“Love Cocoa and H!P Chocolate are at the forefront of sustainable chocolate innovation” – Richard Koch, British Entrepreneur, Management Consultant and Angel Investor
The name Cadbury is world famous, especially in the world of chocolate and confectionery. The Quaker, John Cadbury (1801-1889), founded the famous UK chocolate manufacturing company in partnership with his brother, Benjamin, in 1846. However, it is known as much for its philanthropy as it is for its chocolate. Cadbury built an ethical company that cared for its workforce, opposed slavery, and campaigned for civil rights. He believed that chocolate could make the world a better place and was concerned to contribute to the community that supported the company. He retired in 1861 on the grounds of ill health but the company retained the values and traditions he had introduced until after 2010, when it was bought for $19.5 billion by Kraft Foods and appears to have lost some of its traditional values in the search for profitability (Kay, 2016).
Fast forward 170 years from 1846 and the 30-year-old great great great grandson of John Cadbury opened his own luxury chocolate manufacturing business, Love Cocoa, in 2016 in an effort to make British chocolate great again. According to James Cadbury, a graduate of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores Universities, he created “Love Cocoa with the purpose of making great tasting chocolate bars here in Great Britain, in a way that’s loved by you, the planet and its people”, Having worked in the finance sector for 7 years after leaving university, he quit his stable job and set up Love Cocoa with a £25,000 Virgin Start-Up Loan and his £25,000 life savings in order to pursue the dream of producing sustainable chocolate.
With no experience of the sector or help from his family, James has grown the venture so that it has a turnover of £2.6 million and is valued at £10 million. In 2018 he took Love Cocoa to BBC Television’s “The Dragon’s Den”. He wanted an investment of £75,000 for a 5 per cent equity share in the business. He received an offer from one of the Dragons and accepted it on the programme but later rejected it, preferring to grow the venture on his own. As he said “It wasn’t worth the equity I was going to give up because I didn’t think I could get enough of his time”. So, he grew the business and in 2021 introduced H!P Chocolate, a vegan chocolate made with oat milk. Both brands champion slave free cocoa production, plastic-free packaging, reforestation, and measures to combat climate change. In partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects, a non-profit NGO, it plants a tree for every product sold and by mid-2023 it had planted over one million trees, benefitting both the planet and the cocoa farmers, their families and the farming communities.
Building the business has not been without its challenges, however. In the early days of production moths managed to invade their chocolates and they had to throw away their entire stock, move production to an alternative location (James’ flat) and change their packaging. As James says, though, this experience taught him that “the most unexpected challenge can be overcome with determination, a dash of humour and a never give-up attitude”.
In January, 2023, Love Cocoa secured a £4.25 million investment from the British entrepreneur and management consultant, Richard Koch, in order to build its retail distribution by opening ten stores by 2026 and growing the firm’s senior management team. “I’m delighted to have Richard and his team backing” say James. “I’m excited to be working with him on driving the strategic development of both Love Cocoa and H!P Chocolate, helping project them from challenger brands to chocolate industry powerhouses”.
In the tradition of Cadburys, Love Cocoa and H!P Chocolate are very much Harmonious Enterprises in which profit, planet and people are in harmony. With 26 employees, it addresses SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) but it is also addressing SDGs 10 (Reduced Inequalities), 1 (No Poverty) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) as well as 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 13 (Climate Action) , 15 (Life on Land) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
References
Kay, C. (2016), I used to work for Cadbury – this is what really happened since the Kraft Takeover. The Independent. 2nd December.
Ridley, G. (2023), Love Cocoa secures £4.25 million investment. Food Manufacture, 23 January.
Wolfe, J. (2023), Love Cocoa secures £4.25 million to fund first physical stores. Natural Products online. January 24.
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