Have you ever thought about starting your own business? The first stumbling block is usually the idea of what to do, or, in fact, a business idea. Caramel production is an attractive option, because it requires investment only at the initial stage. Then you only need to buy cheap and affordable raw materials and sell sweets.
Why exactly caramel?
The modern generation, spoiled by a large assortment of sweets, treats these sweets condescendingly, but simple savings speak in their favor when compared with chocolate. For the older generation, this is also nostalgia for the past times when a caramel bag was the limit of children's happiness.
Primary analysis
This is the key to a successful business. First you need to spend marketing analysis market to find out the presence and number of competitors, their pricing policy, the proposed range. If your business idea is the production of caramel, then it’s good to immediately calculate the scope of implementation: wholesale or retail stores, children's entertainment centers.
Do not limit yourself to these standards, you can work with holiday agencies, especially if you plan to produce handmade caramel, pharmacies, and even fitness centers. We will talk more about this below. In accordance with your focus group, you can determine your pricing strategy, some "chip" that will draw attention to your products.
Can I find my niche in the market?
Despite the abundance of competitors, there are not many manufacturers who produce truly high-quality and tasty caramel. If you can offer an interesting marketing course (form, packaging, filling) and competitive prices, then you will succeed in this area.
Company Creation
Caramel is one of the most affordable, and therefore - popular sweets. It is not surprising that the business idea - the production of caramel - visits the minds of many confectioners, entrepreneurs specializing in this field. The most expensive part of your future business will be the acquisition of equipment and the selection of a suitable room.
A good production installation will make it possible to ensure the perfect quality of caramel, which means that sweets will be a success with the consumer. Another plus of expensive equipment is large volumes (up to 1000 kg per hour). This allows you to bring the business to a serious level. And, finally, one person can control the installation, this will reduce the cost of workers.
How can you attract a buyer
Candy today does not surprise anyone, which is why the production of caramel requires the work of an experienced technologist. It will help to organize the release of several types of sweets at once in order to expand the list of potential buyers. Let's consider some options:
- Everyone knows candy caramel. Slightly bored lollipops are nothing but a successful business idea. Caramel production was improved, each candy was supplied with a stick and bright packaging. The company's revenues increased many times, since the simplest candies with the addition of dyes and flavors were sold individually at a much higher price.
- Often, homemade tea is preferred to take sweets with filling. A wide range of products on the market makes it possible to take something special for every member of the family.It is in this segment that you can succeed if you can find a new version of the filling that will appeal to a wide range of customers. Creamy fudge, jam - these are long-known and already boring options. But chocolate-nut cream, marzipan, tiramisu, meringue with shortbread cookies, natural dried fruits, gourmet marmalade can be very interesting to combine with the taste of caramel.
- Today, more and more manufacturers of sweets think about such a segment as products for people with diabetes, or just watching their weight. Run an extra line candy production in the recipe of which isomalt replaces the usual sugar, it is technically simple. You get endless opportunities for advertising and selling your products, your customers are pharmacies, specialized departments. Think for yourself, give sweets that can be eaten by diabetics to children, since they do not cause caries, and most importantly - they contain half as many calories as regular caramel, are permissible with a strict diet.
- Useful (medicinal) candies containing extracts of various herbs (sage, mint). These are brands that are sold through the pharmacy chain and are very popular.
Caramel Production Technology
The basis is invert syrup. For its preparation use sugar, water and acid (usually citric). The bottom line is simple - when sugar and acid are heated, sucrose breaks down into fructose and glucose. The result is a dense and plastic mass without separate sugar crystals. It is stored for a long time, without losing quality.
Manufacturers sometimes use starch syrup to save money, but caramel obtained in this way can be easily distinguished by cracks and candied surface. This indicates a low quality product.
Crispy, hard caramel originates from regular sugar and water. This mixture is heated to a boiling state, after which acid is added. The mass is boiled at high temperature, then it is ready to turn into sweets.
What the production line consists of
It depends on what you have chosen as the final product. Lollipop caramel requires minimal equipment, boiled mass is poured into molds, cooled and ready for packaging.
The production of caramel with filling is much more expensive. A set of modern automated equipment costs about 600,000 rubles. However, there are much more opportunities. Do not consider the room under the workshop if it is less than 400 m2, because there will be hobs, tanks, dispensers, filling filler, cooling conveyor, mixers, control panels, multifunctional machines: stamping, rolling, packing, packing.
Exclusive Orders
This is a separate area that needs to be devoted a lot of attention. Caramel is a very ductile material that can take any form. In addition, the resulting design will be quite strong and durable.
Therefore, today proposals for the manufacture of exclusive gift sweets are very relevant - statues, fancy designs and much more. Handmade caramel production can go along with the main one, but you will need a talented worker, a true artist.
Such a business can even be established at home, because unit orders do not require a large amount of caramel mass for work, it is easy to prepare it on a regular stove. The mini-workshop will be able to satisfy the needs of several agencies involved in organizing children's parties.
Caramel production in Russia is a business that has always existed. Even in times of extreme shortage, Barberry and Duchess were on store shelves. Another thing is that they are positioned as cheap candies, and therefore manufacturers do not want to invest especially and experiment with them.
This is understandable, what if the buyer does not accept innovative caramels? We can say that the production of simple candy canes is unprofitable: the competition is high, the market price is low, and in order to ensure demand, it will have to be reduced even more. Although here you need to figure out how to distinguish your product from the total mass.
Another thing is caramel with exquisite filling. Despite the higher cost, she will find her buyer, but one must soberly evaluate the framework - whatever the filling, caramel candy should not be more expensive than chocolate.
An even more promising area is the production of therapeutic candies with extracts of various herbs, as well as caramel based on isomalt (sweetener).
