Clever confections company caption coveted
November 10, 2012 1:47 PM Subscribe
What should i name my chocolate company?
I am posting yet another what-should-I-name question. I am close to growing a one-person business into a larger company that will need a proper title. I make chocolates, confections and bake breads in the SF Bay Area and would like a nice name that does not have my name in it. (I don't think that my name has a pleasing ring to it.) The obvious chocolate references are mostly taken. I am in Vallejo, but do not want to pigeon-hole it to that location. Any thoughts? Thanks, hive mind!
I am posting yet another what-should-I-name question. I am close to growing a one-person business into a larger company that will need a proper title. I make chocolates, confections and bake breads in the SF Bay Area and would like a nice name that does not have my name in it. (I don't think that my name has a pleasing ring to it.) The obvious chocolate references are mostly taken. I am in Vallejo, but do not want to pigeon-hole it to that location. Any thoughts? Thanks, hive mind!
Do you have any ideas on what you want the name/branding in general to invoke? Upper-crusty vs. hip vs. exotic, etc. etc. etc. or is it up in the air right now? Are you set on chocolate references?
posted by jorlyfish at 2:10 PM on November 10, 2012
posted by jorlyfish at 2:10 PM on November 10, 2012
Cacao Kapow!
posted by box at 2:13 PM on November 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by box at 2:13 PM on November 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
I actually kind of like the title of your post; I think "Clever Confections" would be a great name.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 2:13 PM on November 10, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 2:13 PM on November 10, 2012 [3 favorites]
It also looks clever-confections.com is available although cleverconfections.com is not.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 2:15 PM on November 10, 2012
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 2:15 PM on November 10, 2012
A little more info might be helpful - what's your market? Should we be thinking cutesy farmer's market names, or high end soccer mom names, or what?
posted by zug at 2:27 PM on November 10, 2012
posted by zug at 2:27 PM on November 10, 2012
Dark Master
posted by Kruger5 at 2:39 PM on November 10, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by Kruger5 at 2:39 PM on November 10, 2012 [5 favorites]
I am close to growing a one-person business into a larger company that will need a proper title
Think about this a second, does it really need a proper title? What exactly is a proper title? More importantly, what's your brand? Is it fun and zany, where chocolate is a spice of life? Or are you just (your real name), a simple person that loves making chocolate that people enjoy.
Here's the thing, your name is almost unimportant. It's what you do that matters the most, that makes your name into a recognizable symbol.
There's nothing wrong with naming it after the city you live in, if it's a city you love and want to spend the rest of your life in. In that particular case, the name would be synonymous with all the things about the city.
So, why do you make chocolate? What do you love about it i.e. what is it about making chocolate that drove you turn it into something you do everyday?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:39 PM on November 10, 2012
Think about this a second, does it really need a proper title? What exactly is a proper title? More importantly, what's your brand? Is it fun and zany, where chocolate is a spice of life? Or are you just (your real name), a simple person that loves making chocolate that people enjoy.
Here's the thing, your name is almost unimportant. It's what you do that matters the most, that makes your name into a recognizable symbol.
There's nothing wrong with naming it after the city you live in, if it's a city you love and want to spend the rest of your life in. In that particular case, the name would be synonymous with all the things about the city.
So, why do you make chocolate? What do you love about it i.e. what is it about making chocolate that drove you turn it into something you do everyday?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:39 PM on November 10, 2012
Tout Sweets.
Toot Sweets with a little trumpet with chocolates and pastries flying out of it logo also tempts me because of the almost subliminal toot = (coca)ine, but I guess I'd resist that if I were you.
posted by jamjam at 3:05 PM on November 10, 2012
Toot Sweets with a little trumpet with chocolates and pastries flying out of it logo also tempts me because of the almost subliminal toot = (coca)ine, but I guess I'd resist that if I were you.
posted by jamjam at 3:05 PM on November 10, 2012
I like the idea of referencing either the county, which is an uncommon place name not readily recognized by everyone (but would still strike the locals as, well, local), or the bread and chocolate aspect of the business. Or both. So for me, the name that comes to mind is:
Solano Bread and Chocolate
Or variations:
The Solano Bread and Chocolate Company
Solano Bread and Chocolate Factory
posted by Michele in California at 3:11 PM on November 10, 2012 [4 favorites]
Solano Bread and Chocolate
Or variations:
The Solano Bread and Chocolate Company
Solano Bread and Chocolate Factory
posted by Michele in California at 3:11 PM on November 10, 2012 [4 favorites]
I think something unusual (like TCHO, which I'm sure you know about), personal, values-based, or location-based is more interesting and current and intriguing. Think about important objects, things and places that inspire you, the core values underlying the shop, poems or books you associate with pastries, etc.
