Slimline chocolate display counter?

[Zumiweb]

We're a very few weeks away from opening our new shop (get the keys tomorrow), selling Belgian chocolates from a cabinet - amongst other things in the shop of course. Due to the narrow shop door (about 780mm) we seem to be stuck with sourcing a Trimco Zurich 100 cabinet (humidity and temperature controls, 730mm wide) at about 2k plus VAT. Have we missed an alternative please? We live in hope of a bargain used one to come up on eBay, but time is getting short.

And also, where do chocolate sellers get the melamine trays for displaying chocolates in these cabinets please? Plain white (or plain gold/silver preferred). Lots of patterned ones in small quantities on eBay and online at £3-8 each, but we're after 20-30 of them for the cabinet, so a wholesale source would be really welcome. Or are acrylic or porcelain as good - weight, hygiene and cost are all factors...

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Bob]

Don't forget it's Chocolate Week next week. Are you anywhere near Olympia to see what everyone else is using? Sadly they have not included chocolate Labradors in the event

 

[Zumiweb]

Thanks Bob, we are definitely trying to get there but have a few other commitments that clash. We saw some ideal cabinets at the Specialty Food Fair at Olympia in September, and are following some leads, but they mostly lead to full price suppliers of course. It is in the budget if time runs out, but saving a few hundred pounds at this point is worth hunting around a little first.

Cheers, Mark

 

[kelvin1950]

We're a very few weeks away from opening our new shop (get the keys tomorrow), selling Belgian chocolates from a cabinet - amongst other things in the shop of course. Due to the narrow shop door (about 780mm) we seem to be stuck with sourcing a Trimco Zurich 100 cabinet (humidity and temperature controls, 730mm wide) at about 2k plus VAT. Have we missed an alternative please? We live in hope of a bargain used one to come up on eBay, but time is getting short.

And also, where do chocolate sellers get the melamine trays for displaying chocolates in these cabinets please? Plain white (or plain gold/silver preferred). Lots of patterned ones in small quantities on eBay and online at £3-8 each, but we're after 20-30 of them for the cabinet, so a wholesale source would be really welcome. Or are acrylic or porcelain as good - weight, hygiene and cost are all factors...

Thanks,
Mark.

Short answer - Nope! We had to take the door and door frame off to get our Trimco Zurich 100 into the shop. I can't understand why shop counters etc. are usually made in units of 600mm, apart from these cabinets. We bought from these guys: http://www.refrigeration-freezers.c...ich-range/B1B8260F-DB73-D684-A9769C7BF9848A19

Display trays are available from The House of Sarunds. We use gold ones which look really good. I'd guess Creme D'Or might do them as well. If you're looking at boxes, buy from here: http://meridiansp.co.uk/ as they are the people who supply Sarunds etc. so you can save a few pence per box buying direct.

 

[Zumiweb]

Thanks Kelvin,

We've got the Sarunds rep calling in next week for our first main order, and helpfully coming back a week before opening to help set out the chocs - rather brilliantly we've organised ourselves just in time to miss the Xmas ordering deadlines, but he reckons there'll be enough to get started, and we'll make up the rest with normal chocs and Xmassy packaging. All in the .... timing. And thanks for the boxes tip, very handy too.

 

[kelvin1950]

Is your Sarunds rep Ian? If so say hello from me! Get the rep to tell you about the courses they run at Blandford, my partner did one and it was very useful. Also provided a good bit of networking and ideas.

Don't discount Creme D'Or, we probably do 80% with Sarunds and the rest with Creme D'Or, they don't necessarily do the same brands.

 

[roydmoorian]

Slimline chocolate

Now there's an oxymoron if ever I saw one

 

[Zumiweb]

yup, it's the display, definitely not the chocolates or me that's slimline... sadly...

Can someone confirm the Trimco Zurich 100 is humidity controlled please? All the descriptions from the suppliers say it operates within a specified range of relative humidity, but nothing to say you can actually manage RH. Or am I misunderstanding the technicalities here?

 

[kelvin1950]

Yep, humidity controlled. We're emptying our container twice a week. You can't adjust RH though, it's pre-set. You can adjust temp but only over a limited range.

 

[Zumiweb]

Cabinet delivered Tuesday - we went with your referral Kelvin, thanks very much - cheaper than any other quote and they reassured us that we didn't need the attending engineer to do the placement at £125 that our more local supplier was suggesting. Had we paid that we'd have felt pretty sick watching him take the 13 amp plug and stick it in to the wall socket... And they were both coming from the same distribution point on the same carrier anyway. Thanks again for the great link!

 

[kelvin1950]

Cabinet delivered Tuesday - we went with your referral Kelvin, thanks very much - cheaper than any other quote and they reassured us that we didn't need the attending engineer to do the placement at £125 that our more local supplier was suggesting. Had we paid that we'd have felt pretty sick watching him take the 13 amp plug and stick it in to the wall socket... And they were both coming from the same distribution point on the same carrier anyway. Thanks again for the great link!

Yeah, it's a real pain to install isn't it?

The only problem we had was that her indoors couldn't decide where she wanted it so I had to move it twice. They are bloody heavy!

Drop me a PM with your phone number if you want to chat about anything, pleased to help.

 

[Zumiweb]

Yes, I've only had to drag mine across the shop floor twice so far - still, early days...

Thanks for the help!

 

[lickthespoon]

A little late replying but someone might find this trail as I did.... You don't need a refrigerated cabinet to sell or display loose chocolates. But you do need a means of stopping them melting in the summer and keeping them close to 17 degrees c. As mentioned a normal refrigerated deli style cabinet generates too much moisture and causes condensation and chocolate bloom. You end up with a rather sad looking display of chocolates that nobody wants to buy.
An alternative is to air condition your shop. You only really need it in the hottest weather. We ran our own chocolate shop like this for five years and have helped to set up similar counters. Our preference was to have the chocolates accessible to customers albeit out of easy grab or sneeze reach. Customers could pick their own chocolates with help.

It's important to keep the display looking tip top and to be able to easily rotate stock. A tip is to have sheets of clear Perspex cut to size. Maintain two layers and take chocolates from the top layer. As they're on Perspex the display will still look full as the lower layer shows through. When the top is empty put the new full layer on the bottom to rotate the stock correctly.
If you keep the Perspex clean and sparkling the chocolates neatly arranged you're half way there. But it does take discipline and staff training.
I should add we also supply wholesale loose chocolates and can advise on their set up

Matthew - Lick the Spoon, Wiltshire