Chocolate prices have increased extremely in recent years. In five years, 200 percent have been added. Yet having a chocolate shop remains profitable, says Rudolf Vermeulen, third generation Chocolatier of the case of the same name from Waalre. “My margins have become smaller, I just don’t dare to calculate everything. But you notice that chocolate is a luxury that people really like to keep buying for themselves and others.”
The sparrows are still falling off the roof, but the production of chocolate letters starts again. And it is precisely those chocolate letters that are an important part of the annual turnover of a chocolatier, also – or precisely – in times of expensive cocoa. If you walk across the Willibrorduslaan in Waalre, you can already smell the chocolate odor via the open barn door of Vermeulen. A scent that he himself – nickname Rudi – no longer smells after all these years.
“Then I would be Willy Wonka.”
In addition to Rudi, he is also called ‘Sjakie’, referring to the book Sjakie and the chocolate factory of Roald Dahl. “There you come as a chocolate maker, I don’t think, I should not be Willy Wonka,” he laughs.
The barn door sometimes opens Vermeulen to cool the chocolate factory if it is colder outside than inside the monumental building. “It used to be a cigar factory and the flat roof is not ideal for a chocolate factory, although it also has its charm,” says the chocolate maker.
He has thought about moving to an industrial estate and to have the convenience of a more modern building, but loves the atmosphere and history too much. “My grandfather started here in 1939 and both me and my oldest son were born above the store.”
“We prefer to honor the family recipes.”
In the store at the factory, which has been the same for decades, you will not find a dubaire pen or other trend chocolate. But can you still afford to miss such trends with the strongly risen cocoa prices? Vermeulen thinks so. “Often the trend is back on its way before you jumped on that train. We prefer to honor the family recipes and notice that customers appreciate that too.”
A lot still happens by hand, such as chocolate and spraying decoration. Vermeulen can mean the latter in the meantime
“I believe chocolate is a keeper.”
Vermeulen thinks that despite the high prices chocolate will really remain a ‘thing’ and it does not fear that having a chocolate shop will soon become unprofitable, not even if cocoa rises to the peak price of 2024 again. “Everything has become quite expensive in recent years, I am often shocked when I am in the supermarket of what I have to pay for the groceries. My margins have certainly become smaller, but I also believe that chocolate is a keeper, especially if one can no longer afford greater luxury.”
The future follow -up of his family business by the next generation also seems to be secured: “My oldest son has ears it and is now starting at the Bakkersschool.”
Cocoa prices
The top of the cocoa price was 12,906 dollars per kilo in December 2024, but in the meantime it has dropped to around 8500 dollars in mid -August. Yet that is also much more than the years before when the price fluctuated between $ 2000 and $ 3000 for a long time.
The Chocolatier shows an app on his phone with the cocoa prices. You see a sharp peak since the beginning of 2024, but a slight rise was already visible just after Corona. “I can easily keep an eye on the cocoa prices with this. When I occasionally see a dip, I try to buy it, but it is always a gamble or that is a good time.”
Vermeulen currently processes around 30,000 kilos of cocoa per year. Digital purchasing of cocoa via an app is a difference with the past when there was often a regular contact person from the supplier in between. “It is useful to be able to buy something quickly at good prices, but it also ensures that I am more concerned with it.” He grins. “I have just returned from a weekend of camping with my son and then the cocoa price was a bit lower, I saw on my app. I quickly bought something.” But you also have to be able to lose that cocoa of course, something that is sometimes puzzling in a building with limited space.
