Interview with:
Thomas Elsignhorst, President
Beth Kimmerle, Marketing Director
Brian Donaghy, Executive Pastry Chef
Tomric Systems, Inc.
By Jeff Yoskowitz and Kathryn Gordon of Food
Startup Help
Jeff and Kathryn, along with Pastry Chef Jenny
McCoy, recently visited Tomric Systems in Buffalo NY, to tour their production
plant, work with their Selmi Chocolate equipment from Italy and learn more about
chocolate mold making.
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Looking for a cooling tunnel for your chocolate business? Tomric has a 12 meter one for sale that they recently used at a trade show. Contact Sean Tucci, Technical Sales and Service Manager at stucci@tomric.com |
Selmi Injector Depositor Attachment in Action
Jeff: Hello Tom, can you tell us more about Tomric? You mentioned
that this is your family business.
Tom:
It’s been family owned and run for 51 years. It was started by my great uncle who was a metal smith in
Germany, and my dad began plastic mold thermoforming here in the 1960’s. We have 2 plants in Buffalo.
Beth:
The Company sells multiple lines and strives to be a single source
supplier to the confectionery industry.
For instance, ChocoMaker products are geared for the home cook,
and includes Make ‘n Mold kits, chocolate fountains, and compound chocolate
sold in outlets such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and Walmart. Chocolate World is our line of
custom and readymade molds for the food industry, primarily for artisan
chocolatiers. We are also the exclusive distributor in North America for Selmi
Chocolate Machines from Italy.
Beth’s
marketing team’s design board for their ChocoMaker line.
Kathryn:
If I were a chocolatier and I wanted to get a custom mold, how does that
process work?
Beth: An artisan chocolate company submits a design, and our art department creates a mold. They use traditional clay sculpting and
plaster for detail prototype designs, but are starting to use computerized design models
as well. Lead time depends on the
intricacy of the design, typically ranging from 5 days to 6 weeks.
Tomric
sponsors the World Chocolate Masters and Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie US
teams
Jeff:
Brian, can you tell us about the Selmi equipment line from Italy? You’ve got a variety of machines here.
Can you talk about the line?
Brian:
We pride ourselves on carrying such an incredible line of chocolate equipment
from Selmi and provide the best customer service for the machines, and help
with installation through training.
The machines are very easy to work with and clean after use.
Brian
molding with the injector depositor attachment
Jeff:
How does the mold depositor attachment work on the Selmi tempering
machine?
Brian:
It works with 75-80% of existing polycarbonate chocolate molds. You can easily calibrate the depositing head
to minimize excess chocolate clean up.
Jeff:
Brian, if you put the depositor attachment onto the tempering machine,
how many molds can you do an hour?
Brian:
I’ve had practice, obviously, but conservatively it is 60 molds an hour
(and I’m at 90). A chocolatier’s
challenge quickly becomes the number of chocolate molds they own.
Kathryn:
What’s this cool looking machine?
I know what a lot of them are, but don’t recognize this one!
Brian:
The micron ball refiner grinds cocoa nibs into finely conched chocolate,
letting chocolatiers do bean-to-bar.
Or, you can make your own giandujias or nut butters.
Selmi
micron ball refiner – make your own nut pastes, butters, marzipans, giandujia
and couverture!
Kathryn: Brian, once and for all –as Executive Pastry Chef here, how
do you recommend cleaning chocolate molds?
Brian:
Don’t, if you can avoid it.
If you have to, use only warm water and a neutral pH soap. I like to polish my molds with a
washable microfiber chamois. Even
finger nails inside a mold can scratch it. Molds with a bit of chocolate on them can simply be stored
in a Tupperware tote.
Jeff:
Do you place your molds up, or down, once you’ve lined your mold and the
excess chocolate has been poured out of the mold? I’ve seen both approaches.
Brian:
I keep the mold up – it allows the chocolate at the edge where the cap
will be to create a “bevel.” This
allows a surface area for the cap to attach securely, with less trapped air
underneath (and therefore, a better shelf life of the bon bon center).
Kathryn:
And Brian, do you think there is such a thing as a bad mold? Like when a chocolatier has issues with
release marks on the chocolate?
Brian:
Yes, occasionally, for example sometimes the angles aren’t correct, but
primarily the issue is the chocolatier is depositing the tempered chocolate
into too cold a mould. They should
warm the mould to 85F before depositing the chocolate, to minimize the release
marks (and maximize the shine).
Kathryn: Thank you everyone for hosting us here
in Buffalo and for allowing us to tour your factory and for giving us all the great demos of all the Selmi equipment.
Slightly
used cooling tunnel for sale!
Perfect for your artisan chocolate business!
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