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For most consumer brands, this would be an awkward moment to start dismantling familiar bestsellers.
British households remain under pressure. Cocoa prices, though off their peaks, have delivered one of the most violent cost shocks the chocolate industry has seen in years. Easter gifting – the sector’s biggest seasonal seller – became entangled in what tabloids gleefully branded ‘eggflation’ in the run-up to last weekend’s holiday.
Yet Angus Thirlwell, Hotel Chocolat’s co-founder and chief executive, sounds less defensive than energised.
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After more than 20 years of defining premium chocolate gifting in the UK, the company announced last month it is retiring some of its signature formats, including the Sleekster and H-Boxes, in favour of a new modular ‘Boxed Selections’ range designed to stretch from entry-level gifting to more elaborate assortments.
At the same time, the group is pushing deeper into bricks-and-mortar retail in Britain while attempting, for the third time, to crack the US market – this time from Chicago, where Thirlwell has effectively moved in “above the shop”.