AS a trained pastry chef, Nadine Burie’s transition to creating her chocolate-making business called Likkle More Chocolate began with a cultural exploration of Jamaica after her arrival to the island in 2010.

The inspiration for Likkle More Chocolate came from the recognition that Jamaican cocoa beans are among the finest globally. This realisation motivated her to craft a unique line of chocolates using Jamaican cocoa, suitable for everyone and perfect as gifts for any occasion.

“I started to learn about the transformation of the cocoa through fermentation, drying, and roasting to the final product of chocolate,” Burie related. “And I wanted to create a luxurious product that could stand in any high-end store in the world.”

Today, Likkle More Chocolate offers a diverse range of chocolate products, including bars, bonbons, truffles, and chocolate-covered nuts.

“Our chocolate is unique from everyone else through our signature flavours that we have created, like our Plantain Crisps bar [which won the award for ‘the best international product of the year’ in the UK at the Fine Food Fair Festival in 2022], Scotch Bonnet Pepper, Jamaican Thyme & Orange peels and more…making our own spices in house, our own confectionery,” the chocolate maker explained. “We are inspired by Jamaican cuisine and local ingredients.”

“The lush vegetation of the island, the colourful little houses in the country have really inspired me,” she continued. “Everyone can go back home with a piece of sunshine.”

An artistic touch is added to the products through handmade graffiti splashes, using natural colourants derived from fruit and vegetable extracts, offering an all-natural experience inside and out.

Another significant aspect of Likkle More Chocolate’s brand identity that sets it apart is a commitment to sustainability. According to Burie, it was the first chocolate company in Jamaica to employ fully sustainable packaging, from wrappers to boxes and pouches.

In terms of sourcing, the company works directly with a select group of farmers, carefully choosing cocoa beans from the finest terroirs of Jamaica that they can find.

When Burie started the business, she began as its sole member during the first year. Over time, she created a team that typically has five members. During peak periods like Christmas and special events, they may temporarily hire additional help, bringing the number to six or seven people. This growth in staff was necessary as the business expanded and developed, particularly as they established connections with local farmers and learned about the qualities of cocoa beans.

The initial stages of Likkle More Chocolate presented several hurdles for Burie and her team.

“The first challenge that I had was to learn how to process the cocoa pods and the process to make the chocolate,” she said. “It took three years for myself and my team to learn everything and meet and develop relationships with the farmers. It was not easy at the beginning but we did the relevant courses, hired specialists that came and trained us on bean quality and the fermentation process. We want the best ingredients possible for our customers. So we didn’t rush, we took our time.”

Likkle More Chocolate has a dual approach to the fermentation and drying process of cocoa beans. They work with some farmers who excel in fermenting the beans, and in these cases, they purchase the beans already fermented. For other beans, they buy them in their wet state and undertake the fermentation process themselves. To facilitate this, they have a fermentation house and drying tables located in front of their factory in Kingston, Jamaica. This setup allows them to maintain control over the entire process and ensure the quality of their cocoa beans.

Burie employs a multifaceted marketing approach to promote the chocolate products.

“The market strategy is to build strong local demand through social media, gourmet stores, hotel gift shops and duty free stores,” she explained. “We expect to build a strong presence in the tourism sector and then ultimately to be distributed in North America, UK and Europe.”

They maintain an ongoing rapport with their customers and gather feedback through various channels to continually enhance their products and business operations.

“We are actively involved in the bean to bar chocolate industry,” the chocolate maker revealed. “This includes several trade shows that allow us to get feedback from industry players, distributors and consumers from around the world. We also engage our customers through social media.”

Likkle More Chocolate is already involved in exporting to Switzerland and Barbados. In Switzerland, their products are sold through an online shop that specialises in bean-to-bar chocolate, while in Barbados, their chocolates are available in a high-end store that sells premium products.

They are working with distributors and specialty stores specialising in bean-to-bar chocolates to start exporting to the UK and the US in the coming months.

Currently, customers can also purchase their products through Carib Shopper online, or by contacting them directly for direct shipments. The company is also in the process of setting up its own online store on its website which will be launched soon.

This strong emphasis on exports reflects Burie’s ambition to develop a robust and recognised brand in the artisanal chocolate industry worldwide over the next five to 10 years.

However, the chocolate entrepreneur has her feet firmly planted on the ground, acknowledging that progress will encounter challenges along the way.

“The business requires scale and scale requires capital which has started to get more expensive with rising interest costs,” she stated. “We also have seen a fall-out in the cocoa production primarily due to the frosty pod disease. This coupled with issues related to quality fermentation processes and drying continues to be an area of concern.”

It is here that she sees an important role for her company in the development of the local chocolate industry.

“The thing is we have enough cocoa, but we don’t have enough quality cocoa,” Burie said. “So that’s why we have to work closely with the farmers to help them to process better cocoa. The new generation of chocolatiers are driving the industry towards higher levels of production but more importantly higher levels of quality. This movement we believe will rejuvenate and rebuild the Jamaican cocoa sector.”

“We only work with a few farmers at the moment but we are looking forward to working with more, soon,” she continued. “We have made some new connections and hope that those new partnerships will be as good as what we have now. We are also trying to source as much of our ingredients locally as possible, like the fresh thyme, Scotch bonnet, Blue Mountain Coffee and ginger.”

Likkle More Chocolate plans to launch new flavours with unique ingredients over the next 18-24 months and despite all the challenges within the industry, Burie believes the progress will continue little by little. The spirit of this ongoing relationship between Burie, her products, her partners in the industry and her customers, is conveyed in the name of her business.

“The name was inspired by my favourite Jamaican expression ‘likkle more’.” she shared. “When I arrived in Jamaica in 2010 from Ivory Coast with my family, we were often going to the countryside to discover new places and everywhere we stopped to ask directions or to buy some fruits, people were very friendly and always telling us ‘likkle more’ when we were leaving as a way of saying, ‘see you soon’. It became my favourite patois expression because who wouldn’t want a little bit more of chocolate and we would also love to see you soon.”