NOKA chocolate exposed!

by Nicole Weston, Posted Dec 19th 2006 @ 3:44PM

NOKA chocolate claims that they sell the most expensive chocolates in the world and at prices that range from a shocking $309- $2,080 per pound, no one would argue that point. The point that is debatable is whether their chocolates are worth that price. From their literature, you might suspect that the chocolatier of NOKA would be trailblazing through jungles to find the most perfect cacao beans to produce chocolates with the "rarest and purest" single-origin dark chocolate instead of melting chocolate into simple molds in a Plano, Texas strip mall.

Dallas Food has just completed a brilliant expose that reveals the outrageous markups on NOKA's products and the source of their chocolates, which they buy from a well-known and well-respected chocolate maker but conceal from their clients to protect their image as "chocolate makers" and their pricing, which includes a markup of up to 4,444%.

Chocolate-making is a long and difficult process, starting with retrieving the beans from the cacao plantations. Once they have been cleaned and roasted, they are crushed into a very fine paste known as chocolate liquor before other ingredients, often including sugar and vanilla, are added and the chocolate can be molded and sold. Not all that many places make their own and those who do are very proud of it. Other chocolatiers use chocolate that is made by other companies, companies that specialize in the chocolate making process and put out a wide variety of chocolates of different cacao percentages, different origins and with different flavorings that are used as a base for the creations of the chocolatier. They are equally proud of their suppliers and do not make any attempt to hide the source of their ingredients. Excellent chocolatiers like Michael Recchiuti, La Maison du Chocolat, Vosges, Jacques Torres's and Lake Champlain Chocolates rely on their creativity and craftsmanship to sell chocolates.

Lacking these advantages, it appears that NOKA relies on repackaging and high prices to drive their company's image and Dallas Food has the whole story.

[Thanks for the heads up, Kate!]

Source

Filed Under: On the Blogs, Stores & Shopping, Food Quest, Did you know?, Ingredients
Tags: america, chocolate, chocolates, chocolatier, dallas food, did you know, expensive, expose, food blog, Food Quest, noka, outrageous, plano, ripoff, store, stores-and-shopping, texas

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 4 of 4)

12-28-2006 @1:17AM Mike said... Chocolate covered Altoids,Michelob Favored Chocolate beer.........Please stop the world that's my stop.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

12-28-2006 @1:27AM Roxie Ravenclaw said... Just read the expose. It's funny...the folks behind Noka took a leaf out of that old fairy tale about the emperor's new clothes, didn't they? It's the same basic idea...you have a lack of a product, you basically put this non-product on a pedastal and "show" why it's worth spending so much money on it, then reap the monetary benefits from suckers with a lot of money to spend and run away. I'd have to wonder about who actually has purchased and appreciated Noka's chocolate because...well, if Food Network's "Ham on the Street" has taught me anything, then Noka's kind of chocolate would taste like poo. Or "chocolate for dogs," as one guy had said in that chocolate-related episode of "Ham" when he got a taste of baking chocolate, aka a sample of chocolate containing 100% cacao. Basically--the higher the concentration of cacao, the more bitter and nasty tasting it's going to be.

I'm curious...think Bonnat, the REAL chocolate maker, could sue Noka for what it's doing? Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how this is different from, say--ripping and burning a copy of a DVD I bought, then turning around and attempting to sell that burned copy. That qualifies as piracy, doesn't it? So can we say that Noka is pirating Bonnat's chocolate? If that's so, then isn't that illegal, even on an international level?
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

12-28-2006 @2:07AM Lisa said... Love chocolate but pay that for it???? NO way!! Give me a bag of Hersheys kisses - yay!!!

Lisa
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

12-28-2006 @3:00AM Amber said... I read the expose and then went to Noka's website. They may have changed it since this article exposed them, but they do name the woman as a chocolatier in the philosophy section of the site. I am glad they were busted... but I am also laughing at the people who have been buying it thinking it is the best due to the high price tag!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-06-2007 @1:02AM awestruck said... I read the story for the sheer pleasure of reading it (don't like dark chocolate at all). When I was done reading I couldn't help but thinking: "Man I wish I could have come up with a stunt like that". I mean making gobs of money by simple repackaging (using cheap labor available in Texas) and telling a very hazy elaborate marketing story.... wow I am very impressed.

Ok I am way too honest to actually do such a thing. But still these two people didn't do any harm really. They took money from idiots that obviously had too much to begin with and they didn't harm anyone anyone in the process, so I don't see the problem. True they lied and probably violated some laws (false advertising) but that is there own risk, that doesn't bother me the least in this particular case. If they would hand out all the money they gained from this gimmick to the poor I would call the Robin Hoods.

That being very unlikely they probably just close their business, take their winnings and comfortably retire somewhere really nice.

Many kudo's to the author of the story though, it is a nice little real life detective.

Reply

Vote upVote downReport

12-28-2006 @4:53AM Carolyn said... Got some Godiva for Christmas; it's okay, but not as good as it's made out to be. I've always wondered....
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

12-30-2006 @5:27PM James said... We are a chocolatier and are totally amazed at this story. We blend and temper our "PURCHASED CHOCOLATE BLOCKS" and hand prep to specific use for specialty items such as Chocolate Covered Popcorn and Tennessee Walking Sticks and are very proud of our product line but this story is crazy. Greed will do strange things to people. Look into Godiva and tell me why it is so expensive.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

12-31-2006 @1:22PM steve mcfarland said... Their site breaks in Safari - that's all I need to know to stay away.

...but seriously, that article was just incredible. Journalism at its best!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-05-2007 @6:22AM DaDa said... This vaguely reminds of the bit in Amercian Psycho when the main character covers a urinal tablet in dark chocolate and gives it to his wife in an expensive looking chocolate box, he watches her eat it and because she thinks it's THE chocolate to have pretends to enjoy it. Yum!

The article was unquestionably well written and very informative. If true, then Noka is a total sham and it's not as simple as "clever" marketing. People have the right to informed on what they buy, the quality and value of the product, and the origins...ESPECIALLY in the niche market of fine foods...this is precisely what seperates such foods from their less expensive alternatives, the ACTUAL quality and make - not the perceived quality as dreamed up by a bogus sales campaign.

The same goes for Luthiers of the finest guitars in the world, motorcycles, cars, etc.

As a side note - Hershey is awful chocolate...utterly boring and tasteless. Anyone who has the oppurtunity to taste better chocolates and expand their chocolate palette would never purchase one again...really, the McDonalds of chocolate.

Reply