What can craft chocolate learn from other specialty/craft movements?

I’ve known the author of this article (link below), for at least a half-dozen years. For the past three years he has been a co-presenter in the Chocolate Makers Forum at Chocoa, speaking on marketing and selling specialty/craft/bean-to-bar or whatever you want to call it, chocolate.

Spencer brings an awful lot of experience gained from working in the music industry and Amazon to questions of how to effectively sell chocolate from small makers. He has six theses:

1. They are demonstrably “better” – either in terms of taste, ethics, environmental credentials and/or health (Ideally all of these);
2. They are an easy “upgrade” appealing to an existing vice or habit;
3. They have some relatively clear and accepted definitions;
4. The differences, and these definitions, are well explained;
5. They have a space to experience and purchase (which ideally should be cool); and
6. They have cool kit, rituals, and vocabulary to enjoy the product.

I urge everyone to read his defense of these theses and comment on them below. Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have other points to add to Spencer’ six theses?

I personally find the arguments to be compelling and to parallel much of my own thinking. If you haven’t heard Spencer speak in person you should consider attending the Chocolate Makers Forum at Chocoa in Feb, 2020.

Click to read the full article.