Chocolate consultancy

Ara Cacao has had a key role at Majucau. She has helped us increase our production capacity, organize our processes and the planning or our routines. Today our company prepares and develops itself in a healthy manner. Thank you Luciana for helping us be a bit better every day.

In September of 2021 our women’s group of Acará-Açu, a small community in the Amazon region, participated in a cocoa subproduct workshop led by chocolatier Cesar de Mendes and Luciana Monteiro of Ara Cacao. Since then we have been producing artisan chocolates that embody our identity, heritage and the use of sustainable naturally-grown practices in order to preserve the Amazon rainforest.  Our group is thriving with the help of Luciana Monteiro on our side, who is always ready to help us with her wit and expertise. Thank you!

Working with Luciana was very important for our start. In addition to her vast technical knowledge, she has a valuable network in the sector which helped us save a lot of time. Always able to help, she is the “fairy godmother” of our brand.

Luciana is a very friendly and approachable person, who has expertise in artisan as well as large-scale chocolate production and she is also an expert in Design Thinking and product development. She has consulted for me and she was my instructor in a specialization course I took and in both cases I was very satisfied with her work. I have recommended her to people in my network looking for a specialized consultant and I will keep on doing so. She is a reference for me, both as a professional and as a person.

With Ara Cacao we were able to optimize our planning and workability of the chocolates and bomboms. We have learned techniques that we would have taken years to figure out by ourselves. Our partnership represents an intangible value in learning as well as tangible results in production.

It was really a blessing to have met Luciana Monteiro, a competent professional in the area of product development and sensory analysis, who has greatly aided with improvements and quality tuning in my work. I am very happy with our partnership. Surely, we will continue our successful collaboration in the coming years.

Ara Cacao was a key partner for us at a time when we needed to decide which way to go with our chocolate recipes and how to position ourselves in the market. With Ara we were able to make the connections. It was crucial to have had their advice on numerous aspects, especially related to the quality of the product and the development of new products.

I want to thank Luciana who has participated in our dream since the layout of the factory and now with the development of chocolates. Her mentoring has been fundamental to give me certainty, save time as well as product feedback, which is always a special moment for me.

In 2020 we started producing chocolate on our farm with the cacao that was planted in 2012 by our parents. Initially we had several issues, like the overal quality and the tempering. On top of that, we used Micryo for the tempering and approximately a month before Easter we ran out of Micryo without any possibility of buying it in the market. That’s when Luciana came into scene and she swiftly helped us to master stone tempering and that saved our Easter season. Moreover, Luciana analyzed our whole production process and showed us where and how to improve it as well as suggesting new products and models to make use of.

When we started working with Ara Cacao we felt a click right away. We were able to make the idea of using the nectar of cocoa to make a product come true. This changed our efficiency, our business and the ecosystem. Luciana teaches everything she knows about cocoa and its processes with love. It was an amazing experience to work with her and I am very thankful for all she has contributed.

Luciana Monteiro has consulted for our company, Chocolates De Mendes. It has been transformative to implement her proposals and have her train our operators. Luciana conducts her work with both professional maturity as well as enthusiasm, respect for all and kindness, resulting in business results and a pleasant work atmosphere.