Hotel Chocolat
Hotel Chocolat is a British chocolatier and cocoa grower, with over seventy stores in the United Kingdom and five stores within the United States and the Middle East.
Hotel Chocolat is the only company in the United Kingdom to grow cocoa on its own plantation.
History
In 1988, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris began designing and selling mints as "MMC", before moving to chocolates, some five years later. Rebranded as "Geneva Chocolates", the current co-founders of Hotel Chocolat adapted trade to the catalogue-based world and before long, had steered towards the name "Choc Express". Throughout these next few years, Angus and Peter had turned their focus on making this brand of exclusive chocolates available to UK consumers.
In 1998, the Chocolate Tasting Club was launched in Britain, and now currently has around 100,000 members. To date, the Tasting Club has trialled over 1,500 different recipes. As detailed on their website, the Chocolate Tasting Club sends out boxes to customers all over the country, and each month, these boxes feature "a brand new selection of chocolates including cutting edge, new recipes and timeless classics alike – all made with passion, flair using only the best ingredients and no artificial colours."[1][2]
In 2003, Choc Express rebranded as Hotel Chocolat and launched its first retail store in the centre of Watford. The company then grew initially to having four stores in the East Anglian area, with stores in Milton Keynes, Cambridge and St Albans opening between 2005 and 2006. A full list of stores can be found on its website (see link). List of Hotel Chocolat stores
In 2006, the company officially acquired the Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia, West Indies, and is, to date, the only company in the UK to own its own cocoa plantation. This plantation is one of the reasons given for the company choosing not to be Fair Trade-accredited, as only smallholdings are allowed. Today, the company has fifty-six stores around the UK, including twelve locations in Central London.
Currently, the company has a transactional website, a mail order catalogue and a retail expansion program underway for the United States, anchored by a flagship store on Boston's Newbury Street. The store in Boston in the United States, is the owner of Hotel Chocolat's first-ever "Tasting Room".
In the first quarter of 2010 Hotel Chocolat also entered the Middle East market and as a result have one store each in Bahrain, Dubai and Kuwait.
In 2011, Hotel Chocolat opened its Hotel in Saint Lucia, West Indies. The hotel sits on the Rabot Estate which is perched high up between the Piton mountains. The hotel currently has six Cocoa Cottages and a cocoa-inspired Boucan Restaurant. In December 2011, Hotel Chocolat plans to open large cottages on the site called Cocoa Pods Luxe.
In 2012 Hotel Chocolat opened a new store in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Hotel Chocolat has been awarded Emerging Retailer of the Year by Retail Week and nominated as one of the UK’s CoolBrands.[3] The company was also awarded the silver prize in the 2009 Academy of Chocolate awards.
In September 2012, The company opened their second Scottish store in Aberdeen.
In November 2013, Hotel Chocolat opened two UK restaurants, Rabot 1745 in London's Borough Market, and Roast + Conch in Leeds. [4]
Products
Giant Slabs
Hotel Chocolat's Giant Slabs, each weighing in at half a kilogram are the company's own unique creation. When molten chocolate couverture is poured onto a marble table, it naturally sets in its very own "unique" shape and Hotel Chocolat have since protected this shape from being used by anyone else. The Giant Slabs are made in ten different flavours (plus seasonal varieties) such as the "Rocky Road", "Fruit & Nut" and "Cookie Choc Chip" and they currently retail at £16.00 (approx. $22).
Selectors
Hotel Chocolat stock a variety of different filled and solid chocolates in their Selector range, featuring well over 150 different varieties, in addition to a selection of guest recipes that come from the Chocolate Tasting Club. A selection of this range can be found in all of the stores in the UK, and retail at £3.75, or £3.20 each for three or more.
Selectors are assigned to different categories such as solid chocolates, fruity and boozy chocolates, as well as chilli, ginger and cinnamon. There are always new selectors that are added to the range, on average every three weeks.
Sleekster Selections
These are some of Hotel Chocolat’s best-selling boxed chocolate selections because they are in ‘sleek’ boxes designed to fit through the average letterbox, in an attempt to make them good gifts. They are available in a variety of themed selections including the all-time favourite, Everything, as well as Serious Dark Fix, Truffles and Exuberantly Fruity.
Liquid Chocolat
Hotel Chocolat’s hot chocolate contains less sugar and more cocoa compared to normal hot chocolate. Liquid Chocolat ranges in flavours: from a 'Caramel' chocolate combination to an 'Aztec Chilli' made with 72% dark chocolaten with a spicy twist. The company stock these varieties in all of their stores, as well as on their website. The standard sized tins retail at £10.00.
The Purist
Within Hotel Chocolat, the Purist range lends itself to the discovery and exploration of some of the world's rarest, most sought-after cocoa. These different strains of cocoa are obtained from various plantations around the world, including Venezuela, Ecuador and the company's very own St. Lucian cocoa from their estate in the West Indies. Within this particular range, Hotel Chocolat sell a multitude of bars ranging from a 50%-cocoa St Lucian Milk to two 100%-cocoa bars from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. The range also includes Trinitario cocoa nibs wrapped in either house milk or house dark chocolate, containing naturally occurring vitamins and minerals from the cocoa bean. Hotel Chocolat's range of dark chocolates are also high in antioxidants (flavinoids).[5]
Cocoa Juvenate Beauty Range
Developed at the spa of the same name at the company’s Boucan Hotel & Restaurant on Saint Lucia, the range makes full use of cocoa’s natural richness in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, with nourishing, softening and hydrating properties. The range launched with nine products – Lip Balm, Body Oil, Hand Cream, Warming Body Mask, Body Polish, Body Butter, Hand & Body Wash, Hand & Body Lotion and a Treatment Candle – with more in development.
Rabot Estate, St. Lucia
The 140-acre (0.57 km2) Rabot Estate is in the south west of St Lucia, near Soufrière, the original French capital. St Lucia lies in the cocoa belt which girdles the earth, plus or minus 20 degrees latitude from the Equator.
The estate is divided up into 16 different cortès or areas of terroir, with names steeped in history, such as L’Hermitage, Ti Jardin, Marcial, Mathilde and Rameau.
The cocoa trees of Rabot Estate are primarily Trinitario species rich in Criollo genes, and with new trees continually being planted, record quantities of cocoa are being harvested.
The Rabot Estate is part of Hotel Chocolat’s 'Engaged Ethics' Cocoa Programme (HCCAPEE). Over a hundred new jobs have been created since the estate’s opening, and with prices guaranteed to be 30-40% above the world market price of cocoa, as well as being paid within a week of selling their crops, local farmers are provided with a secure income.
See also
References
External links
Creative Direction and Design
- Profile in Design Week of Fredrik Ahlin, Executive Creative Director of Hotel Chocolat, 2006 - 2012.
- The Hotel Chocolat Logo was created by Russell Turner in 2003. Russell Turner is now a partner at Farm.
- The Hotel Chocolat Logo was later refined and updated by Fredrik Ahlin in 2006.