Boost Your Productivity with Time-Saving Chocolate Making Machinery
There are a few signs that you might be ready to take your chocolate or bakery business to the next level:
- You’re struggling to fulfil your orders during busy periods and frustrated that you can’t produce chocolates quickly enough.
- You have problems with wastage or shelf life because of imperfectly tempered chocolate.
- Or, your business is overly reliant on you, or one skilled member of staff.
If that sounds like you, then it could be time to consider investing in a new machine that will increase your capacity, boost your productivity, and improve the quality and consistency of your chocolate products.
by Lyndsey Hall
17 November 2023
How Do You Know When Your Business is Ready for Chocolate Machinery?
Whether your current set up involves a microwave and a traditional wheel machine, or a tabletop temperer such as a Martellato Digital Meltinchoc holding tank and the seed method, you may reach a point where you’re at full capacity and your business is unable to grow.
Or perhaps the time it’s taking you to make your chocolates means your business is less profitable than you’d like, and investing in growth is more challenging.
If you’re using a tonne or more of chocolate or coating each year, moving to an automatic, continuous chocolate tempering machine would almost certainly save you time and money, increase your rate of production, and boost profits.
The Trouble with Manual Tempering
Tempering chocolate by hand is a skill every chocolatier learns early on in their journey, but as your business grows and you begin to work with larger and larger amounts of chocolate, it becomes more of a challenge. The constant monitoring, stirring and temperature checking are time-consuming but essential jobs if you want perfectly tempered, glossy chocolate with a pleasing snap.
When you manually temper your chocolate, no matter how skilled and experienced a chocolatier you are, it can be a tricky point in the process. There are a number of environmental factors that can affect your chocolate and result in a poor temper, shorter shelf life and, as a result, increased wastage.
It might look fine during moulding, but a few days later it could start to bloom, discolour, or change texture, losing that shine and the satisfying snap. And, ultimately, it will end up in the bin, while you are then forced to make more products to replace the ones that have gone to waste.
A professional chocolate tempering machine alleviates all of these problems and produces great quality, tempered chocolate with very little effort. Meaning you’re free to get on with the next steps in your production process, such as decorating or packaging, instead of frequently stirring and checking your melted chocolate is still in temper.
Introducing the Infinity BX Fully Automatic Continuous Chocolate Tempering Machine
The Infinity BX is the ideal first step towards automating your chocolate making process, taking some of the burden off your shoulders, whilst still allowing you to be hands-on.
The BX chocolate tempering machine from KeyChoc features a melting tank that can hold up to 24kg of chocolate at a perfect temper, allowing you to temper and dispense up to 90kg of chocolate per hour. With the BX fully automated continuous chocolate tempering machine, you can create all of your solid chocolate products in much less time, allowing you to move on to other products in your range – or simply make more!
The BX features a removable auger for simple chocolate changes, and is the quickest and easiest products on the market to clean. You can see just how that’s done in KeyChoc’s video, How a Chocolate Tempering Machine is Cleaned.
The Infinity tempering machines can be used to fill moulds, top traybakes, make inclusion bars, and so much more. And once you’re ready, there are several other pieces of equipment and machinery you could consider adding to your set up to make your chocolatiering even smoother and more productive!
Take a look at the rest of the KeyChoc machinery range for melting tanks, moulding lines and cooling tunnels. Plus, if you only need to increase capacity and productivity during the busy periods, like Christmas and Easter, then hiring a machine for a short time might be an ideal solution.
Chocolate Machinery Financing Options
Investing in a new piece of machinery for your business can be daunting, but the benefits usually far outweigh the cost. The Infinity BX is £9,600, but there are financing options available, which make this incredible machine very affordable. You could get a new tempering machine for as little as £7 per day, making a huge difference to the efficiency and profitability of your chocolate business.
Small Changes That Give Big Results
Here are our top tips for small, affordable ways you can boost productivity and help your chocolate business to thrive…
1. If you’re running out of surfaces to lay your filled moulds on while your bonbons set, a cooling trolley (or two, or three!) could be exactly what you need. Set on castors, these trolleys can be wheeled wherever you like during loading, cooling and unloading. Each shelf can hold 3 or 4 moulds, and with up to 60 shelves, these cooling trolleys provide ample space for your chocolate to cool, and ideal storage for when your moulds aren’t in use.
2. If agitating your moulds to remove air bubbles and even out your chocolate is a sticking point in your daily chocolate making process, then you might benefit from a vibrating table. Simply place your filled mould on the vibrating plate and move on to filling your next one, transfer your now perfectly smooth moulded chocolates to a cooling trolley shelf, replacing it with the newly-filled mould, and repeat! These brilliant little appliances make light work of creating even, consistent and great quality chocolate bonbons and pralines.
Why Choose KeyChoc?
The full range of machines from KeyChoc is designed and made in the UK, and will be delivered and installed by an engineer who’ll ensure your new machine is set up and working before leaving you to enjoy your purchase.
Maintenance, servicing and repairs are no trouble, as the manufacturing facility is based in St Helens, and if you can’t get to them, they’ll come to you. And there’s always someone available to talk to about any issues or questions you may have.
The benefits of investing in machinery to support your chocolate business aren’t limited to saving you time and energy, or boosting your productivity. Using the right equipment can also increase the shelf life of your chocolate products. By creating a more hands-off process for producing your chocolate creations, you reduce the points at which air, liquid or any other contaminants could come into contact with your chocolate, resulting in perfectly glossy and snappable chocolate with a longer shelf life.
Get in touch to find out what kind of equipment and machinery your business could benefit from, or have a look at KeyChoc’s entire range to choose exactly what you need.
Ready to take your chocolate business to the next level? Take a look at our articles on Selling Fairtrade and Working with Food Colours in the UK, or get adventurous with our Rough Guide on Pairing Flavours and Textures.
Lyndsey is a marketing executive, writer and lover of books and chocolate from Sheffield.
Her favourite chocolate is Cacao Barry Lactee Superieure.