This pastry chain employs 60 permanent people and plans to open a new store.
The Chokolat brand, today with five stores in the same number of shopping centers in Guayaquil, Daule and Samborondón, began little by little with the impetus of the sisters Irene (32 years old) and Cristina Monge (33 years old).
It all started more than a decade ago when Irene handed out three tasting samples inside a box from door to door in various urbanizations on Samborondón avenue. Afterwards, the orders rained down, she even made snacks and desserts for social events that she prepared at her parents’ house.
Irene was a mother at an early age when she was a university student in Ecuador. Cristina had left the country to study Gastronomy and Pastry at the Argentine Institute of Gastronomy and Hotel Administration in Vatel (Argentina). From that country she helped her sister’s entrepreneurship with recipes and tips when she was in her last semester.
The level of orders was such that Irene was no longer enough and she had to give birth, so Cristina returned to Ecuador from Argentina with her title to continue with the business.
“It is something that runs in the family, my mother taught us, we cook since we were little,” says Irene about that Legacy that has allowed him to build together with Cristina a pastry chain that continues to expand, after installing the first store in 2012.
“Family life revolves around the kitchen. In the house of my maternal grandmother, who was Peruvian, she had her own pastry kitchen, so we made alfajores, manas (marzipan fruits). The chocolate cheese recipe, which is currently our best-selling dessert, is inspired by her, ”says Cristina, who after graduating as a pastry chef in Argentina specialized in France and did a master’s degree in Spain.
“I turned my passion into my profession,” he emphasizes, which is essential for an enterprise to be sustainable.
“At this time (Christmas) we see our children less, it is stressful, but we still enjoy it,” adds Irene.
The advance was little by little with a seed fund that they were saving from the sale to order that became more and more difficult to cover. It was the profit they obtained after paying the salaries that had been established.
“If the profit was two thousand dollars, then that was to prepare us or it was going to be reinvested. We put a salary on each other since we were informal and we both cooked at our parents’ house, ”says Cristina.
“We don’t have investors and that salary has been going up little by little,” adds Irene.
Attention to detail is also important. The packaging, the quality of the products used, all at a competitive price.
With the profit from the business Cristina has financed her specializations in Europe. “Constant training is one of the keys. When I came back from Argentina I still had no intention of going back. My dream was to live and work in hotels in France, Spain. I wanted to be a pastry chef around the world, ”she says, which she finally achieved when Chokolat was on the road.
So, what began with the delivery of desserts to order 12 years ago evolved to the five locations from where they also send home and employ 60 permanent people. With an eventual total of 70, which are contracted these months of Christmas time to pack the orders of the companies.
The menu varies according to the season (Christmas, Mother’s or Father’s Day). Whiskey chocolates, olive oil macaroon. Now is the Christmas edition.
What comes out the most are the Florentines (almond cookies with caramel dipped in white chocolate) and macaroons, as well as the classic alfajores, marzipan fruits and negritos.
One of the limitations when undertaking is that women have more work, since they are also mainly responsible for the responsibility of the home. “Yes, it is more difficult for a woman than for a man, especially when we are already mothers,” says Cristina, who has two children. Irene is a mother of three.
“At the beginning you have to use whatever resources you have. The beginning is the difficult thing. Who handles social networks for you? Well, when you start, yourself. We only recently no longer handle them. Go with what you have and then you are delegating, perfecting and hiring”, Says Irene, who also considers that it is more challenging for a mother to continue with her entrepreneurship in the long term.
Verónica Monge, their younger sister, joined the business a year ago. They plan to open a sixth store in downtown Guayaquil next year, a sign of the success of this undertaking. (I)
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