from zero to holiday launch in two weeks
deep breath, off the ledge you go, to enjoying the freefall
Hello Next Batchers,
Thank you for being here! You can read right here in your inbox, or link straight to this post on the main page in the Next Batch resource hub.
I mentioned way back in October when it seemed like I had all the time in the world to get it done (the big makers are probably pouring bunnies now) that I was going to offer a Map Chocolate holiday collection. Well, the universe just wasn’t feeling it and October had other plans. I’d pretty much given up on the idea, but crafting this time of year is likely why I stayed a chocolate maker once I’d started. For one, my first-ever holiday collection brought my first-ever real, legit sales, from people outside the circle of my family and friends. But mainly, this is my favorite season for making chocolate.
If we think of each bar we make as a gift~~and aren’t they?~~it adds a joy amidst the making mess. Mess-making? Merry mess making.
The biggest takeaway I hope you’ll get from this post (I promise it’s short and sweet, tis the season of busy for everyone) is that there is no rule that says in order to be a craft chocolate maker we have to do it fulltime.
Once a year, only on your favorite holiday or season, scheduled to fit into your own life’s rhythms and needs and desires; diving in doesn’t mean swimming for dear life 7 days a week, or surfacing for air once in a long while. Yes, pro chocolate making has a lot of tasks. Notice “pro” and by this I mean for money. As I wrote recently on Instagram, there’s a different set of pressures than for a hobby: a balancing act of work, parenting, family, finances, our health and social expectations, and then the tasks.
Not saying one is better, just different. Also notice “tasks” and not “a lot of work.” Work is a personal definition; tasks are literal steps and processes. We get to decide (daily, minute by minute if necessary) if it’s work, if the work is fulfilling, if the work is too much. There’s no shame in deciding it is too much, even when we love it.
I’m not going into the economics of full-time pro maker vs part-time vs one or two launches per year; saving that topic for January 2024 when we’ll be diving into the B (business) Side of Chocolate as a month-long class here for paid subscribers.
The B Side month will lead us into the Bean to Bar Craft Course 2024. I’m offering it, and teaching it, in a new way, one that I think better reflects all our needs as chocolate folks post-pandemic, mid-how the world is spinning now. There’s a lot to distract us, dissuade us from following a dream, or keep us on the ledge afraid of falling/failing.
Part of the new format is that the course livestreams will take place in the Next Batch classroom (the cozy kitchen many of you know), and also from another maker’s new kitchen on the East coast, where I’ll teach/co-host live, in-person classes. More details to come.
Here’s how my Holiday 2023 collection-crafting unfurled.
What I needed to get done in two weeks:
dream up/research my bar ideas: originally only doing 3 bars but 5 bars allowed for 2 traditional + 3 plant-based. During the launch the plant-based sold out first. I kept one regular, favorite bar (Squirrel Stash), did an update to my traditional holiday-only bar (Starry Night became Sugarpine), and created three new bars.
Squirrel Stash: salted caramel white with nut(kin)ella
Treeline: almond white with sakura (dried cherry blossom petal white), raspberries and hojicha.
Blanket Statement: spiced pumpkin pie with toasted meringue and pumpkin seed brittle crust
Snail Trail: malted oat milk chocolate with coffee crisped rice
Sugarpine: dark milk chocolate with pinebud white chocolate and Norwegian sea salt
check my supplies and order the ingredients: I calculated what I had on hand and what I needed, then ordered. A bar had to be “changed” when a key ingredient ws shipped but lost in transit. Pro-tip: have a back-up idea.
craft the batches: should have checked the belts on the 3 belt-driven melangers, but didn’t; luckliy had a large supply of extra belts on hand. Another good thing about the DCM20 is that it’s direct-drive, powerful, and there’s no belt or maintenance repairs. Downside, it’s tricky to video with one hand and pour lots of chocolate at the same time. Caption this: oof
make the inclusions: I did these on each bar’s tempering day, a bit of a risk if the inclusion doesn’t work out as hoped, which! is why due to the short time span I chose to make inclusions I’ve worked with before. Having a repertoire of go-to’s (brittles, meringue, etc) can help bypass the scary what-if’s that can keep a great bar from ever taking shape. The plant-based (aquafaba) meringue I used for the pumpkin pie bar is easy as (wait for it) pie, but works best if spread in a thin layer for baking. It was a super humid/rainy day, not a pal to meringues, so required a longer dry-out time in the oven.
temper: as soon as each batch was ready (two bars were 2-batch bars) I tempered, as on a short timeline there’s not time for lots of slow re-melting. Always and forever grateful for my Eztemper seed maker.
design and order packaging and shipping supplies: I used Canva for the design, which took two days. I used Canva to print the postcards (these will go inside each order with a thank you note written on them). Evermine is always super fast turnaround + shipping, so I uploaded my Canva label designs and had Evermine do the printing. I originally was going to use MOO (they were having a big sale) but their online design upload is frustratingly tedious and hard to use. There was no time to design a fancy wrapper. My intention with the bars was visual + flavor, so I opted for a clear compostable cellophane sleeve. In honesty, seeing a Portland chocolatier’s pretty bars wrapped in clear cellophane and priced $2 above the bean to bar/craft bars (!) on the same display table while the craft makers had (what I know from experience) is $$$ wrappers made me realize if the bar is beautiful, show it. It’s also not something big chocolate companies do, so there’s that distinction.
whip my website into holiday mode: I changed the colors, added imagery from my holiday designs (if you use the Canva background remover they can be overlaid as images, see below how there’s no “border”?), and gave a heads-up that the collection was coming on November 17.
set up shipping profiles on website: harder than tempering in the rain, and in the past I often lost revenue :( It’s why I decided not to ship outside the US this season. If items all weigh the same or thereabouts it’s easier to calculate shipping for small orders. Larger orders may work best in flat rate priority shipping boxes.
photo and list the products: I chose a simple, unified way to highlight each bar and photo’ed on a cream (warm) background with late morning light.
squeak out a few (very very few) social media posts mentioning that I’d be offering bars: basically a hello! I’m still here just in case anyone wants chocolate. A crapshoot with the new Instagram algorithm thus, a mailing list is more likely to draw attention. You can add a link to your website (to sign up for your email list) in Instagram stories.
compose the email to let everyone who might want to know, know: make sure to add a click-through button, make sure the button works.
and then the launch (whew).
By the time it was all said and done three weeks later, I had crafted unique chocolate and earned income my family and I greatly appreciate, all in the span of a 61-minute frenzy before the bars sold out.
I am telling you this bit about selling out because it says to me this: there are serious chocolate fans of slow batch chocolate around the world.
People interested in new flavors, quirky, “uniform” designs, intentional, authentic crafting.
Yes, I have some loyal Map supporters from over the past 9 years, but this changed a lot from chocolate buying folks to students once my focus shifted to teaching and the Next Batch 90% of the time. There’s no sadder customer than one who hopefully searches for bars on a quiet website. Prior to launch on Friday, Map’s website weekly views were down to less than a few per week.
On that note: thank you to the many students who bought bars xxoo
And as always, happy holiday (or not!) making,
Mackenzie