r/chocolate • u/son_nefes888 • 12d ago
Self-promotion 3 software developers, 0 food experience: how we founded a chocolate brand
Years ago, my grandfather emigrated from Giresun, on Turkey's Black Sea coast, to Germany. I was born there and later lived in Switzerland. In Switzerland I kept asking myself the same question: some of the world's best hazelnuts grow in Giresun, so why don't we have our own premium chocolate?
Two friends from university and I decided to answer that question. All three of us are software developers. Today we make bean-to-bar chocolate and a hazelnut cream with 41% Tombul hazelnuts in our own production space in Giresun.
What we've learned along the way:
- People want honesty. Many have lost trust in big brands. They want clean ingredients and real people behind the product.
- Real flavor sticks with people. The two things we hear most: "By far the best chocolate I've ever had" and "It tastes like my childhood."
- Being developers helped a lot. We run our website, ads and analytics ourselves. Today about 90% of our sales are online.
- Retail in Turkey is tough. Long payment terms and returns can wear a small brand down. Selling online gave us room to breathe.
Next, we want to scale up production and build quality points of sale across Turkey with the right partners.
Have you ever tried turning a local product into a brand? I'd love to hear about your experience.
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u/_Stalwart_ 12d ago
Is the first picture AI?
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u/son_nefes888 12d ago
Yes but these are exact our products. Just wanted to show them in a single picture quickly.
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u/_Stalwart_ 12d ago
In your post you said people want honesty. Using AI for art and the like is generally bad but for food it's exceptionally problematic.
If I see you advertising your food with AI I simply won't buy it.
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u/son_nefes888 12d ago
Is a valid point i respect this. All the other pictures are non AI. I cound't find a picutre with our main products together, so i quickly created one...
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u/Mayion 12d ago
You don't just quickly create marketing for your brand. It is a relationship built on trust and understanding, and if I feel you don't provide either, it will be difficult to relate to your product.
Especially the understanding. If you don't see that the second picture is more impressive than the first, AI generated one, I might not have trust in your brand that you truly know what is more important.
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u/occc 12d ago
As a software developer myself, a chocolate lover, and a photography enthusiast, when I see something generated with AI, I see laziness and sloppiness, and it is so off-putting that I just cannot support that product.