If they’ve been using Valrhona and passing it off as made from the bean by them, then they are completely full of shit.
But I do have a certain appreciation for other makers of expensive chocolate bars, handmade or bean to bar especially, because as the artisan chocolate industry has grown, people have gotten used to paying more for tastes darker and more complex than Hershey’s.
As for the cost aspect, the grand cru couvertures are more expensive. I buy a handful of different couvertures from Felchlin and Valrhona, ranging in price from $6.50 to $12.50 per pound, wholesale. Packaging adds up - for the bars I make, the inner foil is 5 cents, I finally bought enough outer wrappers at once to get them down to about 25 cents, and the ingredients stickers add a little more. So for a 35 gram bar of Valrhona Dulcey with almonds and salt, my ingredient and packaging costs are already about $1.50, not including the labor to produce or package it. If I doubled my cost to set wholesale price and my retailers doubled it again, my tiny bars would be at least $8, which I think is ridiculous, so I have a lower margin and I suggest my wholesalers also not do a 100% mark-up. I’m hoping to get more efficient and have better margins as I grow, but the thing I find funny is how some people understand the struggle and support me as I get established, but I have one wholesale customer who frequently asks for discounts and complains that they are not making enough money off me. They are in the business of shipping curated boxes from small chocolatiers, but they still don’t seem to grasp that people like mine the best because I use really good chocolate and really good chocolate is expensive, and that handmade means made by these two hands that are typing this now. They want to make the money but don’t understand what goes into making the chocolate. Or maybe I really can charge more and I need to get over my ideals about affordability.
I’m not defending the Mast Bros’ deception in any way, just saying that good chocolate is expensive, whether you re-form couverture or start from the bean. While their prices may be high, that may be what it actually costs to pay themselves, buy equipment, have printing and cutting dies designed, etc.
