“Chocolate is not just a word, it’s an EMOTION!”
Well there would hardly be anyone in the world who doesn’t love chocolate. The plant visit to Bliss Chocolate Factory in Bangalore marked another industrial tour of the MBA 2016-18 batch of ISBR on 26 April 2017. It started with the screening of a virtual tour of a standard Bliss’s production plant and an overview of the product line.
To talk of Bliss Chocolates Pvt. Ltd, it is a self funded private limited company with its production and retail operations in Bangalore. Its two divisions – Retail and Corporate have managed to stir the chocolate cravings of the consumers. Bliss was created with an attempt to break out of the norms and monotony of the Indian chocolate market and re- energize the sweet tooth of the customers. Bliss chocolate concept arrived from the group of Non Resident Indians (NRIs) from Australia. They felt there was no chocolate lounge concept in India. Passion for chocolates led them to open an outlet in India. There were many reasons to choose Bangalore, like existence of corporate companies, lower set up cost and network in Bangalore was familiar compared to other cities for the NRIs. In the retail segment, Bliss Chocolate and Dessert Lounge are designed as premium category to offer a variety of hand crafted chocolate, chocolate beverages, cakes, desserts and chocolate meals.
The students were excited to experience how an industry dealing chocolates work at ground level. Mr. Priyanshu, Production Head of Bliss chocolate factory took charge of the entire visit of the students. He gave students a virtual tour of the entire plant which revealed about their range of various products except chocolates. Bliss deals in chocolates, breads, muffins, cakes, etc. The virtual tour was followed by an actual tour of the production plant starting with breads. The representatives were kind enough to personally take the students through the production process step by step. The students gained insights on how testing of raw materials takes place before entering the production process. It was followed by an explanation of the working and importance of individual units of the automated system. It included the mixing of raw materials to form a mixture that is then further molded into the requisite shape and size. Once the molding is done, it is baked and undergoes a cooling treatment to catalyze the process. Finally, the students were lead through the packaging unit of the plant where all the items were being packed in a variety of packages. Then the students were taken through the production processes of the cakes, muffins and everything was explained to them starting from the raw materials procurement till the final packaging. For all their production, it was pretty much the same process that they carried out irrespective of the exact type probably because they deal with the same product line. After this, the students were taken through the process of their chocolate production where they were guide by Ms. Vidhi Sahgal who happens to be their trainee and she explained to the students about the unknown sides of ‘being chocolate’ and briefed about the various types of chocolates. The basic and probably the most important takeaway of the entire tour was to understand that ‘all that glitters is not gold’ and thus ‘all that looks like chocolate ain’t chocolate’.
At the end of the tour the students took a group photo with the employees of Bliss Chocolates. With a heart filled with happiness and the pockets filled with chocolates, students left the factory with a different experience altogether which will remain with them for a long time.