The chocolate Apprentice

Tonight at last saw the airing of the final of  the fifth  series of the UK version of The Apprentice.

The last challenge for the two finalists was creating a chocolate brand and selection in just three days – a tough ask. Finalist Kate Walsh worked with Paul Young of Paul A Young Fine Chocolates, while Yasmina Siadatan was paired with Gerrard Coleman of L’artisan du Chocolat to create their selections.

The products were presented to an audience of business and chocolate experts last November, and most of the UK chocolate cogniscenti were present. (Didn’t get to see myself on the telly though.)

The choice of chocolatiers used for the briefs is a really good indication of the forward movement of fine chocolate in Britain in the last few years. If this had been held five years ago, the quality of companies used might have been much lower.  The brief was not specifically for fine chocolates though, and only one of the contestants went for anything like the fine market.

Kate Walsh

Price seemed to be the main issue for Kate’s selection, created with the help of Paul Young – the chocolate experts present weren’t really asked for an opinion though.  These were recognisably Paul Young chocolates, but the brief demanded a six month shelf life, so some sugars were used that would not normally be considered acceptable to a chocolatier like Paul.

The comments were not just about the price being too high though, Chantal Coady, for example, stood up and suggested that the price was too low if you are trying to create an upmarket product with quality ingredients. Fine chocolate is just not cheap. A significant part of the market now recognises this, a lot of the business world hasn’t quite got the idea though.

Later in the post show programme, Kate suggested that in retrospect the economic climate might not be right for launching a new premium brand. Ask any of London’s high end chocolatiers though and they will tell you that business was good over the Christmas and Easter periods, as customers downsize to an affordable luxury.

Yasmina

As Sir Alan said, Yasmina went for the cheap end of the market. This was pretty clear when we got to try the chocolates, made with the help of Gerrard Coleman in L’artisan du Chocolat’s Ashford factory. The chocolates were basically off-the-shelf Belcolade shells, with very, very sweet fillings. “Do you think these flavours work” was one of the audience questions. Clearly the questioner thought not.

‘Shocking chocolates’ said Sir Alan later in the boardroom, whereas Kate’s ‘tasted very very good’. It’s ironic that everyone could tell the difference in quality, but couldn’t see the logic of a higher price for a better product.

I imagine Paul convinced Kate’s team to go for a higher quality offering and something quite close to his normal standard, so he’d be on pretty solid ground when it came to the production, which would of been by hand.

L’artisan would have had to gear up their production machines to a very small run with a hastily conceived of range of flavours, so perhaps they were at a disadvantage. Still, if you make chocolates that cost £0.07 per chocolate, you don’t have much chance of making something good.

In the end Yasmina was ‘hired’, not for the quality of the chocolates clearly. Thankfully, neither she nor Sir Alan Sugar are likely to rush into selling chocolates – fine or otherwise – in the near future.