There's a reason Australian-made artisan chocolate keeps winning people over from the mass-market stuff, and it's not just marketing. Small-batch production changes the chocolate itself - how it's made, what goes into it, and how much room there is for genuine creativity. Here's why size (or lack of it) makes such a difference, and a Melbourne-made range that shows exactly what that looks like in practice.
More Control, Fewer Shortcuts
Large-scale chocolate production is built around consistency at volume - which usually means standardised recipes, longer supply chains, and less room to adjust for the character of any one batch of cocoa. Small-batch chocolate makers work the opposite way: smaller runs mean they can taste, tweak, and refine as they go, rather than locking in a formula and repeating it indefinitely. That hands-on attention tends to show up in the final bar - better texture, more balanced sweetness, and flavours that taste considered rather than formulaic.
Room for Genuinely Interesting Flavours
Because small-batch makers aren't optimising for supermarket shelf life or mass appeal, they can take more flavour risks - and use ingredients a large manufacturer simply wouldn't bother sourcing in bulk. This is where a lot of the most interesting chocolate happening in Australia right now is coming from: bars built around native ingredients like wattle seed, lemon myrtle, saltbush, and Davidson plum, alongside more familiar pairings like raspberry, macadamia, and salted caramel.
Local Ingredients, Local Character
Small-batch also tends to mean local. Shorter supply chains make it far easier for a maker to work with local dairy, local nuts, and local fruit and to support other small producers along the way. It's part of why artisan chocolate so often carries a strong sense of place, in a way mass-produced chocolate rarely manages.
The Loco For Cocoa Story
This is exactly the territory Melbourne's Loco For Cocoa operates in, and it's why we carry their range at Pookipoiga. Loco For Cocoa is a proud member of both the Kinaway Chamber of Commerce and Supply Nation - two leading organisations connecting verified Indigenous businesses with corporate and government buyers across Australia. Handmade in small batches using couverture chocolate, the range leans into bold, distinctly Australian flavour combinations - think Wattle Seed Dreaming, Native Spirit (raspberry), or Berry Good For You. Many of the bars are gluten-friendly, and several are vegan, which is rarer to find done well at this level of flavour ambition.
Loco For Cocoa Wattle Seed Dreaming Gluten Friendly Chocolate |
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It's chocolate that couldn't really exist at mass-market scale - the flavour combinations are too specific, the batches too considered, and the sourcing too local. Which is really the whole argument for small-batch in one bar.
Meet Teena: The Maker Behind Loco For Cocoa
Loco For Cocoa is owned and run by Teena Oudy, a pastry chef by trade who turned her chocolate-making skills into a business of her own. She built a proudly 100% Indigenous-owned and operated, based in Narrm/Melbourne on the land of the Wurundjeri people, Traditional Owners of the Kulin Nation - country. Teena acknowledges and pays respect to, along with Elders past, present and emerging, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Everything is handmade in a commercial kitchen in Preston, across a range that stretches from retail bars to wholesale, corporate, and private label work - but it's still, at its core, one maker's kitchen producing chocolate that couldn't be replicated at scale. It's exactly the kind of maker we look for at Pookipoiga: someone who cares about craft, community, and the story behind what they make.
Other Varieties We Stock
Beyond those, we also carry:
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Also Worth Knowing: Mörk Chocolate
Another Melbourne artisan we stock is Mörk Chocolate - honored as Small Business of the Year in Melbourne, where the brand was founded in 2012 by Kiril Shaginov and Josefin Zernell. The award, from the Lord Mayor's Small Business Awards in 2024, recognised Mörk's sustainability, innovation, and customer and staff care. Mörk was also handpicked by Time Out, in partnership with Google, as one of Melbourne's standout food experiences - its Campfire Hot Chocolate among a handful of dishes worth searching for across the city. Since then, Mörk has built its own Cacao Roastery and Chocolate Foundry in North Melbourne, and expanded internationally, with operations in the UK since 2016 and Japan since 2019.
What sets Mörk apart is a coffee-world approach applied to chocolate: origin-focused sourcing, full traceability, and direct trade relationships with growers. Their signature Nicaraguan cacao comes from Chuno, a rare heirloom varietal rediscovered on old trees at the Chuno Herrerías farm - now certified under the international Heirloom Cacao Preservation program. Mörk pays well above market value for it, more than twice standard Fair Trade rates, to support the farmers who grow it.
Where Loco For Cocoa leans into bold bar flavours and native ingredients, Mörk is about depth and purity - single-origin thinking applied to hot chocolate, with blends ranging from an approachable 50% to an intense 85%. A genuinely distinctive gift for anyone who takes their chocolate seriously.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does small-batch chocolate taste better than mass-produced chocolate?
Small-batch chocolate makers work with far smaller runs, which means they can taste and adjust as they go rather than locking into one standardised recipe. That hands-on control tends to produce better texture, more balanced sweetness, and more considered flavour overall.
Is Loco For Cocoa an Indigenous-owned business?
Yes. Loco For Cocoa is 100% Indigenous-owned and operated, based in Narrm/Melbourne, and is a member of the Kinaway Chamber of Commerce and Supply Nation.
What makes Mörk Chocolate's cacao sourcing different?
Mörk sources rare heirloom cacao from Nicaragua through direct trade relationships, paying growers well above standard market and Fair Trade rates. Their cacao is certified under the international Heirloom Cacao Preservation program.
Has Mörk Chocolate won any awards?
Yes. Mörk was named Small Business of the Year at Melbourne's Lord Mayor's Small Business Awards in 2024, recognised for sustainability, innovation, and staff and customer care.
Looking for ways to enjoy it? See our guides to [gifting dark chocolate] and [a proper night in with artisan cocoa]
Try it yourself
Browse the Loco For Cocoa range and the Mörk Chocolate collection at Pookipoiga - two genuinely Melbourne-made, small-batch answers to why artisan chocolate is worth seeking out.
