Red Ribbon Chocolates

We started Red Ribbon Chocolates here in Hulimavu because we wanted to work for ourselves. It’s a small operation, mostly just a couple of us in the back tempering chocolate and filling molds. The room has to stay cool, which is hard during the Bangalore summers, so the AC is always humming in the background. We don't have a big storefront with neon lights. It’s more of a place where you walk in and see us actually working. Sometimes there is chocolate on our aprons or on the door handle. We make different kinds, some with nuts and some just plain. People usually come to us when they need a gift for a birthday or an anniversary. We wrap everything ourselves, and sometimes the ribbons aren't perfectly straight. We think it shows that a real person actually put it together. We’ve had some mishaps where a whole batch didn't set right and we had to eat it ourselves. Our neighbors know us well because of the smell of cocoa drifting out. We aren't some big factory making thousands of bars an hour. We go slow and just make enough for the day and the orders we have. It’s quiet work, mostly, except for the sound of the chocolate being stirred in the pots. We don't have a big team, just a few hands that know what they are doing.