The quest to create quality chocolate for a country obsessed with Cadbury

As Indian consumers become more experimental in their tastes, a fledgling artisanal chocolate movement is blossoming across the country.

Combining organic ingredients, unconventional flavours, and made-for-Instagram packaging, a handful of small, homegrown brands are setting themselves apart from the sweet, milky, mass-market favourites, such as Cadbury Dairy Milk and Munch, which have dominated India’s booming chocolate market for decades.

Indians consumed an estimated 228 thousand tonnes of chocolate confectionary in 2016, up 50% from 2011, according to market research firm Mintel. Viewed as a convenient and affordable snack, and sometimes priced as low as Rs5, mass-market bars account for 85% of the total sales in the country. Their popularity has made India one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for chocolate, expected to be worth around Rs32,000 crore ($4.97 billion) by 2020, a 160% jump from 2015, Mintel says.

In the midst of this growth, expat entrepreneurs in India’s southern states are targeting discerning consumers with cash to spend by kicking off India’s own bean-to-bar movement. They’re getting involved in every stage of the chocolate-making process, from the farming of cacao beans to the crafting of bars.

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