Barry Callebaut’s cacao and chocolate-based products

Barry Callebaut is said to be the world’s biggest cacao and chocolate manufacturing company, formed in 1996 by the merger of Belgian chocolate maker Callebaut and French chocolate producer Cacao Barry. Cacao Barry has a history dating to the 19th century. Barry Callebaut showcased its chocolate-based products at the Aahar show in Delhi to help customers with innovations as well as product range.

Globally, Barry Callebaut manufactures more than one lakh tons of products per year, majorly consisting of chocolates, compounds and cacao-based products for bakeries and food establishments in the food service industry, chef Arindam Ghosh from Barry Callebaut told IndiFoodBev.

Barry Callebaut has a food manufacturing division, which supplies fillants, coatings, and chocolate chips to the food service industry, Ghosh said, adding the company was launched in India in 2007. It has two manufacturing plants in the country in Maharashtra’s Baramati and Rajasthan’s Neemrana.

While the upcoming Neemrana plant is targeted at the North and East Indian markets, the Baramati plant supplies to the whole country and would cater to the Southern and Western markets once the Neemrana plant becomes operational. Both plants are equipped with German machinery with a capacity of producing 600 metric tons of chocolate per day, Ghosh added.

The Baramati and Neemrana plants are for the Indian market while the company has plants in Singapore, France, Switzerland and Belgium for international demand. Barry Callebaut has 70 manufacturing plants across the globe, Ghosh said.

In India, the B2B chocolate maker supplies to the Ferraro Group for Kinderjoy, Nutella Spread and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, Parle Products for chocolate chips used in Hide & Seek biscuits, Anmol Industries for the chocolate filling in Romanzo choco-filled cookies, and Mondelez India Foods for the chocolate filling of its Cadbury Chocobakes choco-filled chocolate cookies.

While Barry Callebaut’s food manufacturing division supplies raw material to companies making chocolate-based products, the company markets three gourmet brands in India – Callebaut, Van Houten and Van Leer. Barry Callebaut’s compounds and chocolates are supplied to bakeries such as Theobroma, Mio Amore, Monginis, and Bakingo for the manufacturing of their chocolates, cakes and desserts, Ghosh added.

According to Ghosh, Barry Callebaut supplies to more than 20,000 food manufacturers, restaurants, and bakeries across India. Cookie Jar, Cakes, Little Pleasure, Theos, and Karachi Bakery are some of the other names taking chocolate raw materials from Barry Callebaut.

India is a price-sensitive market, Ghosh said about the challenges the brand faced in India, adding that consumers don’t have a clear understanding between a chocolate and a compound. “Our first job as a B2B chocolate supplier is to make customers understand the difference between a chocolate and a compound. Until you taste the two, you are never going to understand the difference between the two products. However, when you recognize the difference through your taste buds, you tend to remember the difference. While compounds are made with cocoa powder, sugar and vegetable fat, chocolates are made with cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and sugar. As a global company, it is our continuous effort to educate consumers about different chocolate products and their health benefits.”

While compounds are bad for overall dental hygiene, research says that chocolate, especially dark chocolate, contains anti-oxidants which helps in reviving blood sugar levels, as well as help with skin-related issues, Ghosh shared.

He said the Neemrana manufacturing plant will soon come up with a lot of new innovations as well as provide more solutions to bakers in terms of product development, and costing. “We look forward to providing our customers with the best products at the best price range,” Ghosh concluded.