Beyers Chocolates
“Do you feel like Willy Wonka?” I ask Kees Beyers, chocolatier and owner oflocal chocolate producers Beyers. “No, I don’t,” he laughs. “But my kids think I am. There is one dad at school who is cooler than me because he’s a music promoter and represents bands like The Parlotones, so I think he has one up on me. But I think my kids like that we have a chocolate factory. I could be a lawyer or a doctor, but to have a chocolate factory is a little unusual, a little out of the ordinary.”It certainly is, especially when it uses close to 35 tonnes of chocolate a week and has been producing chocolates for the South African market for close to 25 years. While the factory’s own brand, Beyers, was only launched three-and-a-half years ago, South Africans have been enjoying Beyers for years without even realising it. The company supplies many of the country’s top retailers, including Woolworths, Clicks and Pick n Pay, with their own house brand chocolates, from their regular branded lines to chocolates – and even Christmas cakes – for special occasions. So if you’ve nibbled on a chocolate Easter bunny or enjoyed a delicious chocolate Santa from any of these retailers in the last two decades, there’s a good chance it was made in the Beyers factory in Kempton Park.
Beyers is also responsible for making those delicious Amarula chocolates – which are always the perfect gift for friends visiting from overseas – as well as for resurrecting their own version of Caramello Bears, called Caramel Dream Bears, when Cadbury’s sadly discontinued the popular gooey treat several years ago. Nostalgic chocolate lovers who think longingly back to the good old days of their youth, also have Beyers to thank for resurrecting those yummy morsels of marshmallow goodness, Sweetie Pies, which the company has recently released in snazzy red packaging. “It’s funny,” says Kees, “I never used to buy Sweetie Pies before, but since we bought the business, I am bringing them home by the caseload!” And Kees is sure that he won’t be the only one to rediscover his love for this childhood treat. So much so, that the company has acquired a new factory just to produce it, where they will be producing 30,000 of these dollop-shaped chocolates every day.
The new factory will also create 40 new jobs, which will grow the Beyers factory staff contingent to over 300 workers. They may not look like Oompa Loompas, but pretty much everyone I encountered had a smile on their faces (how could you not, working with the glorious smell of chocolate every day?). And none more so than my designated tour guide, Beauty ???, who showed me around the factory with obvious pride and love of her job. It’s a fascinating business making chocolate, right from the ingredients store room, through to the kitchen where they make their own fudge and caramel fillings, and onto the production floor, where you can watch chocolate artisans filling chocolate moulds, while others sprinkle toppings on individual truffles and yet more laboriously pipe decorative patterns on others.
While the factory houses a number of ingenious machines that can mould and fill chocolates at an amazing speed, Beyers prides itself on the fact that they are so hands-on with their chocolates. “We like to set ourselves a bit apart from what the other manufacturers are doing, so there is always a touch of hand-finishing somewhere along the line,” explains Kees. “It doesn’t all just roll off an assembly line. I have been in factories in Belgium that produce five times the volume we do and they only employ 30 people because there are no hand touches any more, it’s all robotic. It’s a good product, but it’s very uniform and with zero flexibility. So we try to differentiate ourselves in that way – we’re a family business. We make fillings in small batches, we cook fudge in small batches, and there is always a handmade element in the final product.”
This allows Beyers the flexibility to not only tailor-make individual ranges for the retailers it supplies (with varying degrees of hand-finishing as dictated by their customers), but also to experiment and innovate with their own range. They currently produce a range of slabs, Nutty Bites and boxed selections – including delicious Scottish Whiskey Truffles and Carvo Caramel Vodka Chocolates – plus Kees and his team are always testing new ideas and flavours (wouldn’t you love that job?).
South Africans consume 60,000 tonnes of chocolate a year, and while Beyers may not have the biggest slice of this pie, they have been producing some of the country’s most popular chocolates for years, and look set to have great success with their own Beyers brand too. “We like to think of ourselves as the local Lindt,” says Kees. “We’re a good quality chocolate that compares very well with overseas brands and which is locally made and well priced.” Plus there is something to be said about chocolate that’s handmade with love and smiles – somehow it just tastes better.
**For more information, visit www.beyerschocolates.com.**
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