Fifteen years on from the original idea, the owners of The Margaret River Chocolate Company and Providore Margaret River have drawn on their triumphs and pitfalls to shape their businesses into two of the South West’s most successful tourism spots.
Fifteen years on from the original idea, the owners of The Margaret River Chocolate Company and Providore Margaret River have drawn on their triumphs and pitfalls to shape their businesses into two of the South West’s most successful tourism spots.
Expanding into the retail market, civil war in the cocoa-growing region of Ivory Coast and staffing issues are just some of the challenges Patrick Coward and Martin Black have had to tackle.
The self-professed gourmands were struck with the concept of starting a chocolate factory on the Easter weekend of 1996, while holidaying in Margaret River.
Running a business was a relatively new concept for the pair, with Mr Coward previously working in the printing and signage industry and Mr Black, as a journalist.
“We were trying to think of something that would add value to the tourism experience of Margaret River. Simmos Ice-Cream had been going for a little while and we didn’t want to open a restaurant,” Mr Black said.
So they decided to buy a vacant block of land in Wilyabrup and put it to ‘good use’. “As chocoholics and having seen the movie ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ it just came to us; why not start a chocolate factory?” he said.
The Margaret River Chocolate Company opened its doors in 1999, with a second factory opening the following year in the Swan Valley.
After the first summer of trading, Mr Coward and Mr Black quickly realised that with chocolate sales dipping in the warmer months, they needed to expand their product line.
“We started doing a couple of sweet fruit sauces and they proved really popular, so we started to make jams and chutneys, hence the Providore brand was grown within the chocolate factory,” Mr Coward said.
A space problem in the factory led the duo to create a separate business for Providore on the same site.
“We wanted to make Providore more than just a wine cellar, so we decided to grow organic veggies. We then thought why not start a restaurant where people can enjoy these veggies? The whole thing developed into a one-stop gourmet experience,” Mr Black said.
Mr Coward and Mr Black have employed general managers at both sites, which they said allowed them to focus mainly on the public persona of the businesses.
“We are in the fortunate enough position to work on the business rather than in it. But we do plan new projects, come up with new strategies and create new concepts,” Mr Black said.
However, Mr Coward said the doubling in size of both chocolate factories over the past 12 months, coupled with the seasonal nature of the business, had posed challenges in relation to staffing.
“There are times, like on the weekend, where we will be really busy and you need lots of staff, but on a weekday it can be dead. There can be real peaks and troughs, so managing a cyclical change in your business is the difficult part,” he said.
With cocoa only grown overseas, Mr Black said the market for such a commodity could be volatile.
“Our biggest single input cost is chocolate. We buy our chocolate from places like the Ivory Coast, which is currently under a trade embargo. So the cost of our basic commodity is at a 32-year high and we are very resistant to pass that on to our customers, so we are taking a hit in relation to that,” he said.
Apart from cocoa, Mr Black and Mr Coward like to use local ingredients in their chocolate and Providore creations.
“As well as growing our own produce we like to use a whole team of local growers,” Mr Coward said.
Mr Coward and Mr Black expanded into the retail market eight years ago, stocking their products in more than 100 retail stores around the country.
After six months, the venture proved unsuccessful because of unsuitable storage conditions and a shift in focus to the wholesale market. “The big stores were very ruthless on pricing and we were spending too much time trying to focus on an external customer,” Mr Coward said.
Best friends since they were five years old, Mr Coward said that both he and Mr Black brought their own unique skills to the business.
“I am a dreamer and Martin is a realist, but together we have a great source of ideas,” he said.
