Bristol Shop Owners Launch Chocolate Factory

Ooh! Chocolata will manufacture chocolate bars in flavours including Fruity Milk Chocolate, Gingery Dark Chocolate and Cranberry White Chocolate.

They are already supplying delis in the local area after a month of production and plan to expand nationally by the end of 2013.

Ruth Yard, who runs Ooh! Chocolata with her husband Ian, told Food Manufacture, “We have to set our sights high because we’ve set our unit costs and margins in accordance with achieving a high volume of sales.

“The Green & Blacks and Nestlés of this world have a massive amount of financial clout behind them, which really helps but we’ll keep plugging on. There’s always room for new product. The confectionery market is huge in the UK and we’re carving a niche for ourselves.

“I’d like to see us as a recognised independent chocolate bar brand that people view as an affordable treat. We were working with chocolate and confectionery in food retail and fancied getting into manufacturing. We know about food and used our retail background to help provide retailers with the kind of product they want.”