Hotel Chocolat Has No Reservations About U.S. Launch
After a quiet launch online last year, U.K.-based Hotel Chocolat is readying the debut of its first U.S. retail store later this year in Boston.
Of course, they’re not the first to have this sweet idea. Nicki Doggart, COO acknowledges that the premium chocolate market in the U.S. is crowded.
“Godiva’s prevalence in the market makes them a competitor in retail, and boutique chocolatiers are also competitors,” she says. “We’re not the only ones who make good chocolate but we have a different twist on it.”
“We’re pleased with how the product has been received so far,” Doggart adds. “There’s room for another luxury chocolate product in the U.S.”
The brand – founded in London — prides itself on the candy having “no nasties,” meaning only premium ingredients with less sugar and more cocoa. Hotel Chocolat grows its own cocoa at the company’s Rabot Estate in St Lucia.
Hotel Chocolat began as a catalog brand in the U.K., and launched its first store across the pond in 2004; today, the company has 32 stores in Britain.
The economic health of the city led Hotel Chocolat to choose Boston as the site of the company’s first U.S. retail store, set to open later this year.
“I traveled to many parts of the U.S. looking for the right environment to combine with our commercial formula,” says Doggart. “Yes, the economy isn’t fantastic at the moment but Boston seems to feel less affected than many parts of the country.”
Demographics were also a factor, she adds, noting that the high number of universities combined with the tourist population gives Boston a good mix of age ranges.
For more on Hotel Chocolat, see the June/July edition of Chief Marketer magazine.
