Angus Thirlwell, CEO and Co-Founder, Hotel Chocolat

Angus Thirlwell, CEO and Co-Founder of Hotel Chocolat, discusses building a direct-to-consumer confectionary brand, digital growth following the pandemic, and how becoming a cacao grower has further deepened his focus on sustainability.

On driving sustainability in the cacao industry: "The Gentle Farming program rewards farmers for planting out shade trees and creating a mini rainforest light environment, promoting insect life and more plants, and reducing moisture evaporation from the soil so that the effects of global warming don't ruin livelihoods as well."

On post-pandemic growth:  “What we've seen is that we now have a digital business in the UK that's two and a half times the size it was before. The profile of that tends to be more gift-based and the physical stores have a larger proportion of self-gifting. What we're seeing really is families activating different parts of their household budget for Hotel Chocolat.”

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This episode was recorded on May 20, 2022