“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get”
Forrest Gump
 
How does one feel when talking about philosophy? Goes over your head? Hard to understand?
But when it comes literally in a sugar-coated format, it is bound to be attractive. That is what two young women in Bangalore are doing. Uma Raju and Nivedita Prasad, two homemakers, went into the business of making homemade chocolates in 2006. But then chocolate business is highly competitive.

Apart from the domestic chocolate manufacturers like Cadburys, the market is flooded with umpteen brands of chocolates from all over the world. There is Belgian, there is Swiss, there is British and there is plenty from Malaysia, Indonesia and China.

 Uma and Nivedita have hit upon a strategy to counter this competition. “We know the market is huge and competition is equally tough. And we know Indians love good chocolates and also look for something extra. That ‘extra’ what we provide is the philosophy,” says Uma.

 And she goes on to explain: “ First thing, we call our product ‘Chocolate philosophy’.  Life revolves around philosophy and every action has a strong philosophy behind it and we Indians are strong believers in that. So, we decided to package our product with a philosophical quote and our chocolates are highly customised to suit various occasions.” All the chocolate boxes have a philosophical quote for the buyer.

Food for Gods

 “Philosophy is nothing but love of wisdom and chocolates are made from the seeds of the tree the ‘aobroma cacao’. The word ‘abroama’ is Greek for food of Gods. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.. Each box of chocolate from us will have either a quote, a touch of gyaan or even a personalised message that is inspired by a happy moment. In short, there is little of philosophy and lot of chocolate in each box,” says Uma .

 Uma and Nivedita accidentally met when they were going to the school to pick up their kids. Friendship blossomed and after hours of conversation on how to kill boredom, they came up with this idea. Uma is the daughter of A Radhakrishnaraju, a well known Telugu businessman.

 “We  use  a signature blend of coverture and compound chocolate imported from Europe and Asia. Each piece is handcrafted and decorated to perfection.

In keeping with the global benchmarks, chocolate philosophy uses the freshest and finest ingredients to prolong its shelf life, says Nivedita. There are broadly two categories of chocolates which come out of their R T Nagar factory. 

Among the general category are the mithai chocolates which they made for the Diwali season.  The chocolate were blended with  gulab jamun and boondhi ladoos. The boxes which come in different sizes and shapes also reflect the mood with gold and brown trimmings and the traditional diya encrusted on it. Similarly, Raksha Bandhan, Christmas and New Year become memorable with scrumptious goodies packaged specially to commemorate the occasion.

Each box of chocolate which was widely distributed as Diwali gift had the following note, or the philosophic explanation printed neatly on a high quality transparent paper.

“The word "diwali" is derived from the sanskrit word "deepavali" - deepa means light and avali, means a row. It means a row of lights and indeed illumination forms its main attraction. Light symbolises knowledge and the virtues of life, while darkness is a metaphor for all the negative forces. The significance of diwali is that truth and good always triumphs over evil.”

In the other category, which is personalised chocolates, there is something for every occasion like birth days, anniversaries, and special days. For example, for the International Women’s day,  chocolate philosophy created chocolate envelopes in a rhapsody of pink and combined it with an empowering message.  Many corporations, recognising the power of women in providing leadership, and the strong social responsibility they provide, ordered these boxes of chocolates for their women employees.

The chocolates come in a variety of flavours; cashew, Cappuccino, lemon, caramel, rum, hazelnut, mint, fruits, coffee, etc.

 “We have not yet gone into marketing it in a big way. It is more through word of mouth and personal contacts we get our orders. Since it is a small establishment, we don’t want to swallow more than what we can chew,” say Uma and Nivedita.

Uma Raju and Nivedita Prasad can be contacted at 99001 49332 and 99001 48332 respectively.