The Australian, Entrepreneur
ONCE upon a time chocolate was the preserve of the rich. That’s if you could find any decent chocolate to eat — a chocolate culture didn’t really exist in Australia.
Then, inspired by their travels, local entrepreneurs began trying to replicate what they had found abroad. One of the first was Yarra Valley winemaker Peter Wilson who — seduced by the taste of Valrhona chocolate in France — started making his own in the late 1990s and selling through upmarket retail outlets such as David Jones.
At the same time, Liloy Haikin and her husband Tom, in their early 20s, were on a trip to Israel when the encountered the Max Brenner concept marketed as “chocolate by the bald man”.
Returning to Australia with no experience in chocolate or retail, they established their first store in Sydney’s Paddington in 2000, which has now grown into a chain of 12. Haikin says location was the key part of the concept because it was “a bit arty”. “Location was a key point back then and still is today.”
The Max Brenner outlets are part chocolate shop and bar, and part boutique. They sell chocolate imported from the bald man in Israel and a range of chocolate paraphernalia, including the Suckao, a special cup with a metal straw and a candle underneath.
“It was about creating the chocolate culture, the experience, and finding the inner child in every person; about coming in and smelling and tasting and taking part in the fantasy,” Haikin says.
The Max Brenner store generated enough revenue to self-fund expansion of wholly owned stores, but others were watching. For instance, competitor Koko Black opened in 2003. Meanwhile, Max Brenner expanded into Victoria at Chadstone and through the shopping centres at QV and Melbourne Central.
Haikin says Max Brenner will never franchise. The idea is to tightly control the concept and keep the founders’ passion in the brand. They will continue to expand but will grow slowly. “You have to be very cautious, especially when you keep it all under your own control.”
Meanwhile, Kelly Smith was running her own management consultancy in the Netherlands, enjoying breaks in Andalucia and Madrid dipping churros — a long thin Spanish doughnut — in thick melted chocolate. In 2004, she returned to Australia and decided she wanted to do something that was fun, and along with two partners worked for 18 months on developing the concept of Chocolateria San Churros.
Her first store opened on Brunswick Street in inner Melbourne, in March 2006, itself a position statement. Her aim, however, is to broaden the appeal of the concept — selling hot chocolate, icecream and chocolates — beyond the arty Fitzroy set.
The second store was launched in Kath and Kim heartland as a kiosk at the Knox City shopping centre in Wantirna South.
Smith uses the story of the monk San Churro as part of the company’s story-telling. He liberated chocolate from the Spanish aristocracy and gave it to the people.
“We kind of see our brand a bit like that as well,” she says. “For want of a better word, posh chocolate shouldn’t remain the domain of the wealthy city people who have it at weekends or on their Mothers Day lunches at the Windsor. You should be able to have chocolate at Epping as well as Chadstone.
“We differ from other chocolate concepts because we are a lot more accessible — our pricing and our product offering — which means we’re a lot more mainstream than say a Max Brenner or a Koko Black.”
Having stores on Brunswick Street and at Knox City allowed Smith to test her concept in two different social settings. It has allowed her to hone the positioning for her own democratic vision of the future of chocolate by franchising. “With franchising it’s very important to be able to go to different demographic areas and locations,” she says.
“It’s successful in both demographic areas and it has given us the confidence to go forward, and we’ve signed up a franchisee for Watergardens in April and we’ll have our first Sydney store in May or June.” By year’s end she expects to have at least 10 stores.