Casino Bio Chocolate

Big C is one of two of our neighborhood supermarkets. Yeah, there are two, located directly across a main thoroughfare from each other. Big C is the leading supermarket chain here in Thailand, and after 1999, French operator Groupe Casino took a majority stake in the operation.

This is all back story you could probably care less about and might wonder why it's of any relevance to the Chocolate Republic. Stop wondering. France is the reason. Groupe Casino's majority stake in Big C puts French-made products under the Casino brand name in all Big C stores, things like coffee, pasta, and chocolate. The labels are entirely in French, the products are made (or at least packaged) in France, but the prices, for reasons I cannot explain, are inexpensive. Thailand is not a country where imports come cheap. For premium bars like Valrhona you can pay double for the bar in Thailand, if you can find it, than you would pay back in France. Big C, through its connection to Groupe Casino, must not be paying much or any import duty on these bars. Only Ikea sells Euorpean-made bars cheaper in Thailand than Big C.

There's been a huge jump in quality in self-branded chocolates over the last decade, and I'm sure the rise of they hypermarket has had a a lot to do with it. Big chains have so much purchasing power that they can they can go to an established highly reputable chocolate manufacturer and ask them to formulate a store brand for them. And without exception lately, all these store brands -- Tesco, Ikea, Carrefour, Big C -- have been good, sometimes better than established manufacturers and certainly a much better deal.

Casino's Dark Chocolate Truffle Fantasy doesn't add a disappointment to the self branded list. It's not a very dark chocolate bar, with cocoa solid content measuring in at only 49%. So what? Casino's not pulling any stunts Cadbury hasn't with the word 'dark'. Hell, in the United States, anyone with even a quarter African blood, should he look it, is considered 'black.' It ain't new to describe something or someone as darker than it really is, is it? Forget about the dark label for a minute and consider the combination of this chocolate with hazelnut paste and chips of caramelized roasted cacao beans. Casino's back-end European manufacturer puts this combo together like a well oiled machine. You won't moan to yourself that this is the best dark French chocolate truffle bar you've ever tasted. Self-store brands don't aim to go that far. They're not trying to muscle out all the popular higher-end European brands they also carry, but at these prices and with this consistent level of quality, they might be doing just that.

You can go to a casino and gamble away your hard-earned dough. Why not visit a Groupe Casino establishment instead and take a gamble on one of their French chocolate bars?