Discussion Assignment 1: Researching Business Models & Products

Learning Objective: Start to formulate the kind of chocolatier you want to be.

Discussion Assignment: Researching

Business Models & Products

There are many different types of chocolate operations and products, which makes research an essential first step towards accomplishing your goals. It is never too early to look to others for inspiration. Even if you are not sure of your exact career path at this time, this exercise will help you to understand the possibilities.

For this assignment, you will research the websites of a minimum of 30 chocolatiers either:

 

For this assignment examples can be from anywhere around the world - geography isn't a factor in this exercise.

Narrow your examples down to 3 independent chocolatiers and answer the following questions.

• List the name and internet address of the 3 chocolatiers whose work you hope to emulate.


• Explain why you chose each of these chocolatiers.


• What differentiates these chocolatiers from the others that you researched?


• Give examples of each chocolatier's most important product that inspired you.

In the same report, answer the following questions under a heading of: Understanding the Industry.

• What are your general observations about independent chocolatiers and their products?


• Having gone through the research, what did you learn about the chocolate industry?

Ecole Chocolat Notes about this Understanding the Industrysection. We want your observations on the research you just did - I've given you some suggested questions to answer but feel free to simply give us your feelings and observations. Take time to think about the research.

Note on your report content: what we are looking for is a concise report on your research or practice coupled with a thoughtful response to our questions. We are grading strictly on content - not how well or how much you write. There is a maximum of 1500 words allowed in the box but we are in no way expecting or want you to fill it.

Click on the "Add Submission" button below to submit your assignment.
That button will be visible and available on the official program start date.

When you click on the "Add Submission" button - a text submission box will appear at the bottom of the page. You may have to scroll down to see that. You have a choice of typing your report directly into the box and then clicking the "Save changes" button below it to submit.

OR WE VERY, VERY HIGHLY SUGGEST that you create your assignment report in another editor in your computer and save that.Then copy and paste the text in your saved report into the submission box and click the "Save changes" button to submit. This process makes sure that you have a saved copy of your report in case something happens when you submit.

Confirming your assignment submission and viewing grades:

Once you've submitted your assignment, A message appears that says "Your changes have been saved". Also you will see under the Assignment Due Date a new line that starts with"Last Edited....". That confirms that your assignment has been submitted and when.

Don't forget to be generous and share a copy of this assignment report with your classmates by posting it to the Chef's Table in the appropriate assignment discussion.

About Discussion Assignments: They are graded on a complete or incomplete basis only. If you complete the assignment by the due date you will receive the full points.

We wait until after the Assignment due date (see below) to start grading the assignments - you can expect to see your grade posted within 10 working days after the due date has passed.

Learning Objective: Understand some basic methods of working with chocolate

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Working with chocolate
Creating the right conditions, using the right tools

Learning Objective: Understand how other chocolatiers position their business as well as the multitude of product offerings around the world

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Small and medium-sized chocolate companies
This is a random list of independent chocolatiers from our database of over 1,500. It will give you an understanding of the state of the industry. Use this list OR the complete directory of chocolatiers on our www.chocomap.com site to start your research for your competitive analysis. We've also included some of our Ecole Chocolat graduates.

About Chocolate Terms in the Program

It was important for us in developing this curriculum to be aware of the terms we were using to talk about products or techniques. Your understanding of how chocolate industry professionals, chocolatiers and chefs refer to different chocolates and ingredients becomes extremely important to your education and later, your credibility. I've added some pronunciation cues for those terms that are unfamiliar or not pronounced as they read in English.

In this information page, we talk about professional chocolate terms as you start to focus on chocolate techniques. There is so much to learn that we want to keep your focused one step at a time so you retain what you learn. Later throughout the curriculum, as new terms for processes, equipment, or ingredients are introduced, they will be defined in their context.

Student supplies and equipment
A review of the following ingredients and equipment

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Chocolate supplies

The program's learning objectives:
Module 1: Informational and research pages

Research the General Reference pages.