Hotel Chocolat is accelerating its US expansion with stores in three new markets - Utah, California and Virginia - an increased presence in airports and grocery chains, and a retail concept designed to make drinking chocolate a year-round occasion.
The British chocolatier plans to open at Fashion Place in Salt Lake City, Utah; the 2ND & PCH retail destination in Long Beach, California; and King Street in Alexandria, Virginia. The openings are expected to begin in late autumn 2026, although individual dates have not yet been announced.
Advertisement
The expansion will take Hotel Chocolat beyond the Chicago area, where it has established six stores since entering the market in 2024.
Speaking in London, Holah, Hotel Chocolat’s Saint Lucia general manager and global lead for cacao experiences and products, said the company intended to introduce more US consumers to ‘British luxury chocolate culture’.
“We’re accelerating our presence in the United States,” Holah said. “We started in 2024 with Chicago, as I’m sure you all know, and we’re now planning to expand thoughtfully into three new distinct state markets.”
The company is pairing that geographical expansion with a more experiential approach to physical retail. Its stores combine chocolate ranges with a Velvetiser Café, drinking-chocolate displays and storytelling around cacao cultivation.
From Chocolate Shop To ‘Third Place’
Holah described the stores as ‘living sensory environments where craft, discovery, and hospitality all merge together’.
The Velvetiser Café is central to that approach. Alongside hot drinking chocolate, the format is intended to offer iced cacao drinks and cacao-infused baked goods, extending its appeal beyond the colder months traditionally associated with drinking chocolate.
Holah said the aim was to turn a short shopping trip ‘into a lingering restorative break’, giving customers ‘a third place to unwind and connect with our brand on a deeper level’.
That strategy could help Hotel Chocolat reduce its reliance on seasonal gifting occasions by giving customers reasons to visit year-round. The new stores will also carry the brand’s Wall of Chocolate range, boxed gifts and mix-and-match drinking-chocolate selections.
“There's a whole ritual and a formality and a whole tradition around [the traditional chocolate store], which is fantastic. But it's all built around the premise of like a brief seasonal transaction, like selecting your gifts, having them beautifully gifted, paying, and you're leaving,” he said. “Gift givers today have still got the same wants and needs and questions that gift givers have always had.”
He described the questions customers consider while choosing a gift: “Is this space inviting me in? Is it asking me to stay? Is it making me feel welcome? While I'm in here, can I learn something new?” When I give this gift to someone, what does that say to them about me?”
Holah also expanded on Hotel Chocolat’s strategy: “Alongside these dedicated stores and our expanding presence in major US travel hubs and airports, we’re introducing American consumers to the British luxury chocolate culture, bringing a sense of wonder, authentic cacao heritage, and warm hospitality to every new venue.”
Giving Ghana A Larger Place In The Cacao Story
Hotel Chocolat’s retail storytelling draws heavily on its Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia, which Holah described as the inspiration for the company’s 'more cacao, less sugar' philosophy.
Advertisement
However, Holah acknowledged that Saint Lucia represents only a minority of the cacao the business uses. He said beans from the company’s estate and its Island Growers Programme account for approximately 10% of its cacao, while Ghana supplies the remainder.
The distinction is already reflected through separate packaging for the Saint Lucia range, while store employees are trained to explain the different origins.
Holah said Hotel Chocolat is also considering how to make Ghana’s contribution clearer to customers.
“They’re in completely different packaging. There’s a piece of work we’re doing now on how do we communicate that and celebrate that in a much larger way, which is to come.”
The comments significantly qualify the Saint Lucia narrative at the centre of Hotel Chocolat’s stores. They also suggest that the company’s next phase of retail storytelling could give customers a fuller account of the origins behind its wider portfolio.
Grocery And Airport Partnerships Extend Reach
The three stores form one part of a broader multichannel push. Hotel Chocolat is also introducing selected products through Wegmans, H-E-B and participating Kroger banners.
The retail programme is due to begin on 1 November and will focus initially on seasonal products. Wegmans will stock selected chocolates and Advent calendars, H-E-B will carry the Sleigh Team reindeer-shaped chocolates, and participating Kroger stores will offer Advent calendars and stocking fillers.
Branded displays, shelf-ready packaging and dedicated signage will be used in some locations to give the ranges a more distinctive presence outside Hotel Chocolat’s own stores.
Meanwhile, a partnership with travel retailer Paradies Lagardère will place the brand in more than 70 outlets across nearly 50 US airports. The participating hubs will include John F Kennedy International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
Hotel Chocolat is also expanding its digital reach through its US direct-to-consumer website, Amazon and TikTok Shop.
Kelly Goering, general manager of Hotel Chocolat US, said the combination of stores, retail partners, travel locations and ecommerce represented the company’s “next phase of growth” in the country.
“We are growing thoughtfully – selecting the right markets, locations and partners while preserving the creativity, quality and sense of wonder that define the Hotel Chocolat experience,” Goering said.
For Hotel Chocolat, the three openings will therefore be more than a test of demand for British premium chocolate in new states. They will test whether its combination of cafés, cacao storytelling and hospitality can turn the conventional chocolate shop into a destination in its own right.