I find it a really interesting concept and I think it is a good exposure for the children. This idea is in line with their theme of the term.. which is the Aztecs. They are the people who invented chocolate (Ace told me they traded in cocoa beans) and so they had this idea, to get a chocolate expert to teach the children how to make chocolates.
After that, the children will be given blocks of chocolates to make their own and then they will set up a stall to sell them. They will then have to calculate their earnings, their costs and also their profit.
But leh, that in itself was a huge headache to me because for me because most of the online ways about how to melt chocolate was actually through the use of microwave.. which I did not have...
And then leh, we had to invest in those little pots for melting chocolate... Ace had GRAND IDEAS about what he wanted to make.. a while he wanted to make a car... a while he wanted to make CHOCOLATE MINIONS....
I bought some mould as well for the chocolates and they came in sticks, hearts and polar bears.
This whole saga proved to be much more work for me than for Ace.. wahahaha...
Cos before I even let Ace start, I had to experiment a little so I know wat to do and can guide him.
It took me a little more than 3 tries and some 2 hours before I even figured out how to melt chocolate properly... I learnt that:
1) Do not use chocolate that has ever been frozen or put in the fridge before. It WILL NOT HARDEN again unless you freeze it.
2) 25gm of melted chocolates can make 3 heart shaped chocolates using my heart shaped mould
3) Do not geh kiang and heat the chocolate long long time.. or use high heat.. or let it touch water... It will turn LUMPY and cannot be melted again... bleah...
4) Submerging the bottom of the pot in lots of boiling water is TOO HOT... have to put and wait for it to melt, and then take the chocolate away.. and submerge again and take away.. something like tat
Making chocolate is more difficult and requires more technique than I thought! I have alot more respect for the Aztec people now man! Wahahaahaha....
I tried to teach Ace a little about doing business and told him he has to set a goal how much profit he wants to make and know how much is his cost and also budget for marketing... then he can decide on pricing etc...
Ace says he wanted to make 50 dirhams.
So I told him he has to come up with a promotion so that people will want to buy his chocolate. We explored lucky draw option or everyone has a prize and he chose everyone has a prize.
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| Ace writing his "business plan" |
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| His profit and loss "statement" |
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| Made Ace calculate how much chocolates he can make and how much he has to sell and what are his costs... Put his math into good practice:) |
Anyway, after some experiments, I decided to start making some with Ace. We tried to make white ones with the polar bear mould.. ALAS, the legs are two small and the chocolates all come out without legs... boo hoo.. gotta do ALL OVER AGAIN!
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| Ace helping to chop the chocolate... |
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| Melting the chocolate. I realized the best way to do so is just to submerge the stainless steel pot filled with chopped chocolates in warm water.. |
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| The polar bear ones looked so nice! |
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| Alas... sigh.. legs all broke when we tried to take them out.. |
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| Mr Happy Go Lucky was happy still since he got to lick of the remnants in the mould... |
In the end, I told him boh pian lor.. gotta do using heart shaped mould only.. and Ace said ok... So we quickly tried to make the chocolate. By the time it was his bedtime, we only managed to do like 3 batches. I was afraid there is not enough time and so.. after he went to bed, me continued to make all the chocolates...
So the next day, we went to buy the prizes and also the containers to put and decorate the chocolate in...
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| Buying the things he needed and calculating if they fit his budget... |
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| Packing! |
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| All packed! |
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| Home made sign.. |
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| Added a sticker to decorate and tell the different types of chocolates apart... |
In the end, after so many hours of hard work.... how much did Ace make?
Hahahaha... actually he just break even...
Cos he said he learnt that heart shape is a very girly shape so many boys do not want to buy it. Also, he realized that the free gifts that we chose are not very attractive and so, not really effective.. some people even bought and say dun want free gift...
He also learnt that having colourful chocolate means better sales and he says he will buy colouring to make colourful chocolate next year.
Ace said though, one of his classmates stole his free gift pencils and stole 3 dirhams from his earnings. And I told him that is a lesson for him to learn to take care of his money when running a business...
He told me also that when he realized that he was not having as many business, he decided to do a 30 minute special. For that 30 minutes, all his chocolates are going at 1 dhs instead of 5 dhs... and so he had three sale during that period.. wahaha :) Not bad, still can on the spot come up with marketing ideas..
Anyway, the leftover chocolate they did not sell were sold to parents who visited the school that day... All money made minus cos of the chocolates itself went to donations to the school supported charity.
I think you can say that Ace's first business experience is a failure. But well, that is how the business world is.. and I am still glad he had the experience and learnt from it ;)
I asked him who made the most money and he said Alex made the most money as he had a mechanism where his mum contributed FOC a batch of cupcakes. With every cupcake you bought, you could choose any chocolate they had... and Alex made almost double of Ace's sales because the cupcakes with free chocolates were a hit:)
Ace was a very good customer though and bought tonnes of chocolate from his friends and some of them gave him freebies too :) wahaha.. so now my fridge is stuffed with chocolates..
PS: About the boy who took Ace's pencil free gifts, Ace said he is rather annoyed with him. He also told me that because he is annoyed, he always complains to the teacher when this boy, X, comes and disturbs him. And then the teacher will scold X and X will get upset. When X went home to complain to his dad, his dad asked X not to Ace in that case (I would have given the same advice.. so I understand where this is coming from..) I was afraid Ace might be upset and asked him how he felt about that.. he said "I am more than happy if he doesnt talk to me! But, even though his dad say dun talk to me, he is still talking to me leh... "
After a short pause to think, Ace told me, "Last year, I was also not on good terms with V. But this year, we are good friends. Maybe next year when I am not in the same class with X, we will be good friends."
Wow.. how insightful:) wahahahahaha.
PS:
Ace did a review in school and here is what he says he has learnt.
- He will try to work in a group in future so that someone can man the store while he is out selling chocolate.
- He will decorate his table more so that people will be attracted to his chocolate stall.
- He will choose to make more of the smaller packs to sell as they seem more popular.
- He will add colouring to his chocolates to make them more attractive.
- He will not make them all in hearts and will try to make different shapes to create more variety.
- He also said that he realized that going out of the store to sell chocolate works well and will do it again.
- He realizes also that when you have a business, you have to call for support. Next time he will ask his relatives (US LAH) to go and support.
- Also, he says he will make more posters the next time to ask people to BUY things from his store..
- He will still do a freebie marketing thingy the next time.
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