Karnataka: Students turn chocolatiers, thanks to lockdown

MANGALURU: Catering to the cravings of chocoholics, two postgraduate students from the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) have launched Intoxicate Chocolates.
Shreya Chaudhary from Gorakhpur, says, “I always dreamt of a chocolate factory after I did a course on chocolate making. I planned to get into this business after my post-graduation.After coming to Manipal, I realised the cost of living is high and I did not want to depend on my family. I met Tejaswi Sood, my batchmate from Noida, who too was feeling the pinch of living in Manipal. He is good at marketing and , I asked him if we can penetrate the market amid Covid-19. He agreed and it worked for us,” she told TOI.
“We want to change people’s mindsets. Chocolates are not luxury products, associated with international brands only. We will soon be collaborating with independent small farmers from Coorg and the coastal belt to procure cocoa bean and come up with our own concept of bean to bar,” Shreya said.
Orders are taken through their Instagram page and WhastApp and deliveries are across India except for the North East. Every packet passes through the UV sterilizer before dispatch. The demand for energy bars is growing at gyms.
Dr Arun Shanbhag, chief innovation officer, MAHE, says that the goal at the Innovation Center is to encourage students to be creative and start small businesses. “Such small businesses can thrive and help our economy, especially during the pandemic. They are making all these from scratch and also trying to include organise, local ingredients as much as possible,” he said.
TOI