VIJAYAWADA: Every revolution has a distinct sound. In Rajahmundry, near the banks of the Godavari, that sound is the steady hum of custom-built machinery inside Bon Fiction’s cocoa processing facility. To outsiders, it may resemble a romantic confectionery workshop. But for its founder, Akhil Grandhi, it is a high-stakes engineering lab where agriculture meets structured data science, and where Andhra Pradesh’s fertile soil is rewriting the global chocolate narrative.
Akhil, an Industrial Engineering graduate, rejected a conventional corporate career to build a premium chocolate enterprise from his hometown. His brand, Bon Fiction, has already broken into the global elite, winning honours at the UK’s Academy of Chocolate awards, often described as the “Oscars” of the confectionery world.
Akhil’s journey began in the pineapple plantation in Uganda, his father, Dr Grandhi Aravind’s project. On returning home, he and his wife, Prathina Grandhi, turned Rajahmundry into a global hub for luxury chocolate. Bon Fiction introduced an uncompromising Tree-to-Bar system that operates completely without middlemen from purchase to sale. The COVID-19 lockdowns blocked imports of specialised machinery. Instead of halting progress, Grandhi engineered his own winnowers.
Over 300 flavour trials followed, with Prathina earning certification from the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting. Applying engineering principles like “Design and Analysis of Experiments,” they achieved 95-98% flavour consistency-an unprecedented feat in artisanal chocolate. India’s chocolate palate is shifting.
While older demographics prefer sweeter milk chocolates, younger generations are embracing high-percentage dark chocolate. Akhil likens this to India’s coffee revolution from filter coffee to instant coffee. Bon Fiction recently became the first Indian brand to win Gold at the Academy of Chocolate for A Rose in Pistachio Skies. Soon after, Lost in an Orange Haze won Best Vegan Chocolate Gold at the International Chocolate Salon, USA.
The ultimate validation came when Italy’s Cacao of Excellence platform officially ranked Bon Fiction’s Godavari beans among the world’s Top 50 out of more than 900 global entries. Following international breakthroughs, domestic supermarkets in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, and Bengaluru are aggressively stocking Bon Fiction, while direct exports target the highly competitive luxury markets of the US and Europe.
“We compete strictly in the luxury premium segment, not the regular commercial segment,” he says.
The operation now produces two tons of chocolate monthly, with its roots in Rajahmundry benefiting local farmers.