Hotel Chocolat hunts for new Yorkshire stores

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive of Hotel Chocolat, said the group is looking for more sites in the county as its Yorkshire stores are among its best performers."Yorkshire is a very good location for us. The Yorkshire consumer likes what we do," he said. "We've got seven locations in Yorkshire and we'd like to grow. Yes we could double the number of stores. I don't see why not although we want the right locations. We will look at anywhere where there is demand."The Beverley store is one of Hotel Chocolat's best new locations."On the second day of opening, Beverley was the top store across the whole country. There's a lot of pent up demand in the area," said Mr Thirlwell.He was speaking as the group announced a 12 per cent jump in sales to £104m on a comparable 52-week basis for the year to June 25, which was slightly ahead of City expectations.It '‹received a boost from 12 new store openings over the year, which contributed 5'‹ per cent'‹ sales growth, with eight of the new sites featuring a cafe'‹, including Beverley'‹.T'‹he cafe'‹ concept is proving a huge success as customers demand now more from retailers than a simple transaction.'‹"The cafe creates a halo effect. It makes shopping a leisure experience. It makes it pleasurable'‹. It is incumbent on us to make the shopping experience more than just handing over money," said Mr Thirlwell.'‹'‹Another new concept is the chocolate lock-in which is held after the store shuts. Stores will open for another hour for an invited audience.'‹"We send invitations through social media for groups of no more than 12 people. The store manager hosts the lock-in. Customers are loving it," said Mr Thirlwell.'‹'‹Customers can book '‹to attend a lock-in at the group's stores in York, Harrogate and Leeds by going online or into a store.'‹Innovation has played a major part in Hotel Chocolat's success and it has launched several new concepts to attract customers during the summer months, which are typically slow times for chocolate retailers."We are in the worst time of year to be a chocolatier - a hot summer," said Mr Thirlwell."Innovation is driving sales. In chocolate, we have Chocs to Chill - chocolate that tastes better out of the fridge. Our second plank is our ice-cream offer, '‹Ice Cream Of The Gods'‹."We infuse cocoa nibs'‹ for 48 hours and then remove them. So you have a surviving cocoa note whipped into the ice-cream."'‹Mr Thirlwell said the group has not seen any changes to trading following the recent political and economic upheaval'‹."We know our brand is reassuring. Chocolate can cheer you up. There is a flight to quality in more challenging economic times," he said.That said, the group aims to cater for all budgets by offering price points that start at £1."You can have a week's stay on our cocoa estate for £5,000 or you can buy a nano slab of chocolate for £1," said Mr Thirlwell.Hotel Chocolat, which floated on London's junior AIM stock market last year, said '‹the new shop and cafe format '‹i'‹s working well'‹ and it is looking at rolling out the concept across its estate'‹ of nearly 100 stores.The firm '‹said that customers '‹a'‹re '‹also '‹benefiting from an improved website for smartphone and tablet orders.Hotel Chocolat is set to report annual results on September 27.Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb said the full-year sales update was "reassuring".A'‹nalyst Wayne Brown at Liberum said: "Trading in the second half has led to another upgrade continuing the strong performance since IPO. The group has multiple levers for future growth and we can see these alongside new avenues that should drive further success in '‹2018 and beyond.'‹"'‹Hotel Chocolat runs a hotel in St Lucia and'‹ '‹has'‹ '‹restaurants in'‹ '‹Leeds and'‹ '‹London'‹'‹.