São Paulo – An entrepreneur from Minas Gerais, Brazil, is willing to take her handmade chocolates to other Brazilian states and the Arab countries. Grace Kelly Viol Lisboa (pictured above) has manufactured the products by Atelier du Chocolat for approximately 14 years in the city of Barbacena, and loyal customers have encouraged her to go further. The businesswoman is preparing to reach other Brazilian regions through e-commerce starting next month. The path to the Arab market she started to tread in late August by participating in an event at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) in São Paulo to learn more about the region.
The chocolates by Atelier du Chocolat are currently sold only in Minas Gerais in its own coffeehouse and local retail. They include milk, white, 70% cocoa, 50% cocoa, and blend (milk with semisweet) chocolates, as well as products with noble ingredients, a flagship of the brand. There are options with dried bananas and nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio, toasted coconut, orange, walnuts, apricots and raisins, Turkish figs, chocolate-gazed apricot, and others.
Entrepreneur Lisboa takes care herself of the chocolate creation and has a production team. She says she is a self-taught confectioner, and that her recipes come from her passion for chocolate. “I create experiences,” she told ANBA. The Atelier du Chocolat’s chocolates are sold in mostly handmade packages. Sizes range from 28 grams, 50 grams, 115 grams, as well as dragées and slabs.
The Brazilian businesswoman woke up to the expansion potential of the brand with the encouragement of actress Beth Goulart, who’s a loyal consumer and part of the Woman of Brazil Group, a women’s network that advocates for female leadership. The actress told the businesswoman that her chocolates should conquer Brazil and the world. “It is a great encouragement,” Lisboa said. The two women met when Goulart became a customer of the Atelier du Chocolat’s products. The actress took Lisboa to join the Women of Brazil Group two months ago.
The small-sized enterprise now aims to reach new horizons. Eager to give her first steps in the exports, she is now seeking information on the Arab market and is willing to adapt her products to sell them in the region, if needed. At the ABCC, the entrepreneur watched lectures by businesswomen who sell to the Arab countries in an event held by the women’s committee of the ABCC, Wahi – Women Who Inspire, and the Women of Brazil Group.
Lisboa was excited about what she saw at the ABCC and the contact she had with its president Osmar Chohfi. “I was delighted to learn more about the seriousness, the profile and the magic of the Arab world,” she told ANBA. Before even thinking about exporting to the region, she created ties with the Arabs in another sphere. She gave two of her children Arabic names. Abdo is her oldest son, and Rafisa is the youngest daughter.
In Brazil, her goal is reaching all states with her chocolates by the end of the next year. Atelier du Chocolat also manufactures cakes and candies for events, and Lisboa has also catered outside Minas Gerais. The e-commerce sales will start in about a month and are expected to drive the national expansion.
Passion for cakes and chocolates
Her confectionery story started early in her life. At 11 she was making her first cake recipe. At 18 she started a cake factory to cater to the local retail. Fifteen years ago, Lisboa started the current company Atelier du Chocolat to make more gourmet products. She has also established a coffee shop where she started selling her cakes and candies. In parallel Lisboa catered to events with her products.
Her passion for chocolate emerged at some point in her story with cakes. Now Atelier du Chocolat still has a coffee shop in Barbacena, caters to events across Brazil and makes chocolates. At the factory where the cakes, candies, desserts and some pastries are manufactured, the chocolates have a separate area with an appropriate setting for the activity.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
