In 2018, Akhil Grandhi and his wife, Prathina, noticed a small but familiar ritual in their family. Whenever someone travelled abroad or returned to India, there would inevitably be a request for chocolates. Back home in Rajahmundry, finding good chocolate was not always easy. Often, the search meant heading to a metro city or relying on someone travelling overseas. ‘What if they could make good chocolate closer to home?!’ The idea had a starting point: a family plantation and a willingness to experiment. “We thought since we already had the plantation in the family for a very long time, why don’t we try this,” Grandhi recounts.
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What followed was a journey of fermentation experiments, countless chocolate trials and the process of figuring out what worked. The couple wanted to make chocolate from the bean itself, with greater control over the process and without excessive industrial processing. They did not have a clear sales plan at the time, but they had a simple belief: good chocolate would find its audience. ‘It’s chocolate, after all!’
The humble beginnings
Bon Fiction entered retail in 2022, taking a route that put the product directly into the consumers’ hands. The brand approached modern trade outlets with tasting samples, set up pop-ups and participated in food events and bazaars across the country. For a relatively new name in a category dominated by established players, these interactions became its first marketing lessons.
“The product did a lot of the marketing for us in the beginning,” says Grandhi. Sampling helped consumers discover the flavours for themselves, while also giving the brand a chance to understand what people thought about Indian-made craft chocolate. Some were surprised that the product was made in India; others wanted to know more about its ingredients and process. These conversations eventually shaped the brand’s digital messaging.
Bon Fiction uses social media, Meta advertising and Google to reach people searching for dark chocolate and premium chocolate options. Its website explains how the chocolate is made, what goes into it and what consumers can expect from the experience.
The brand currently spends around 15-17% of its revenue on marketing, with approximately 10-12% of the marketing spend going towards Meta ads. The rest is divided between offline activities and influencer marketing, with allocations varying across months and seasons.
The shift from sampling to digital communication was informed by what the team learnt on the ground. “That helped us frame our marketing content or frame the messaging on our social media and in the ads that we run,” Grandhi says.
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Rather than relying only on conventional product claims, Bon Fiction talks about its connection to the source. The brand manages the journey from plantation to finished chocolate, bringing growing, fermenting and chocolate-making together under its own process. It believes this helps it maintain quality and offer flavour profiles that distinguish craft chocolate from standardised commercial offerings.
When chocolate-makers collaborate
Bon Fiction's story is also about finding like-minded people who share its passion for chocolate. In 2024, the brand collaborated with La Folie after meeting chef Sanjana at Chocoa in Amsterdam. Conversations about their respective journeys in chocolate-making led to the idea of creating a new bar.
Within a week of the event, the product was ready. “That was the first collaboration between two chocolate-makers,” Grandhi says.
The brand is now working on collaborative chocolate products with ingredient-makers and growers from different parts of India, including the Northeast, Jharkhand, Chennai and Rajasthan. These partnerships are expected to bring new ingredients and regional influences into its offerings, while giving consumers more ways to discover craft chocolate.
For Bon Fiction, collaborations are not just about launching something new. They are also a way to celebrate the people and ingredients behind the product.
Finding voices that love food
Influencer marketing forms another part of the brand's outreach, with a focus on food creators who understand ingredients and are curious about discovering something different.
“We always tend to look at who’s doing great content and who’s doing honest content,” Grandhi says. The brand identifies creators through social media and advertising, while also reaching out to those whose content resonates with its approach. The aim is to encourage genuine product trials and honest feedback rather than simply put the chocolate in front of a large audience.
Bon Fiction is also keen to explain the simplicity of its ingredients. Grandhi points out that its 82% dark chocolate contains just two ingredients. While the brand does not position itself as a health brand, it wants consumers to understand how its chocolate is made and why the process matters.
From a family plantation in Rajahmundry to retail shelves, food events and an international chocolate gathering, Bon Fiction's journey has grown through experimentation, conversations and the willingness to let people try something new. Its marketing philosophy remains rooted in that first step: make a chocolate worth discovering, give consumers a chance to taste it and let the experience do the talking.
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