There are a million little cottage industries named Toot Sweets, Sweet Sensations, etc., and to me they conjure images of someone with a vat of cupcake mix or a generic franchise-based store. :/
What's your background -- can you say bread & chocolate or sugar in an ancestral language? (Not a random one.)
Good luck! I work in Pleasant Hill, so maybe I can come visit if you have a b&m location at some point.
posted by wintersweet at 4:02 PM on November 10, 2012
There are a million little cottage industries named Toot Sweets, Sweet Sensations, etc., and to me they conjure images of someone with a vat of cupcake mix or a generic franchise-based store. :/
What's your background -- can you say bread & chocolate or sugar in an ancestral language? (Not a random one.)
Good luck! I work in Pleasant Hill, so maybe I can come visit if you have a b&m location at some point.
posted by wintersweet at 4:02 PM on November 10, 2012
Response by poster: I will be targeting a market similar to Recchiuti Confections but do not have San Francisco-rental-property money. I will probably be doing farmers markets, but do not really want anything too cutesy. Chocolate references are fine, or not, but I don't want to spend my time explaining what PEA Chocolates means, for example. I do like Solano Bread and Chocolate a lot.
posted by beetsuits at 4:03 PM on November 10, 2012
posted by beetsuits at 4:03 PM on November 10, 2012
To me, "Clever Confections" sounds a trifle naff, but then I am not your target market. Still, if you don't want to go down the staid but pleasant-sounding "Solano Bread and Chocolate" route, how about finding a name that doesn't directly reference what you will be selling?
A name I've always thought worked well along those lines was Peter's Yard. No reference to Scandinavian food, or crispbreads, or cakes, or the fact it's a coffee shop; just the owner's first name in the possessive and a noun (which may or may not refer to an actual yard).
You don't need the products you sell to be in your company's name for people to remember you.
posted by Talkie Toaster at 4:29 PM on November 10, 2012
A name I've always thought worked well along those lines was Peter's Yard. No reference to Scandinavian food, or crispbreads, or cakes, or the fact it's a coffee shop; just the owner's first name in the possessive and a noun (which may or may not refer to an actual yard).
You don't need the products you sell to be in your company's name for people to remember you.
posted by Talkie Toaster at 4:29 PM on November 10, 2012
Three Cs
Solano is named after a guy, so Chief Chocolate (or Confections) or Sem-Yeto
posted by rhizome at 4:53 PM on November 10, 2012
Solano is named after a guy, so Chief Chocolate (or Confections) or Sem-Yeto
posted by rhizome at 4:53 PM on November 10, 2012
CoCoCo. or CoCoACo or CoCo&Co. Hope these iterations make sense.
posted by effluvia at 5:03 PM on November 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by effluvia at 5:03 PM on November 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
I like names with a little bit of story, so how about:
Blue Rock Chocolates (The Vallejo area was called Blue Rock Springs in 1902)
Mariano Chocolates (Vallejo is named after General Mariano Vallejo)
posted by rabbitbookworm at 5:26 PM on November 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
Blue Rock Chocolates (The Vallejo area was called Blue Rock Springs in 1902)
Mariano Chocolates (Vallejo is named after General Mariano Vallejo)
posted by rabbitbookworm at 5:26 PM on November 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
To me, Clever Confections sounds like a place that supplies corporate gift baskets that nobody really wants (like Edible Arrangements).
Solano Bread and Chocolate sounds local in a good way, even if you expand geographically. All of those Northern California localities sound tasty.
posted by the jam at 6:30 PM on November 10, 2012 [3 favorites]
Solano Bread and Chocolate sounds local in a good way, even if you expand geographically. All of those Northern California localities sound tasty.
posted by the jam at 6:30 PM on November 10, 2012 [3 favorites]
You could go the route of Jeff de Bruges and use/invent a Belgian-sounding name. Chocolate Poirot?
posted by iviken at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2012
posted by iviken at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2012
Raindrops on Roses
ie the first words of the song "My Favourite Things".
posted by MuffinMan at 11:37 AM on November 11, 2012
ie the first words of the song "My Favourite Things".
posted by MuffinMan at 11:37 AM on November 11, 2012
You can buy the domain CocoaConfections.com for less than $1,000.
The domains ChocoConfection.com, CocoaZest.com, and CocoaQueen.com are available.
You could run a naming contest on CrowdSpring.
posted by Dansaman at 10:12 PM on November 11, 2012
The domains ChocoConfection.com, CocoaZest.com, and CocoaQueen.com are available.
You could run a naming contest on CrowdSpring.
posted by Dansaman at 10:12 PM on November 11, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
Actually judging by your username maybe that's what you're after.
Actually on the cocoa tip I like the sound of Cocoa Noire. Sounds classy and French and makes you think of dark chocolate. Hopefully Chanel wouldn't sue you.
Good luck! Sounds tasty.
posted by iotic at 2:03 PM on November 10, 2012 [1 favorite]