chocolate demo we held was in August 2009 at the Cambodiana Hotel. 80 people joined for training about how to use chocolate,” he said.
He declined to release sales figures, citing tight competition among chocolate manufacturers, but said its margins were crucial in the wholesale chocolate business.
“As we are a B to B supplier, our business works on volume, and works on the margin,” he said.
4 comments:
The Interesting Pavilion
As furniture shop in Cambodia
construction materials provided, there is a creative process inclusive of both design and enterprise.
By this way the designer divided the pavilion into 6 impeccably volumes and they were used with different materials and color to make them notable and interesting the outline.
One more thing the organization across multiple gradients of light, and all these areas create a sense of micro- urbanity; admire interaction between visitor and lovers of design alike.
Moreover the design will give the style of art and inner corridor of the pavilion to life. Anyway you can enjoy with the beautiful stylish lamp and the bright color of this pavilion.
The Pleasant Atmosphere House
Here is the tastefully house has been designed with well planned, according to construction in Cambodia construction materials said.
In addition, this house has a generous living room with exit to the balcony, and Italian designed open plan kitchen, peaceful bedroom, stylish bathroom and spacious dressing room with plenty of storage space.
One more thing the living room is still stand out as the most interesting one, although other are also designed as the beautiful one.
Indeed the ample space is fantastic for a sofa and dining area for many guests. Anyway the dark blue sofa, colorful pillows and orange painting contrast the white walls of the apartment and make sure that an overall pleasant atmosphere.
In an old world
Delivered by trustworthy construction in Cambodia construction materials, on top of being subtle and elegant, the featured kitchen also has a sense of and old world in a modern design.
The kitchen features a standalone island of coffee-brown benchtop follows by adorned corbels and off-white detailed panels that also match with the rest of the cabinetry of this working space that express the traditional theme added with a warm sensation of the dark floor board. The dark-green square tile backsplash gives interest in the design.
Other elements that tells the classical approach include the dining area behind the huge window, the circular clock that resemble the classical England, the plates’ storage, the hand-held mirror placed on the island top, and the paintings that illustrate a theme of the previous decades.
Remodeled kitchen of a modern-classic style by Alan Berman
"The owner asked for a kitchen with a much more open feel, but she didn't want a loft-style design. She preferred a contemporary classic look, which would be not too modern nor too old fashioned." Said Architect Alan Berman about the presented kitchen’s redesigned project.
Provided by notable furniture in Cambodia construction materials, Berman incorporated maple wood cabinetry with an Ebony Venice stain and decorative mouldings which provides a classical appearance and the Black Galaxy granite countertops that demonstrates a contemporary presence.
Ample of storage was assured. "We also added a row of cabinets above a new pass-through to the dining room. Squares of backlit glass at the top of the cabinets prevent the units from overpowering the space."
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