For chocolate makers
Make better chocolate. Keep the process behind it.
Your work has two connected journeys: buying cacao with a clear quality record, and turning ingredients into repeatable chocolate. Follow sourcing, receiving and supplier feedback alongside formulation and production.
CocoaCraft chocolate imagery
What you can do with CocoaCraft
For solo chocolate makers, growing brands and production teams buying cacao and turning ingredients into finished chocolate.
Buying cacao: from a lot offer to supplier feedback
Bring quality evidence into the buying decision, then compare it with what actually arrives.
Evaluate the lot before agreeing terms
Browse offers, review origin and processing details, ask questions and request a quote. Use shared evidence to understand the supplier’s quality story and your own requirements.
Choose optional independent checks
When needed, arrange an assigned inspection and review the auditor’s separate findings. Validate lot identity, origin and quality records before shipment. Freight and insurance are arranged with external providers.
Receive first, then inspect and decide
Record delivery separately from your receiving decision. Check identity, quantity, condition and relevant quality evidence, then accept, hold or reject. A supplier declaration does not make this decision for you.
Close the supplier feedback loop
Record quality and delivery observations and use them in supplier scorecards. Keep missing categories unrated rather than inventing a score, and use the evidence to inform the next sourcing conversation.
Making chocolate: from a formula to a traceable run
Keep the intended formulation and the actual production record connected, with a clear role for each.
Use your recipe or explore an idea
Experienced makers can start with their own formulation. Recipe Builder is an optional way to explore an ingredient balance and process idea before saving real work.
Build and scale the formulation
Define the intended ingredients, percentages, weights and batch size. Keep this as the master formula; actual ingredient-lot usage belongs to the production run.
Capture the work as it happens
Create a run from the formulation and record the ingredients, lots, equipment context, process observations and checks that describe that batch. Preserve the decisions that matter when work changes hands.
Review quality, trace and improve
Relate quality checks and finished-batch observations to the formulation and run. Use the record to understand changes and plan the next trial, rather than assuming every batch needs the same settings.
Two journeys, one maker workspace
Choose your path: source cacao and follow its quality record, or turn your ingredients into chocolate.
Make chocolate you can repeat
Open the journey for a larger view and a readable guide to each step.
Illustrative example
A maker sources a new lot for an established bar
The formula is familiar, but the incoming cacao and the production results still need their own records.
Step 1
Evaluate and buy
Review the lot evidence, agree terms, decide whether an audit is needed and arrange transport and cover separately.
Step 2
Receive and evaluate
Record what arrives, perform receiving checks and record acceptance, hold or rejection. Feed the observations into supplier performance records.
Step 3
Use the lot in a production run
After your organization’s release process, record the ingredient lot against the actual run and keep process and finished-batch observations with it.
What you finish with: Two connected records: what the supplier offered and what you received, followed by what your own production team actually did.
Who records, shares and decides?
Supplier evidence stays attributable
Origin and supplier quality information describe what the supplier records or declares. An independent audit adds its own findings.
Your team controls receiving
Your organization decides how to inspect, hold, reject or release incoming material. Receipt and quality acceptance are separate events.
The run records actual production
The formulation defines the intended recipe. The run carries actual lot usage, process observations and checks for the batch you made.
What CocoaCraft helps you do
- Public lot discovery, buyer inquiries and supplier quotes
- Receiving and quality-record tools, with supplier scorecards
- Formulation, batch and production-run tools
- Ingredient-lot context and recorded quality observations
What needs separate arrangements
- Integrated checkout, freight booking and cargo insurance
- A fully automated purchase-to-delivery process; some order and shipment steps remain in development
- Automatic certification, acceptance or guaranteed production results
A useful starting point
Have these ready
- 1For buying: your quality requirements and a lot you want to evaluate
- 2For receiving: delivery information, inspection responsibilities and evidence
- 3For production: an existing recipe or an idea and a target batch size
- 4Ingredient-lot identifiers, equipment context and the checks your team uses
Put your first real record in CocoaCraft
Create an account for the role that fits you, then start with one useful record. Explore the public example first if you prefer.
Workspace tools require sign-in. Available modules depend on your workspace and access.
Questions before you start
Do I have to use Recipe Builder before starting production?
No. It is an optional idea and draft tool. You can begin with your existing formulation and use production runs to record real execution.
Are buying and making the same workflow?
They are connected but distinct. Buying covers lot evaluation, optional audits, delivery, receiving inspection and supplier feedback. Production covers the intended formula, actual ingredient lots, process work and finished-batch checks.
Does CocoaCraft book shipping or insurance?
No integrated freight or insurance booking is provided by this journey. Agree responsibilities and arrange those services with your chosen providers. The buying illustration shows the full operating process, including external steps.
Does a supplier’s quality result replace my receiving inspection?
No. Supplier declarations, independent inspection findings and your own receiving decision remain separate. Record what actually arrives and apply your organization’s acceptance controls.
Are supplier scorecards updated automatically when I accept a quote?
No. Quality and delivery feedback need their own observations and records. Missing checks or categories must not be treated as passing results.
Where do actual ingredient lots belong?
In the production-run record. A formulation defines the master ingredient balance and process intent; it is not the history of every lot consumed across batches.