Absolute Chocolate director Naheed Ahmed at his shop in Nairobi. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU |
What you need to know:
The ‘chocopreneur’ learnt more secrets to making different flavoured chocolates during his internship in South Africa.
They make chocolates for the shop, do orders for corporate clients who can have their logo inscribed on the bars to give out as gifts and for other customers who want something different.
The business now offers 50 flavours with expresso and milk chocolate flavours being the most popular.
Naheed Ahmed, a chef, never thought chocolates would turn into a recipe for success.
While studying to become a chef at the Capsicum Culinary Studio in South Africa, chocolate-making was just an extra course that he took to share a class with one of the top chefs after completing his studies. But one year down the line, Mr Ahmed is the chocolatier with a mission to give Kenyans a taste of fresh, made-from-scratch chocolates that have no preservatives.
With tempting treats made from fresh and the best cocoa mass from West Africa, Mr Ahmed’s business, Absolute Chocolate, is set to become Kenya’s answer to home-made chocolate.
The doors to Absolute Chocolate’s kitchen, located at Nairobi’s Village Market, do not let the strong and delicious aroma of chocolate escape. It is hard to think of nothing else, but chocolate as the aroma stimulates your senses and to eat it becomes your focus.
“Who doesn’t love chocolate? We want to give Kenyans fresh artisan chocolate,” says Mr Ahmed, who is also the director of Absolute Chocolate.
His chocolate shop is full of pralines, truffles and bars; all handmade. Mr Ahmed who studied in South Africa for three years says despite doing a one-year course in chocolate-making, it did not cover much. The ‘chocopreneur’ learnt more secrets to making different flavoured chocolates during his internship in South Africa.
‘‘There is so much you can do with chocolate. I worked as a chocolatier in Cape Town for a year during my internship,” says Mr Ahmed.
Absolute Chocolate owes its beginnings to Mahmood Khambiye and Munira Ahmed (his sister) who are shareholders in the business. He says his sister loved the business idea the minute he presented it with chocolate samples.
With an investment of about Sh4 million to Sh5 million, Absolute Chocolate got a fully equipped kitchen and its first retail store at the first floor at the Village Market which opened in November.
“We are targeting the middle and upper class and the place to reach them is in the malls. We are also looking to open shops in upcoming malls in the outskirts of the city,” says Ms Munira.
With a team of four, including Mr Ahmed, they make chocolates for the shop, do orders for corporate clients who can have their logo inscribed on the bars to give out as gifts and for other customers who want something different. If a client wants a certain flavour that is not in the shop, he will still get it, says Mr Ahmed.
The chocolates are hand-wrapped.
“There is potential for Kenya to have a proper chocolatier shop with chocolates made locally and handmade from scratch,” says Mr Khambiye, a self-described official taster of the new products.
However, tasting goes beyond him. Every new product or flavour is given to chefs, friends and business partners for tasting.
The outlet’s clean line minimalist design is meant to make it look like a jewellery shop, to attract people. The pralines and truffles are displayed through glass while the chocolate bars and boxes are on the shelves.
The business now offers 50 flavours with expresso and milk chocolate flavours being the most popular.
‘‘The plan is to have 150 flavours. The colourful marble like pralines are popular and they are made with cocoa by-products. We do not use any artificial colours or flavours,” says Mr Ahmed.
They use cocoa mass from West Africa, finest Belgium raw chocolate (Couverture), cocoa butter, cocoa powder and agave sugar from South Africa. Absolute Chocolate also supports small-scale producers in Kenya and it sources for milk, nuts and coffee locally.
“We have to import quite a number of raw ingredients, but for consistency in quality and taste, we would rather spend more,” says Mr Ahmed.
The price range for the pralines and truffles is between Sh150 and Sh200 while the chocolate bars which come in six flavours are Sh300. The main challenge for the chocolate-making business is the rising global prices of raw cocoa products, driven by high demand for chocolate in the Far East, climate change and political instability in top producer countries. West Africa produces about 70 per cent of global cocoa.
Despite the challenge, Mr Ahmed says he will press on to realise his dream of “bean-to-bar” production in Kenya.
‘‘I have the experience to give Kenyans a taste of fresh and different and for now my focus is on building capacity,’’ he says.
