Hotel Chocolat this month celebrates its 10th anniversary, after it was founded in 2004 by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris. Retail Week looks at what it has achieved in the last decade.
1987
Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris set up a business together making mints, later expanding into bespoke chocolate boxes.
1993
Thirlwell and Harris begin selling chocolates online, becoming one of the UK’s earliest ever etailers.
1998
It creates the Chocolate Tasting Club where people sign up to receive chocolate selections each month.
2004
The first-ever Hotel Chocolat shop opens, in North London.
2006
Hotel Chocolat buys its own cocoa plantation in Saint Lucia named Rabot Estate.
2010
Hotel Chocolat’s first cafe opens in London’s Borough Market, serving a range of innovative cocoa-centred food and drinks.
2011
Hotel Chocolat opens Boucan, its luxury hotel, restaurant and spa, on its cocoa plantation in Saint Lucia.
2012
The chocolatier launches into beauty with its Cocoa Juvenate collection. And launches its Roast + Conch store format which combines a store, chocolate factory and cafe under one roof.
2013
It opens its Rabot 1745 restaurant in Borough Market .
2014
The School of Chocolate at Cocoa Vaults opens in Covent Garden, offering customers the chance to make chocolate and book-in for tasting sessions. And it opens two new stores in Demark.
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