Until recently, few British chocolate fans had heard of – let alone tasted – alfajores. This Latin American treat is made of dulce de leche, a delicious caramel concoction, sandwiched between soft biscuits and coated in chocolate. Then Maria Romero began hand-making them at home, launching Sur Chocolates with her husband, Emanuel Fernandez, in February 2020.
We spoke to Maria and Emanuel about the values that drive them and how selling online let them use the pandemic to their advantage.
Why did you start your own business?
Maria always dreamed of having her own business, but her accountant father encouraged Maria to stick with employment. “It was always hard for me. I wanted more, I wanted to investigate, and I wasn’t allowed,” she recalls.
Working as a chef in five-star hotels and chocolate businesses, and as a consultant to shops and restaurants, Maria’s drive to innovate made it impossible to stay confined in someone else’s kitchen.
Her own experience, and others’ accounts of bullying and harassment, gave Maria further motivation to start a business of her own. When she found out she was expecting her daughter, now nine, Maria decided it was time to step away. “I was not going to be pregnant and be mistreated like that,” she said.
Maria and Emmanuel also have a son, aged seven. Creating a collaborative working environment and championing entrepreneurship for women is a responsibility Maria takes seriously. “When my daughter was born, I couldn’t just say that she could do anything. I needed to show her,” she explained.
“Maria wanted to change the way that a kitchen works,” adds Emanuel. “To change something, you have to do it yourself.”
How did you fund your business?
Emanuel has 20 years of marketing experience and kept his job during the pandemic, supporting Maria’s venture as his side hustle. He now works solely on Sur’s marketing, PR, sales, packaging, and accounting. In the early days, his regular income plus personal and family savings meant Sur Chocolates survived without external investment.
“I bought a chocolate melting machine for £300, plus a KitchenAid with my own money, and then I started selling alfajores. After that, we didn’t buy equipment until we could pay for it out of the business,” Maria explains. When orders took off during the pandemic, the injection of cash enabled them to invest in more equipment.
Emanuel says that seeking external funding during the pandemic felt daunting for the pair who only settled permanently in the UK in 2019. He also has found it frustrating to see investors backing companies that sell trendy, mass-produced products, prioritising profits over craftmanship and social impact. “They’re still backing the usual suspects, putting millions into yet another flavour of popcorn,” he says.
However, he’s ready to investigate schemes available to help small businesses grow.
What was your biggest challenge when you first started?
Sur Chocolates launched their Shopify site 20 days before the UK went into lockdown, leaving the couple desperately sending alfajores to anyone who might spread the word. It worked: a glowing review in The Observer magazine sent orders flooding in and what felt like a disaster became the key to their success. “Because we were ready, we got a spike in sales,” says Emanuel.
Unsure whether the rapid growth would last, the couple converted their garage rather than move Sur Chocolates out to a business premises. “We stayed in the garage for a whole year, but we realised that if we wanted to hire people, we couldn’t do it at home,” says Maria.
The couple switched focus to making Sur Chocolates financially self-sufficient. When they took on a unit on a farm in Oxfordshire, they agreed that would be the last year of personal investment.
“We are not going to keep putting our money in to rescue the cash flow,” says Maria. After registering Sur Chocolates as a limited company and learning about accounting, they have enjoyed two years where alfajores sales have covered the running costs of the company.
What are your running costs?
Chocolate making is typically seasonal, with Christmas being the busiest period for gifting, followed by Easter and Valentine’s Day. Cautious about their budget, the couple use temporary staff as required. “If we are in low season, we don’t need extra help. We work with agencies instead of hiring someone,” explains Maria.
However, she is keen to take on an apprentice who can support her in the kitchen and learn the craft. “You can go to university and read for a lot of things, but for our type of business, you need to just do it!” says Maria.
Although the running costs of their premises are currently manageable, any price increases make Maria “terribly on edge”. Fortunately, the electricity costs are shared among all the units on the farm, helping ease the pain of rising bills.
“The big one for us is the cost of ingredients,” explains Emanuel. “Brexit sent the price of chocolate through the roof. And packaging: from the start of the pandemic, the increased demand for ecommerce sent cardboard prices through the roof.”
While their agricultural location isn’t ideal for passing trade, Emanuel is proud that finding a commercial space near their rural home. Walking or cycling to work helps keep the carbon footprint of Sur Chocolates low.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from running your business?
Maria and Emanuel are a parenting team as well as business partners. They have found it crucial to draw a clear boundary around each of their roles in the company.
“It’s not easy to work together as a couple because the work never stops: not at home, not on the school run. So I need to own and do my stuff – marketing and ecommerce, that’s my stuff,” adds Emanuel. However, he’s open to “sharing opinions” with his wife and business partner when it comes to taste-testing the chocolates!
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