Chapter Organics: 'I set up my business from my kitchen table - now I am working with Harewood House and The Angel at Hetton'

“I firmly believe in the lost art of rest – wellness has totally lost the plot with everyone being told to green juice or cold plunge and so we want to bring things back to basics to help to reconnect with resting in a really joyful and relaxed way.”

She plans to do this through her multi-award winning aromatherapy business Chapter Organics based in Boston Spa where she also lives with her family.

“Our aromatherapy blends are all manufactured here in Boston Spa and they are designed to immerse you in that deep rest – be it flopping on the sofa or having friends round for dinner – without having to do anything differently.”

Charlotte discovered alternative and complementary therapies when she was pregnant with her first son.

“I had acupuncture and aromatherapy which I found was a lovely tool to help my relaxation and energy when I was pregnant,” says Charlotte.

“After I had my eldest son and was on maternity leave I carried through that exploration and started tinkering around with essential oils, making the blends from my kitchen table.

"I found aromatherapy to be a real game changer in how I was feeling and I began to make up blends for my friends to support what was going on for them including the usual busy life stressors; anxiety, overthinking, poor sleep, lack of positivity and confidence. And then it just evolved.”

She was getting ready to go back to work as a researcher at a university when one of her friends suggested she start up her own business making aromatherapy oils instead.

“She said she really wanted to pay me for the blends which were helping with her anxiety and sleep.

"And then I remember driving back home from a friend’s house and I was stopped at some traffic lights thinking about whether or not I could make it work as a business.

"And then I saw this sign for a house called Chapter House and I thought that Chapter was a great name for a business that focussed on different chapters in your life. And it made me decide to give it a go.”

And so in 2017 Chapter Organics was born – although it was still, at that point, very much from Charlotte’s kitchen table (which she later sold to a customer who loved the smell of the essential oils embedded in it).

She embarked on a number of courses and carried out extensive reading and research.

“I am the type of person that once I decide to do something then I really do it to the best of my ability and so immersed myself in it.”

She started with candles and pure blends of essential oils and diffusers.

“I started off with one or two blends. Then over time I was tinkering on the hob and just developed more blends.

“It struck me that the road to selfcare and wellbeing often feels overwhelming because there are too many options and things we need to change all at once. But what happens if we don’t really change much?

"If we create blends that slot right into our current routines and through simple, daily practice we start to notice the difference in the everyday stressful pinch points?”

Charlotte is a true believer that selfcare should fit in around our lives and not be a chore.

“I set about creating blends that connected aromatherapy to our everyday routines; the stuff we already do from morning shower to lunchtime coffee.

"When we’re driving, coming in from work to our wind down routine.”

She built a website from scratch with a friend taking photographs of her products, but mainly her business grew organically by word of mouth from people who loved her products, but it was a very slow start.

“I remember being on holiday in Majorca and deciding to launch the website and I was expecting all these orders to flood through and not one single order came in.”

But then Covid happened and the business just took off.

“Things literally changed overnight. I had a two-year-old and a baby and put the boys into one bedroom together and took over the spare room and my husband’s office – it was a really bonkers and really exciting time.”

Once Covid restrictions started to lift she took on some team members to help her with the workload and moved the business out of her kitchen into a small unit in Boston Spa and had to take on two more people.

And it was only last year that Charlotte felt she had the time to step back look at her business and decide where it was going.

“Up until then it had all been about keeping up with demand and learn how to run a business.”

Demand increased again when she started to get enquiries from hotels, restaurants and holiday homes for her products, an area she is now looking to expand.

Harewood House was the first corporate client to approach Charlotte for their holiday cottages, then the Michelin-starred Angel at Hetton asked for a bespoke signature blend before other businesses started to follow suit both locally and nationally – all through word of mouth.

As a result she needed more space and moved the business from Boston Spa to a bigger unit at Thorpe Arch where Charlotte expanded the product range quite significantly and outsourced the fulfilment and shipping.

They stayed there for three and a half years before returning to Boston Spa two years ago.

“Chapter Organics started in Boston Spa, I live here and it had its roots here and so we wanted to come back here,” says Charlotte.

"Because everything we now do is sensory and that is our direction of travel I really wanted to create something like a spa retreat range where you can shut the bathroom door and feel like you are having a spa at home with multiple layering of products.

"And I would love to have a space where we can offer those treatments ourselves and that was our intention when we moved here. But very quickly we realised there wasn’t enough space.”

Charlotte says what makes Chapter Organics is the focus on rest and it is clear that she is determined to change the way we live our lives.

“A lot of brands talk about general wellness or general selfcare and that you should be taking this and that. What we are saying is we believe that rest has been totally forgotten.

"It’s so natural to other cultures – particularly our Mediterranean neighbours to rest and relax and to fit it in around the rest of your life.

"I think that’s why our customers connect to us we aren’t prefect, we aren’t preaching we are just normal people who have normal challenges.”

Chapter Organics now has a range of natural, organic aromatherapy blends covering five key mood states.

“Blends to slot easily into your routines that help shift moods and restore balance. Blends that are designed to help you feel your best and balanced self,” says Charlotte.

“We never compromise on ingredients. The essential oils we use are all extracted from plants around the world so we are at the mercy of harvests and fuel costs.

"The feedback we get is that our products make a difference to the way people feel and I would never compromise that.”

Charlotte has four employees, all women.

“I didn’t go out to necessarily employ just women but I wanted to create an environment where jobs are done differently, where people can flourish.”

Her aim is a happy flexible workforce that have jobs that fit around their commitments but are as ambitious as she is.

“I am very ambitious and I am determined to grow the business but not at the cost of missing my sons’ early years.”

She is now looking at ways to grow the brand and is in discussion with a potential business partner who is also one of her customers.

“It is important to me to grow the business but it has to be with the right person who has the same vision that we do.”