Amid high prices, local business owner opens the chocolate box on sweet secrets to affordable treats – London | Globalnews.ca

As the rising cost of groceries continues to impact Canadians, a chocolate store opening up a new location in London, Ont., wants to make sure residents have access to affordable sweet treats.

Marc Forrat, of Forrat’s Chocolates which opened on Friday at 2190 Dundas St., told Global News that the price of chocolate, alongside other perishable and non-perishable food items, has increased significantly over the years.

“I remember pre-COVID prices and prices right now, [but] I don’t think it’s at a point where we can justify selling a chocolate covered Oreo for $2 or a chocolate dipped marshmallow for $7,” he said. “I think that what has really changed this industry and all industries is the rise of minimum wage, rent, and the cost of employees and staff.

“I might be disliked by a lot of chocolate makers out there, but I’m tired of it. The prices are exaggerated and ridiculous.”

Growing up in Brazil, Forrat said, “It’s been my dream since the age of 12 to create a company that would allow any kid or any parents, regardless of their financial status, to be able to afford high end chocolate. I’m not talking chocolate with gold leaves or expensive coffee… I’m talking about chocolate I can make here with quality ingredients and reduce extra costs everywhere I can.”

In launching his business, he said that the Western Fair Agriplex and the City of London approached him with an initiative called The Grove.

Located within the Agriplex, the agri-business hub provides participants and small business owners with a space to share resources and connections, all while providing a location in creating “the right conditions for innovation, education and growth,” according to their website.

“Inside that big building, there’s 20 smaller manufacturing factories, and I was lucky enough to be approved for some of the space,” Forrat said.

James Smith, director of agri-food and The Grove, said that including Forrat’s Chocolates, 10 businesses and manufacturing companies have already moved into the space.

“I just think it’s such a unique and perfectly timed project for the way the world is going with the cost of food and trying to solve it in our small way here in London, Ont.,” he said.

According to Smith, the project began as a study roughly eight years ago on how the city, Western Fair District, Small Business Centre London and the London Economic Development Corporation could better support the community as well as local agriculture and agri-food scenes.

“We’re in the middle of this amazing growing and producing region here in southwestern Ontario and so The Grove became a concept that supported agriculture from that point of view,” he said. “We looked at different kinds of food but also the importance of being able to support our farmers and manufacturers.”

Smith said that the soon to be 20 small startup businesses within The Grove will also be helped from “an accelerator point of view.”

“On top of helping them build their space, we also offer different programs that help first time owners get the proper training and support they need to build their company,” he said. “We have everything that a food processing company needs, from a loading dock to the ability to help create and put pallet loads of product together, and we can also help them out to trucks that are coming in and taking their product away and distributing it.”

In collaboration with the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, Smith said that they expect to have 20 companies in The Grove by mid 2025.

He added that his dream is to one day see “20 thriving companies in this space working together, sharing their ideas, their knowledge, and helping each other grow.”

“I see, in the next 3-5 years, an amazing community of agri-food and food processing businesses just thriving and supporting each other,” he said.

Going back to Forratt, he praised Smith and those involved with The Grove in helping him open his shop, saying that thanks to their help, his “dreams have become a reality.”

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