Akshay Kumar – Mumbai
Chocolat Frey, one of the leading chocolate manufacturers in Switzerland, recently concluded a series of seven workshops in India for the hospitality industry. Based in Buchs in the Swiss Canton of Aargau, the company launched its chocolates in the Indian market 11 months back for the retail sector. The company is now making its mark in the food service industry. To create awareness about its products and its application, Chocolat Frey conducted three workshops in Delhi and four workshops in Mumbai. The company hosted one of its workshop in a hospitality college, Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management. BP Sahni, principal, Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management, said, “We are glad that Chocolat Frey chose our college as the venue for their workshop. Chef Ralph is one of the best and the most respected pastry chef in the industry. It is an honour for our institute to host a chef of such caliber.”
Speaking about the workshops, Ralph Gottschalk, pastry chef consultant, Chocolat Frey, said, “The products which we offer have great potential in the India market. Indian people are knowledgeable about Swiss food in general. It is a 100 per cent Swiss made product, where everything right from sugar, milk powder are sourced from Switzerland. It will take some time, but over the coming years it will make a big impact in the India market.”
Speaking about the India market, Michael Schwarz, sales manager-industry/ food services, Chocolat Frey, said, “The response for our products in the retail sector is positive. People like the creamy taste of milk chocolates especially, but even our dark chocolates are not that strong, which is liked by the people. In the retail sector we work with some ingredients like hazelnuts which are popular in the India market. Soon we will work with our distributor- United Distributors (UDI) in India to get more products in this market and its also important for us to make our study in the market. In the last two years what I learnt is that it is not easy to work in India and on the other hand it is important that our distributors make sure that our products reach the consumers regularly.”
