Inspiration from beyond hairdressing – Sweet dreams

Innovative, indulgent, high quality chocolate available online or on the high street. What’s not to love about Hotel Chocolat?

Few companies can enjoy the true endorsement of their main competitor quite like Hotel Chocolat did last October. Thorntons chief chocolatier Barry Colenso was embarrassingly captured on CCTV in a wanton act of ‘truffle-squishing’ at the Hotel Chocolat Nottingham store, which ultimately led to his resignation. True to form Hotel Chocolat founders Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris did nothing to capitalise on his humiliation and instead continued to pour their energies into their beloved ‘Hotel chain’.

For the uninitiated, Hotel Chocolat describes itself as coco growers and chocolatiers and far outstrips the traditional twee chocolate shop format. These ultra-modern chocolate boutiques are the height of contemporary shopping and their on-line store has you imagining the taste of superior chocolate blends even as you click to order. Hotel Chocolat has successfully nailed a complex blend of retail, e-commerce, innovative luxury products and ethical positioning. The story of how they did it is almost as remarkable as the outcome.

Hotel Chocolat is a British-owned phenomenon brazenly committed to real, authentic chocolate. Founders Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris started the company in 1993 with what seemed like a singular and simple goal in mind - to make a better type of chocolate available to UK consumers bored by the mediocrity of the chocolate available in supermarkets and on the high street. They both brought considerable acumen to the role and in Angus’ case it seems that his choice of commercial enterprise was almost a compulsion because his grandmother owned a chain of high quality patisseries and his father owned an ice cream company. Their singular goal soon began to grow into a wider vision of a company committed to ethical, sustainable business and one that was keen to break the mould on the traditional distribution channels and routes to market used by its competitors.