Mid-October can mean only one thing: my annual pilgrimage to North Pole City in Oklahoma City. For those of you unfamiliar with this Christmas decoration mecca, it offers an over-the-top number of Department 56 pieces obsessed individuals can use to build those little holiday cities that overtake entire rooms. Each year I slowly enter the establishment, deeply breathe in the smell of Christmas wonder and overpriced retail items, then select something new to incorporate into my own Christmas display.
So if it’s time for my Winter Wonderland to reappear, then it also marks the triumphant return of hot-chocolate season. But this year, I truly believe the time and consumer mindset is ready to take this decadent beverage to the next level: I’m talking a hot-chocolate bar!
For Adults and Kids Alike
Hot chocolate brings with it many positive elements. Almost every adult has wonderful memories associated with its consumption. As a foodservice establishment offering this beverage, you are giving customers permission to experience a small “cleansing breath” of nostalgic, simpler-time indulgence. And if you think adults aren’t really into hot chocolate, you may want to reconsider. I was just perusing Nestle’s website (hey, we all need hobbies) and it pointed out that 80% of hot cocoa is consumed by adults!
Now that doesn’t mean we can’t also include children in a hot-chocolate-bar strategy. Beyond the obvious “kissing up” factor that buying hot chocolate for your kids provides, parents also have the peace of mind knowing chocolate consumption has been linked to several positive health benefits, such as potentially increasing blood flow and oxygen to the brain. Wow! So providing my daughter with a treat in hopes of making her really like Daddy may also help her stay healthier and potentially think more clearly. I am the ultimate dad!
Promote It
We also must understand the importance of marketplace messaging. A hot-chocolate bar offers numerous potential advertising voices.
▶ Premium: Backstories discussing origin, manufacturing and ingredient characteristics related to chocolate offer compelling tales.
▶ International Ingredient Influences: Jacques Torres offers a hot-chocolate drink called Wicked, which he sells in both a packaged retail form and as a beverage at his shop in New York. It features ground ancho and chipotle chili peppers. Many folks are drawn to these safe culinary adventures.
▶ Seasonal: Need I say more than Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte? The opportunity to create a unique flavor profile beverage customers can associate specifically with your concept, and that can be purchased and consumed only during certain times of the year, can be a very powerful traffic driver.
▶ Customization: This is perhaps the most persuasive purchase enticement of them all. Consider breaking your hot-chocolate bar offerings into categories such as toppings, mild mix-ins and attention-getters. (Email me if you’d like my specific ingredient suggestions within each of these categories.) The total number of mathematical options available to satisfy specific customer cravings is more numerous than my “Why did I sleep through math in college?” mind can possibly calculate.
Finally, for those of you who also make beverages in the store, don’t forget the power and appeal of visual. I recently was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to speak at a foodservice event, and I stopped at a café called Rei do Mate. Not only did the concept emphasize the chocolate by draping it over the side of the glass, ensuring I would get a taste of it with every sip, the server also proudly presented me with the spoon used to make the beverage, still dripping with excess chocolate! (See photo.)
Honestly, I could go on for another few hours about the virtues of the hot-chocolate bar, but right now I feel compelled to put down my pen and get to work on that Christmas village. Now where did I put my inspirational photo of Clark Griswold?
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