I started my chocolate business with £56 – now I make £150k a year and I’ve even supplied the King
STARTING your business from nothing is a huge task.
But women across the country are living proof that you can do anything you put your mind to.
Here, Geri Martin, from Northern Ireland, reveals how she started her chocolate business with £56 - but now makes £150,000 a year and has even supplied King Charles.
Placing handmade chocolates into a special tin to be presented to King Charles during his visit to Northern Ireland in 2022, it was a pinch-me moment.
Ten years before, I’d signed up for an evening class in chocolate-making to enjoy some me-time. Until I took that course, costing £100 at a local college, becoming an entrepreneur had never crossed my mind.
But I was on maternity leave from my job in events and marketing, my children were three years old and four months, and I really fancied doing something for myself.
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A total chocoholic, I fell in love with chocolate-making and thought it would be amazing if I could do it full-time. But with a mortgage and bills to pay, I felt my best hope was to try it as a side hustle.
In late 2012, I spent £56 on milk and white chocolate, some cheap moulds from eBay, and I had my kitchen inspected by my local council so I could sell my chocolates. A microwave, bowl and spatula were the only other equipment I needed. The Chocolate Manor was born!
I started by hiring a stall at a few local craft fairs where, to my amazement, I sold out of my chocolates.
In March 2013, I returned to work four days a week and continued slowly growing my chocolate business through selling at fairs, by word of mouth and through social media, eventually leasing a unit in an industrial park as a workshop.
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Any money I made, I reinvested – because I still had my salary coming in – using it to buy equipment, such as a tempering machine used to melt chocolate, and designing new packaging.
By 2017, I knew the time had come for me to choose between my two careers. Big corporate orders were coming in for my chocolate and I was working around the clock, seven days a week. Something had to give.
I knew I wanted the chocolate business to be my future, and my then-husband – who I separated from last year – was very supportive.
In early 2020, I took out a lease on bigger premises, spending £2,500 on equipment and decorating it, planning to use it both for production and chocolate-making classes. But then, six weeks after opening, the country went into lockdown.
Overnight, most of my orders were cancelled, leaving me scared for the future.
Thankfully, I was able to furlough the two staff I had just taken on, and a government grant helped pay the rent on my premises. I carried on working around homeschooling, making small gift orders and putting on chocolate-making classes via Zoom, but it was a nerve-wracking time.
In June 2020, as we came out of lockdown, I opened my premises as a shop to take advantage of the summer tourists, and it was a huge success, which was a relief.
Today, I run three businesses in one – making chocolates and selling them in the shop and online, supplying them to corporate clients and retailers, and running chocolate-making classes for adults and children. My team and I can make up to 2,000 chocolates a day, and we still do everything by hand.
In 2022, I was asked by a hospitality client to make 50,000 chocolates to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which were sent to hospitals, care homes and universities across the UK.
King Charles, as well as Kate and William, have all sampled my chocolates, and I was invited to 10 Downing Street to mark International Women’s Day in 2022, which was amazing.
My annual turnover is around £150,000, which is unbelievable given this all began in my kitchen, and I now have three employees.
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I never would have believed my sweet tooth would lead to me becoming a chocolatier with a thriving business. It’s a dream come true.”
- Visit Thechocolatemanor.com.