Noopur Bharwada and Meeta Bharwada, Founders, Truffles Chocolate Studio : Designer Tastes- Designer Chocolate

“Designer Tastes- Designer Chocolate”

For the customer with tastes beyond what mere mortals prefer the word “designer-made” is the secret handshake of their exclusive world. From designer clothes shoes cars and accessories we have now hit upon the product only those with the most taste will search for namely Designer chocolate. Created by the fertile entrepreneurial minds of Noopur Bharwada and Meeta Bharwada Truffles Chocolate Studio promises a designer taste like no other…

We have heard of chocolate but what is Designer chocolate?

Truffles Chocolate Studio is a company passionate about creating designer chocolate gifting products. We process and make premium quality handmade chocolates, giving them a creative and trendy look. With creativity and artwork, we create unique hand crafted chocolate gifting options personalized for every occasion. Truffles comprises of 2 phases, a processing unit and a retail outfit.

What is the mainstay of your services and products?

Truffles mainly offers chocolate gifting products with a difference. Currently we serve more than a thousand customers and serve new walk in customers on a daily basis. We also have a tie-up for our chocolate bouquets with “The Shoppe”, a super store in vadodara. We presently hold 5+ annual corporate accounts.

What sets you apart from other chocolate makers?

Our product of “Chocolate Bouquets” is a major differentiator for us in the existing markets. We have combined two of the most generic gifting items into one stylized product which gives the customer value worth his spending. Also experience & knowledge of our co-founder Meeta Bharwada and expertise of our workforce helps us create unique products.

Are you planning on expanding the business?

With our brand nearly a year and half old, we plan to increase our presence in existing markets and enter new markets with tie-up or franchisee model. Operating into the corporate gifting market is also a huge scale up model for us.What made you become an entrepreneur after your MBA?

I believe it was destiny. After my MBA, fortunately I dint find a suitable job profile as expected, Thanks to recession 2008. This actually made me start up and looking at the customer responses and they way they kept coming back again and again, there was no looking back. But if I have to think, I would never be able to go through a monotonous 9-5 job now, after experiencing the thrill and satisfaction of being an entrepreneur.

What motivates you to keep working and growing your business?

The sense of ‘so much to achieve and so less time’, keeps me awake at nights. Also like I said earlier, the adulation and appreciation that we get from our customers makes us strive for that much more to give. Also the satisfaction of creating something that people admire and are ready to pay for is a huge high which keeps me buckled up for this ride.

What would you advise an entrepreneur who is starting their own venture? I think I would like to encourage more and more youngsters to take the jump and innovate without being overtly cautious, since it kills the enthusiasm and the adventure of the ride. I would advise them to take the jump, even if you stumble and fail, it will just make you wiser, thinking and pondering for ages will get you nowhere.

What was it like starting up your own business without any prior experience?

Starting up on your own would never be easy for anyone. Besides the financial pooling in, a major challenge was to set up a processing unit. A lot of research and consultation went into setting up processes which made sure smooth operations for the company. Presently we have a state of art production and processing unit to support our corporate orders as well as our retail outfit. Also quality resources have always been a problem, but fortunately we have been blessed with a good set of core members who have stuck with us since the start.

What is the most important lesson you learnt as an amateur entrepreneur?

We’ve always learnt “Planning” is fundamental aspect. As an amateur entrepreneur, I lacked planning skills which bounded my vision for only a short term gain. Case studies and mentoring was a solution which helped me make real plans which broadened up my vision to take this venture to new horizons.

What sort of progress have you made so far?

In a year and a half, we have already broken even and have been into positives for some time now with a very self sustaining model of sorts. We have our Flagship store in Juhu, Mumbai and tie up with a store in Vadodara. In totality we have 10 employees spread across different profiles.I think our corporate customers and our word of mouth referential customer acquisition without spending too much on our marketing costs has been a sweet spot and would consider it as an achievement, nothing works better than your satisfied customers referencing you to more people.

We wish Noopur and Meeta luck and success with Truffles Chocolate Studio in all their dealings, (we also hope to someday taste their designer chocolate.