Solomons Gold: A Family-Owned Artisanal Chocolate Business

May 05 2023 – Katherine Diabordo

Solomons Gold: A Family-Owned Artisanal Chocolate Business
Solomons Gold: A Family-Owned Artisanal Chocolate Business

Solomons Gold is a family-owned artisanal chocolate business that has been manufacturing cacao products in Mt Maunganui for almost a decade. With a team of 4 employees, including Glenn's daughters Chanee and Andrea, they handle manufacturing, marketing, and distribution in New Zealand, while Clive and his daughter Sarah manage the Sydney office.

 

From the perfect growing environment of Solomon Islands, Glenn, the founder of Solomons Gold, recognized the potential of the cacao fruit and the possibility of creating delicious chocolate. Their goal was to create a two-ingredient chocolate that highlights the cacao and its health benefits, so they added only coconut sap sugar. Solomons Gold wanted to be different by showcasing the cacao, the real treasure, and their chocolate tested at Massey University showed antioxidant levels six times higher than spinach.

Embracing their traditional roasting and artisanal techniques, the team controls every stage of the chocolate-making process, taking 200 hours to turn a cacao bean into one of their handcrafted bars. Glenn and his family were coffee growers in Zimbabwe before moving to New Zealand as refugees in 2002. Glenn also worked in the building industry before working for C-Corp.

Solomons Gold's most notable achievement is winning a silver medal at the academy of chocolate in 2017 with a two-ingredient chocolate bar, which is a testament to their artisanal process. They also take pride in supplying supermarkets, both international and local, and large businesses while maintaining their artisanal standards.

Their chocolate pieces are great for making chocolate mousse, while melting Solomons Gold chocolate into the brownie mixture is an excellent substitute for cocoa powder. They recommend adding Solomons Gold chocolate pieces into the mixture for an extra chocolate hit.

Solomons Gold collaborates with Real Rad Food, another local artisanal business, which they admire for their products and work ethic.