Sustainable Scottish chocolatier enjoys sweet success with new premises

About the business

Based in Forfar, Angus, Chocolatia handcrafts and sells a range of artisan chocolates made from the finest, sustainable ingredients. The business makes a conscious effort to celebrate the very best of Scotland’s larder, and often showcases home-grown flavours in its chocolates, including fresh Perthshire berries and elderflower, which grows in abundance in Angus.  

How Business Gateway has helped

Finding herself furloughed and seeking a creative outlet during the Covid-19 pandemic, Chloe launched Chocolatia in October 2020 and approached Business Gateway for help to launch her brand into the market.    

Chloe benefitted from a range of Business Gateway support, including one-to-one guidance from a dedicated business adviser, who supported Chloe with Chocolatia’s production process. This support included advice on identifying the correct price point of each product. Motivated by her adviser’s support, Chloe successfully secured £3000 from the Elevator Grant Scheme, which went towards developing luxury and sustainable packaging for her products.    

Experiencing popular demand for her products, shipping to customers nationwide and securing customers such as The Macallan Distillery and The Royal Scotsman train in Scotland, Chloe found she had outgrown her home kitchen and needed to acquire a new space to help her manufacture larger quantities of her luxury chocolates. Chloe has recently acquired her first premises in Forfar, with Business Gateway on hand to provide HR support, which will be essential for Chloe when employing staff for the first time.   

Since launching, Chloe’s brand has won a string of prestigious accolades, including a bronze award for her coconut and lime bonbon and a silver for her toasted coconut bonbon at The Academy of Chocolate Awards, as well as being nominated for The Golden Fork Awards.    

Chloe now hosts regular master chocolate classes to engage with her growing client base, through which she teaches the importance of using ethical and sustainable ingredients to help create special chocolate. Further down the line, Chloe has plans to have her very own cookery school, where she can teach and train chefs to use sustainable and locally sourced ingredients.   

Chloe Oswald, Founder of Chocolatia, said: “When I decided to launch my own business, I had no experience of the fundamentals, like hiring staff and finding a premises, which have both been huge learning curves. I’m thoroughly enjoying working with my Business Gateway adviser, who has been a fantastic business mentor and endeavours to help and support in any way she can. It’s a weight off my shoulders knowing there’s someone else I can go to for advice.”