Andy and Claire Burnet founded Chococo back in December 2002: an artisan chocolatier making truly fresh chocolates using local ingredients such as local fresh cream. Their chocolates feature no additives or preservatives, and provenance is a big thing for the pair, who care about exactly where their ingredients come from, and the people who produce them.
In their shops and on their website, you’ll find everything from boxed fresh chocolates (including fantastic seasonal fruity, spiced and other flavours) and bars to slabs, drops, hot chocolates, novelty chocolate gifts and more. They also offer 3, 6 and 12 month Chocolate Club subscriptions, which see a new box of fresh chocolates delivered to your door every four weeks – including samples for feedback and previews of new chocolates throughout the year.
Their original chocolate house in Swanage is still going strong today, and since then, they’ve opened another two locations. They opened a second branch on Winchester’s High Street in December 2013, and in the June of 2016, Gandy Street in Exeter became home to Chococo’s third chocolate house. Here at their newest location, you’ll not only be able to buy their seasonal chocolates to either take home and enjoy or give as gifts, but there’s an upstairs seating area too where you can enjoy a unique origin hot chocolate, cakes by Emma of Emma’s Bread, toasted waffles, local Crankhouse coffee, Purbeck ice cream sundaes and more.
Since 2010, the Chococo team have been making all of their chocolates in-house at “The Chocolate Shed” in Wareham: a location that’s bigger than their original Swanage chocolate kitchen, and which also doubles as the space for their chocolate workshops (with options for both children and adults alike), and their children’s parties, where kids can make a range of chocolate creations that are tailored to their age group.
In 2011, they published the Chococo Chocolate Cookbook with Ryland Peters & Small, packed full of recipes to cook at home, and you’ll find plenty of beautiful new seasonal flavours and new chocolatey products added to their range all the time. Chococo is a chocoholic’s heaven…