Built on a 90-year history of passion for fine handmade chocolates, Davies Chocolates creates some of Australia’s most decadent and beloved selection of fondants and chocolate-coated confections. While much has changed since the company’s inception in 1932, Davies remains steadfast in its commitment to creating high-quality, hand-crafted chocolates. 

A sweet deal on insurance

Finding the right insurance provider can be daunting. With costs doubling what they were just five years ago, many business owners find this one of the hardest periods in history to find a good insurance provider and policy. That being said, insurance is a necessity for any business – particularly those dedicated to health and safety. Davies Chocolates owner, Noel Kowald, was frustrated with the options offered by traditional insurers, finding that many were too cut-and-paste and premium costs were needlessly high.   

Davies Chocolates took pride in its proactive risk management steps, but didn’t get recognition or cost relief from its previous insurance provider. Looking to avoid paying unnecessary costs, Noel turned to SafetyCulture Care to partner with an insurance provider built for frontline workers that aligned with his business goals.

Founded on the belief that risk mitigation and real-life solutions should inform the details of a policy, SafetyCulture Care offers insurance for businesses that want to be rewarded for their proactive risk management measures. With SafetyCulture Care, saving money goes hand-in-hand with risk management transparency – both of which Noel was more than happy to do. Noel implemented the SafetyCulture platform to gain even more visibility over potential business risks, which then guided the details of his policy with SafetyCulture Care.  

“We’re essentially their daily insurance assessors,” Noel says. “Our risk is what we are paying for, and the value goes beyond insurance – it comes down to us managing our business better because we have more information to reduce the day-to-day risks even better. That information is invaluable to us.”

Ingredients for success

Chocolate can be a finicky patient, preferring the temperature to be somewhere between 15-21°C (60-70°F). As a small business owner, Noel is well aware that an incident like an air conditioning failure could be detrimental to his product. Beyond that, a chocolate meltdown would be extremely costly on the insurance front – potentially causing his premium to double after covering all the needed replacements. 

“If we were to take spoilage cover for all of that stock, it could genuinely cost a fortune and even double our premium,” Noel says. “SafetyCulture sold us on the idea of managing risk. For us, managing risk means managing claims and premiums long term.”

Using the SafetyCulture platform and Sensors to monitor factors like temperature and humidity, Noel can receive SMS and email notifications. If any of the elements fall out of preset ranges, it enables his team to fix any problems with plenty of time to spare. Taking proactive and preventative measures enables Noel to implement a better way of working by saving money and relying on his own risk management processes to protect his business.

A better claims experience when things go wrong

Even with a proactive approach to risk, unfortunate events still happen. But with the right tools and insurance partner, you can count on a better experience through the tough times.

Davies Chocolates’ production line came to a grinding halt when a chocolate enrobing machine overheated and started to combust. This impacted stock immediately and caused damage to the machine and conveyor belt. 

An insurance claim can stand in the way of a business reopening after a machinery fire. But one thing that can speed up the claims resolution process is data. And because Noel had equipped his business with SafetyCulture temperature sensors, he had a lot of it. 

The forensics team used Sensors data to pinpoint the cause of the fire, and resolved the claim right away. This meant Noel could order the machine he needed within 1 day of the loss adjuster visiting, and got his business back up and running in 8 weeks.

It’s a great example of how SafetyCulture Care is not only focused on helping customers mitigate risk, but on providing a better claims experience when something does go wrong.

Rewarding businesses for what matters

As an insurer, SafetyCulture Care’s underwriting philosophy favors clients that proactively manage and reduce risk. When a client and an insurer are willing to play ball together, and the insurer gives the client tools they can use for risk management, a true partnership is born. Noel’s use of the SafetyCulture platform and Sensors has given the SafetyCulture Care team context and visibility into Davies Chocolates’ specific potential business risks. As a result, Noel significantly lowered his insurance premium cost, all while gaining an even better overview of his business. 

“At the end of the day, they help us to manage our business and manage the risk, which is a great side-benefit to insurance,” Noel says. “We’re preventing inconvenience and ensuring customer satisfaction through the SafetyCulture platform.”

The insurance landscape is changing. Technology is stepping in to make everything easier and offering visibility to ways businesses can reduce risk, grow customer satisfaction, and increase ROI. Thanks to SafetyCulture, Noel is able to put more of his focus on what he and the Davies team does best – creating some of Australia’s most delicious chocolates.