- Launched in 2016 to offer luxurious chocolates, there are now 14 Fabelle chocolate boutiques in all
- As yet, Fabelle is the only chocolate brand in India with five different offerings and with 10,000 retail touchpoints
- La Terre draws inspiration from nature and is made with just two ingredients- cocoa from Kerala and honey, sourced from Karnataka
THoD Newsdesk, New Delhi: The homegrown luxury chocolate brand of ITC Ltd., Fabelle Exquisite Chocolates, has launched a new range of premium ‘earth positive’ chocolate called as La Terre. Launched in 2016 to offer luxurious chocolates, there are now 14 Fabelle chocolate boutiques in all and it has risen as a popular name in its category. As yet, Fabelle is the only chocolate brand in India with five different offerings and with 10,000 retail touchpoints, the brand is looking at a complete indigenous value chain for its further growth. La Terre has been introduced keeping in mind the current crisis and is priced at ₹1,200 for a box of ten chocolates.
Anuj Rustagi, COO- Chocolates, Confectionery, Coffee and New Categories, Food Division, ITC Ltd., was quoted saying, “We see this as a relevant step in the current time, for the consumers and the industry. Since consumer consumption is at a peak at this particular time of the year, we thought of launching the product pre-Diwali. This pandemic has changed things a lot. Products with trust, hygiene and environmentally friendly approaches will be in demand and La Terre suffice all the need.”
La Terre draws inspiration from nature and is made with just two ingredients- cocoa from Kerala and honey, sourced from Karnataka. Throughout the production process, the company has ensured to keep the carbon footprints at minimum levels. The packaging material used for La Terre is sourced from ITC’s large afforestation programme, that creates a green cover as well as enables sequestration.
Fabelle Master Chocolatier, Tanvi Chandawarkar, mentioned about the making process and added that the genesis was to symbolise earth, not just metaphorically but also physically. She stated, “It’s free of artificial processing and is a completely vegetarian product. We learnt that the key was to limit chocolate making techniques.”
ITC is pacing itself to have a dominant share in India’s INR 11,000 crore chocolate market and the company is banking on the ‘big’ success of its chocolate business. Further, to guarantee the supply of prime-quality cocoa, ITC has partnered up with top global cocoa suppliers from Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Venezuela, Madagascar and India. ITC also has plans to work with cocoa farmers directly in the near future and to work with more Indian cocoa variants.
Rustagi added, “We are gradually expanding our portfolio to tap all markets and to become a significant player in the chocolate category. While our positioning will remain premium, we are trying to be accessible to a wider range of audience. Premium chocolate segment was hit during the pandemic also all our sales points were shut, however, from the second quarter we are improving and going towards pre-pandemic level. Diwali is anticipated to be a mixed response where we are seeing quite a handsome growth week on week eventually moving towards better numbers when compared to last year.”
