Behind every chocolate bar lies the story of a farmer — and for Manam Chocolate, that story begins in the cocoa farms of West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh.

Neither Belgian nor Swiss, this chocolate is proudly and entirely Indian. With over 300 products across 50 categories, Manam Chocolate is redefining the perception of Indian-origin cocoa on the world stage. And at the heart of it is a deep commitment to craft, community, and cocoa.

On August 15, 2023, Manam Chocolate launched its first collection in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills — a proud tribute to the farmers who made it all possible. Among its most celebrated offerings is the Manam Signature Tablet collection, featuring 43 unique bars. Two of these — Farm Tablet No.1 and No.3 — are made from beans grown by farmers D Hari Krishna and GVS Prasad, each bar carrying the distinct flavour of a single farm.

From Farm to Tablet: A Story of Trust

“The Single Farmer Series recognises farms that have unique flavour profiles. The craft chocolate is about complexity and flavour. Everything we do is to derive complexity from the bean without adding anything. So these two or three farms we have identified as being interested enough in the single-farmer series,” says Chaitanya Muppala, CEO of Distinct Origins Private Limited (DOPL), the company behind the introduction of Manam Chocolate.

‘Manam’ means ‘we’ or ‘us’ in Telugu. The brand is designed to delight chocolate lovers and offers signature tablets, bonbons, truffles, nama, barks, fudge, palettes, rochers, clusters, macarons, gianduja, spreads, cakes, pastries, and viennoiserie.

“The journey of cocoa beans from farm to fermentery and shaping into a chocolate tablet wouldn’t have been feasible without these farmers’ invaluable support. We appreciate their hard work. We are committed to making a high-value product from their produce,” says the chocolatier.

Crafting Chocolate, Rooted in Mithai shop

After earning his undergraduate degree in General Business Management from Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Canada, and completing the Stanford Seed Program from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business’s Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, Muppala came back to India in 2013.

His father was briefly unwell, so he started spending time in the business his father owned, – Almond House, a mithai (sweet) shop.

It was a small business with a single store. While resolving its drawbacks, he inadvertently formed a bond with it before he could realize. The business flourished under his management.

“That’s where my career started in 2013 with Almond House. We identified the strategies, and we grew that out into a fairly large business in the last 10 years. It was a small brand that my father ran; now it has 14 stores in Hyderabad,” shares the 35-year-old entrepreneur.

With 5000 square feet of space, Almond House employs various strategies. The ‘House of Brands’ is one among them. They operate multiple brands under one roof under this strategy. They have a ‘Chat’ brand called Gappe Vappe and an ultra-natural gelato brand called Indulge Ice Cream.

They also have a quarter of their business dedicated to corporate gifting. Customers visiting this segment would request gift items related to chocolate.

“We had to politely decline their request since chocolate items weren’t available. We didn’t know anything about chocolate at that time because chocolate was always something that we bought from a supplier,” admits Muppala. However, the idea of branching out into the chocolate market sparked his interest.

So he started mapping and contextualizing the market to understand what chocolate is. “I quickly realized that anybody involved in the chocolate industry in India is buying chocolate, melting it, moulding it, adding nuts, flavour, and sea salt, and then

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