Starting a chocolate business? Adding a new range? Preparing for retail or export?
Start with work that has already been done.
76 commercially developed recipes across 7 product ranges.
I’m Pieter de Villiers, former owner and CEO of De Villiers Chocolate. I’m now making selected commercial recipes and manufacturing methods from our archive available to other food businesses, alongside the food safety documentation developed from that business.
The original business manufactured and sold selected products through premium retail. Historical 2021 examples include Sea Salt & Caramel Milk Chocolate at 4.97 units per store per week across 249 stores, Intense Dark Chocolate at 2.62 across 247 stores, and No Added Sugar Hazelnut Nut Butter Chocolate at 2.55 across 216 stores. These observations are not purchaser sales forecasts.
The archive brings together commercial formulations, ingredient quantities and practical production methods across chocolate, confectionery and frozen desserts. Choose a collection relevant to your business, then request its product information and sample documents to review what is included.
Commercial Recipe Packages
For founders and manufacturers who would rather start with commercially developed formulations than begin every product from zero.
Dark Chocolate — 11 commercial recipes
Includes:
- Plain Dark
- Intense Dark
- Coffee
Vegan Society certified • Sold through premium, high-end retail • Gluten-free • Soya-free • All-natural ingredients • GMO-free
Milk & White Chocolate — 13 commercial recipes
Includes:
- Creamy Milk
- Coffee
- Plain White
Sold through premium, high-end retail • Gluten-free • Soya-free • All-natural ingredients • GMO-free • Developed as a lower-sugar range
No Added Sugar Dark Chocolate — 2 commercial recipes
Includes:
- 70% No Added Sugar Dark Chocolate
- 62% No Added Sugar Dark Chocolate with Sunflower Seeds
Vegan Society certified • Keto Certified by The Paleo Foundation • Sold through premium, high-end retail • Gluten-free • Soya-free • All-natural ingredients • GMO-free
Vegan Nut Butter Chocolate — 6 commercial recipes
Includes:
- Almond with Almond Pieces
- Almond with Salted Caramel
- Hazelnut with Hazelnut Pieces
Vegan Society certified • Sold through premium, high-end retail • Gluten-free • Soya-free • All-natural ingredients • GMO-free
No Added Sugar Nut Butter Chocolate — 6 commercial recipes
Includes:
- Almond with Almond Pieces
- Almond with Caramel Pieces
- Hazelnut with Hazelnut Pieces
Vegan Society certified • Keto Certified • Sold through premium, high-end retail • Gluten-free • Soya-free • All-natural ingredients • GMO-free
Truffles, Ganache & Fillings — 24 commercial recipes
Includes:
- Classic 70%
- Cocoa Nib
- Caramel
Produced commercially and sold through premium, high-end retail.
Ice Cream & Sorbet — 14 commercial recipes
Includes:
Ice Cream
- Raspberry Crumble
- Salted Caramel
- Coconut White Chocolate
- Chocolate Brownie
- Vanilla
- Strawberry
- Espresso
- Cookies & Cream
- Chocolate & Orange
Sorbet
- Lemon
- Litchi
- Berry
- Mango
- 70% Dark Chocolate
Gluten-free • Soya-free • All-natural ingredients • GMO-free
WHY START HERE?
Starting a chocolate business?
Start with commercially developed products rather than developing an entire range from zero.
Already manufacture food?
Add chocolate, confectionery or frozen desserts without first developing every formulation yourself.
Need a new range to scale or pivot into?
Start with products that have already moved through development, commercial production and retail.
THE TRACK RECORD BEHIND THE RECIPES
De Villiers Chocolate grew from small-scale chocolate making into a commercial food manufacturer.
The business:
- supplied major national retail
- sold through premium, high-end retail
- operated dedicated branded chocolate counters inside a major national retailer
- built a dedicated manufacturing facility
- achieved FSSC 22000 certification
- developed multiple commercial product ranges
- operated at approximately 8–12 tonnes of monthly factory production during its later years
The recipes offered here come from that business.
Proven in retail
Sea Salt & Caramel Milk Chocolate
4.97 units/store/week across 249 stores
Intense Dark Chocolate
2.62 units/store/week across 247 stores
No Added Sugar Hazelnut Nut Butter Chocolate
2.55 units/store/week across 216 stores
Historical De Villiers retail performance, 2021. Store count and rate of sale shown together.
FSSC 22000 V7 FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM
Got a retail opportunity? Preparing for export? Getting ready for certification?
You may already have a good product.
The next problem is often the food-safety system behind it.
De Villiers Chocolate built its food-safety management system as the business moved into major retail and larger-scale manufacturing.
The factory achieved FSSC 22000 certification in 2017.
That system has since been sanitised and extensively updated for FSSC 22000 Version 7.
THE DE VILLIERS CHOCOLATE STORY
From small-scale chocolate making to commercial manufacturing
What customers said about the original products
Historical customer comments on the original De Villiers products.
“Probably more than 12000 miles away, and I still don't know if I'll ever get to visit. But DV Artisan still the best. Love to visit one day. On a trip from Texas to New Hampshire, I made sure to pack a bar.”
— Jerry Eldred, Facebook
“@redingerangela this is the good stuff I was telling you about. @dvchocolate is my absolute favorite 😍”
— @melissa_peter01, Instagram
“My absolute favorite😻😻😻😻”
— @megan_kennedy27, Instagram
“Best chocolate by far”
— @morena_keneuoe_letsie, Instagram
“Such a Fantastic product! We have tried all of them and they have all been exceptional😍”
— @optivita_global_fitness, Instagram
“After 10 months of keto and not a single sweet treat I gave your no sugar range a try. Exceptional thank you!”
— @kerryjeangreen, Instagram
“Bought a box of these truffles this week.... a collection.... all delicious!!!😃👌🏻”
— @jenniwijnberg, Instagram
“Best ice cream ever! 🦄”
— @isaacsneve, customer post reposted by De Villiers Chocolate