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Fabiani Reinholz returned to São João Pequeno, in Colatina, to manage her parents’ property and seek income. From 400 cocoa trees, she corrected production stages, created Reinholz Chocolates, opened the farm to agritourism, and led Capixaba family farming to a trajectory recognized by Sebrae.
The cocoa cultivated on a small family property in São João Pequeno, in the municipality of Colatina, Espírito Santo, became the starting point for a professional change in the life of Fabiani Salomão Reinholz Macedo. A civil engineer by training, she returned to her parents’ farm, found about 400 cocoa trees, and decided to seek a way to increase the family’s income.
The journey was reported by the Sebrae News Agency of Espírito Santo on November 18, 2022, with an update on November 25 of that year. At the time, Fabiani was a national finalist for the Sebrae Business Woman Award, in the Rural Producer category, after winning the state and regional stages of the award.
Return to the property began as a family necessity
Fabiani returned to her parents’ property to help the family and take over the management of the place. The first challenge was to understand how the rural business worked and to identify an activity capable of generating more income from the existing structure.
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Among the available possibilities were approximately 400 cocoa trees. The plantation was small but offered enough raw material for the engineer to start exploring alternatives with higher added value, instead of limiting the property to the conventional sale of agricultural production.
The initial idea was to work with special cocoa beans, aiming to improve the product’s quality even before advancing to chocolate manufacturing. This decision would require changes in handling, processing, and the way each production stage was evaluated.
Course sparked interest in chocolate manufacturing
A course held in São Paulo brought Fabiani closer to the world of chocolate and the processes needed to transform the beans into finished products. After the experience, she returned to Colatina determined to develop the new business on the family property.
The initial enthusiasm, however, did not prevent the first negative results. According to the entrepreneur’s own account, the chocolates produced at the beginning were very bad, and the cause was the low quality of the cocoa used at that time.
Instead of abandoning the project, Fabiani concluded that she needed to correct the raw material before perfecting the recipe. The problem stopped being treated solely as a failure in chocolate manufacturing and began to involve the entire process still within the plantation.
Two years of tests changed harvest, pruning, and fermentation
The engineer began to study how to produce beans capable of generating quality chocolate. For approximately two years, she conducted tests, made mistakes, evaluated results, and adjusted different phases of rural production.
The changes began in the plantation itself. Fabiani corrected harvesting and pruning procedures, two stages that interfere with the health of the plants, the development of the fruits, and the selection of the raw material used later.
The cocoa fermentation process also needed to be improved. This stage became an essential part of the search for special beans, as the final result of the chocolate depended directly on the care taken before the beans reached the factory.
Drying greenhouses helped to raise quality
Another advancement occurred with the adoption of greenhouses for drying the special beans. The structure allowed for better organization of this phase and brought the product closer to the standard Fabiani aimed to achieve for the chocolates.
Harvesting, pruning, fermentation, and drying ceased to be isolated stages. Quality began to depend on the continuous control of the entire cocoa chain, from the management of the trees to the preparation of the beans used in the recipes.
The source does not provide information on the volume produced per harvest, the total area of the property, or the investment made in the structures. It also does not detail which varieties of cocoa were cultivated in the 400 trees existing when Fabiani returned to the site.
Reinholz Chocolates emerged at the end of 2019
After tests and corrections, the company was created at the end of 2019 under the name Reinholz Chocolates. The brand was born from family production and the attempt to transform a small farm into a business capable of combining agriculture, manufacturing, and marketing.
Fabiani intended to develop a product associated with care at each stage. The artisanal chocolate came to represent the result of years of learning with cocoa, including the initial mistakes that showed the need to invest in the quality of the beans.
The company also helped to change the function of the property. The location ceased to be just a cultivation area and began to concentrate processes related to processing, chocolate production, and direct contact with consumers.
Pandemic interrupted plans shortly after opening
Shortly after the company’s creation, the pandemic brought a new challenge. Fabiani had prepared sweets for Easter but found herself without customers during a period marked by restrictions and changes in commercial operations.
To overcome the situation, she also took on the sales area. She sought contacts with consumers in Vitória and Colatina, invested in online service, and adopted home deliveries.
The change required the engineer to accumulate functions in farming, production, and marketing. The business needed to quickly adapt the way it reached the public, as relying solely on in-person circulation could jeopardize the company’s continuity.
Agrotourism opened a new front within the site
In addition to online sales, Fabiani opened the family property to agrotourism. Visitors began to explore the site, capture images, and share the experience on social media, sparking interest from others.
Initially, the structure was not prepared to accommodate all visitors. It was necessary to renovate spaces, build bathrooms, and set up a store to sell chocolates produced by Reinholz.
Agrotourism began to show visitors the complete journey from cocoa to chocolate. The experience included tours through the plantations, a visit to the fermentation house, and a visit to the greenhouse used for drying special beans.
Factory became a space for technical visits
With the expansion of activities, the factory also became a demonstration unit for technical visits. The initiative became part of the Women of Cocoa Project, carried out through the Capixaba Institute for Research, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension, Incaper.
The transformation allowed the accumulated knowledge during years of testing to be shared with others interested in production. The property began to combine cultivation, manufacturing, marketing, tourism, and technical demonstration in a single space.
This model increased the ways of contact between the consumer and the origin of the product. Instead of only knowing the finished bar, the visitor could observe the agricultural stages that influence the quality and taste of the artisanal chocolate.
Recognition led producer to national final
In 2022, Fabiani won the state and regional stages of the Sebrae Business Woman Award. In the regional phase, she surpassed participants from Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro.
The classification placed the entrepreneur among the five national finalists in the Rural Producer category. The final was scheduled for November 23, 2022, in Brasília, according to the article published by the Sebrae News Agency.
For Fabiani, the recognition helped to present the production from Espírito Santo and agrotourism outside the state. However, the provided source does not inform the final result of the award nor confirm her placement in the national stage.
Sebrae supported stages of the company’s development
Fabiani attributed part of the growth to the support of the Espírito Santo’s Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises, Sebrae/ES. According to her, the institution was present at different moments of the business construction.
The partnership involved monitoring and training, elements considered important to structure an activity that combined rural production, artisanal industry, sales, and tourist service.
The case also reinforced the importance of study to add value to cocoa cultivated by small producers. The advancement did not occur solely due to the existence of the plantation, but through the technical reorganization of the stages and the creation of new revenue channels.
Small plantation gained functions beyond agricultural production
Fabiani’s parents’ property underwent a gradual transformation. The 400 cocoa trees that initially seemed a limited activity became the foundation for an artisanal chocolate brand, a demonstration factory, a store, and an agrotourism experience.
The process did not happen immediately. It took two years of production adjustments, as well as commercial reforms and changes after the company was established at the end of 2019.
The story shows that increasing the value of a small plantation may require more than expanding the planted quantity. In the case of Reinholz Chocolates, the differential emerged from quality control, the transformation of raw material, and the connection between consumer and property.
Can cocoa change the future of other family farms?
Fabiani returned to the field to help her parents and found in cocoa an opportunity to reorganize the family’s income. The first chocolates didn’t work out, but the mistakes led to adjustments that changed the cultivation, fermentation, drying, and business model.
The small plantation began to support activities ranging from artisanal production to rural tourism and technical visits. Do you believe that transforming raw materials on the property itself can strengthen family farming, or do the costs and challenges make this path difficult for small producers? Leave your opinion in the comments.
