Meet our Chocolatiers
The Inventors The chocolatiers working in our development kitchen are always being creative, conjuring up inventive and innovative chocolate recipes with exceptional ingredients. Each candidate recipe from the kitchen is rigorously sampled, tasted and compared to ensure that the finest go forward into our Tasting Club selections and onto our shelves.
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ADAM GEILESKEY – Head of Chocolate Development Adam worked in food science before joining specialising in chocolate. His favourite chocolate is a tie between the Rabot Marcial 70% Dark and Pistachio Praline. “I made the most friends after I started working in chocolate!”
As Head of Chocolate Development, Adam directs our team of chocolatiers as they create an endless supply of innovative new recipes for our regular Chocolate Tasting Club selections.
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OLIVIER NICOD – Head Chocolatier Olivier grew up in Lyon, and as a boy wanted to eat nothing but white chocolate biscuits, much to his mother’s annoyance. Since then, Olivier has worked with some of the world’s best chefs and created a one-metre BAFTA mask of solid chocolate.
Olivier finished the huge chocolate BAFTA mask in 24-carat gold; it weighed over 100kg and took three men to carry it.
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RHONA MACFADYEN – Senior Chocolatier Rhona did a master’s degree in art before seeing an advertisement for a job as a chocolatier in Scotland nine years ago. “I had always liked food and the creative element really appealed to me. I met a crazy Frenchman there called Olivier, and we both came to Hotel Chocolat!”
Rhona created a huge sculpture of a cocoa tree for the Salon Du Chocolate show in 2013, using materials from our cocoa plantation in Saint Lucia.
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CLAIRE HADDAD – Concept Development Chocolatier Claire worked as pastry chef in five-star hotels in London before becoming a chocolatier. “My favourite? I love our creamy, less-sugar ‘supermilks’ – they have high cocoa percentages like dark chocolate, but with milk.”
Claire has developed new recipes for our Cocoa Bar-Cafes and restaurants. Here she’s enrobing pieces of honeycomb in our development kitchen.
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KIRI KALENKO – Senior Chocolatier Kiri studied home economics at university before joining Hotel Chocolat as a graduate. “I’ve loved it since the beginning. I still think it’s amazing that you can actually have a job making chocolate all day. My favourite has to be the fruit and nut milk slab. It’s a really chunky hunk of chocolate, just how I like it!”
Kiri is responsible for creating new recipes for Hotel Chocolat and our Chocolate Tasting Club, as well as developing our team of apprentices.
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RACHEL SMITH – Apprentice Chocolatier Rachel worked at the Hotel Chocolat shop in Sheffield for over a year before becoming a chocolatier. “I am a very creative person and this just seems like the perfect job. What’s more perfect than the art of making chocolate?”
LOUISE COX – Ingredient Specialist Louise is an expert at finding not just good quality ingredients but what she calls ‘really, really good quality’. “My mission is bringing lovely ingredients with good provenance to our chocolatiers, to help them make truly wonderful chocolates.”
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EMMA COPE – Couveturier When a new cocoa harvest arrives at our development kitchen, it’s Emma who sets to work roasting and conching the beans to find the best possible chocolate profile. “Favourite? At work its dark chocolate, for enjoying at home, it’s milk chocolate.”
TAROW LOKE – Apprentice Chocolatier Tarow started off working for Hotel Chocolat as a temporary sales assistant in our Cambridge store before starting to train as a chocolatier. “If you want to know my favourite, I have to say, I love the salted caramel. Salted caramel cheesecake, salted caramel drinking chocolate, salted caramel anything!”
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Our resident chocolatiers Our in-store chocolatiers are performance artists working with their chosen medium: chocolate. These new talents are skilled at creating made-on-site chocolate recipes from cocoa beans roasted and conched in front of your very eyes, right there in our shops and restaurants.
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LOUISE ANDERSON – Rabot 1745, London Louise Anderson was assistant manager at our Rabot Estate cafe in Borough Market before training to become a chocolatier. “I like dark chocolate in the morning and milk chocolate in the evening, but I love our high-cocoa ‘supermilk’ recipes.”
ISOBEL CARSE – Roast + Conch, Leeds Isobel worked at our Manchester Ardale store before for four years working before coming a chocolatier. “I was a keen home baker and using a lot of chocolate in what I was making. I just became more and more interested in chocolate, its history, how it’s made, and all the possible recipes.”
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DANIEL MORRIS – Roast+Conch, Leeds Dan was working as the assistant manager at our Leeds store before deciding to train as a chocolatier. “Every day people tell me I have the best job in the world. I have to agree! Creating chocolate straight from the bean is incredibly exciting and very few people have the opportunity to do it.”
PANAYIOTIS PANAGIOTOU – Monmouth Street, London Panayiotis – or Yoddy for short – worked as a senior sales advisor in our Cambridge shop before taking up the chocolatier’s palette knife. “It’s hard to pick one regional cocoa as your favourite, but if I had to, I’d probably say Ecuadorian.”
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BETHANY NUNN – John Lewis Cocoa Bar-Cafe, Edinburgh Bethany has worked as a chocolatier in Scotland and North Carolina (where she also taught yoga in the summer). “I’ve always been artistic and love painting, but I love to create something tangible you can physically enjoy.”
NATASHA PANG – High Street Kensington, London Natasha started out working in our Milton Keynes shop as a temporary assistant before growing into an assistant store manager and blossoming into a chocolatier. “When first joined Hotel Chocolat there were signs saying, ‘More Cocoa, Less Sugar’ and it kind of clicked. I did one of the company’s chocolate diplomas and carried on from there!”
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Meet the Specialists Watch our resident chocolatiers create made-on-site chocolate from bean to bar live in our stores and restaurants. London – Kensington 163 Kensington High Street London W8 6SU London – Covent Garden 4 Monmouth Street Covent Garden London WC2H 9HB
Leeds – Roast + Conch Restaurant 155 Boar Lane Leeds LS1 5EL John Lewis Edinburgh Hotel Chocolat Cocoa Bar-Cafe John Lewis, St James Centre Edinburgh EH1 3SP
London – Rabot 1745 Restaurant 2-4 Bedale Street Borough Market London SE1 9AL
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Copenhagen Østergade 13 København K 1100 Denmark
PHOTOGRAPH BY
Stephen Bond
More Cocoa, Less Sugar Our chocolatiers are all about the cocoa. In our kitchens, the mantra is More Cocoa, Less Sugar. Our highly skilled chocolatiers are always striving to make recipes that let the authentic flavours of the cocoa bean take centre stage, delivering a truly satisfying cocoa hit full of antioxidants and feel-good stimulants.
It’s all about the cocoa
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