The end of Hotel Chocolat.

[Pasithean]

Looks like their selling out to mars. 😭😭🙈🤮

please don’t change it.

Shame because their business model was (or at least it used to be) ecologically sound and they supported small cocoa growers. I don't suppose Mars will continue doing that.

I used to enjoy the chocolates from Hotel Chocolat back in the early 2000s but it seemed to gradually change for the worse.

I used only to be able to buy it direct from Hotel Chocolat, through its website. Then John Lewis started selling it. Then I started seeing it in other shops. I think that's when the quality began to decline. A pity.

Thorntons was the same. Back in the 1980s it was posh chocolate and could only be bought from Thornton's shops. Once they started selling it to supermarkets, the quality plummeted.

It's shit and don't get me started on the factory outlets

Mars is a VERY different company to Cadbury. It is privately owned and has a very long term perspective. I'm not saying things won't change, but I don't think it will be a Cadbury scenario. No point buying HC just to make it taste like Galaxy.

I still think Aldi and Lidl choc is great, no palm oil, and miles better than many other overpriced and pretentious offerings.

HC used to be good; now it's disgusting. There's no point buying the mixed boxes as they're full of gopping sickly fruit creams, and they discontinued the best Christmas chocolates during Covid (Yule Log and the bauble tree).

Thornton’s used to be very good. Top quality. Hand dipped. This was in the 70s.

Thorntons used to be posh chocs - now they're about 90% sugar and taste manky.

I’m a chocoholic and not really that fussed on Hotel Chocolate. My heart sinks when my friend gets me their posh chocolates. I’d rather have a box of Heros or Celebrations. Or those Lindt red balls of deliciousness.

Dreadful chocolate. I am not surprised. I have no idea why people rate it.

Hotel chocolat is fine, nice packaging for gifts. Pretty sure it was a spin out from the producer of Thorntons chocolate. Good luck to the owners - they built a massive brand, kept it independent for a loooong time and have contributed significantly to the U.K. economy.

Green and Blacks did the same thing… made by Jo Fairly (who now runs the perfume society, ex You mag journalist) and her husband Sam who started the whole earth peanut butter business in the 70s. They were the first to make organic and dark chocolate a trend. They sold out eventually too. That’s what entrepreneurs do.

But what is the hype with Tony’s chocolate though?! People seem to be going mad over it, but I just found it minging. It doesn’t melt in the mouth and is like that cheapo chocolate I used to get in advent calendars as a kid.

Give me cheap chocolate over HC any day. The emperor’s new clothes of the chocolate world. Good riddance.

Someone from work bought me one of their small boxes of 8 chocolates, which was lovely of them, but they didn't taste of anything! Completely tasteless - it was really weird

WHAT? This is not ok.

Ffs. No-one else makes anything like the tiramisu chocolates.

My favourite at the moment is Waitrose own brand no. 1 chocolates. I’d love to know who makes it for them.

I'm surprised by the Hotel chocolate hate on here, its much nicer than anything else you can pick up at high street level.

Exactly, they're not exactly hyped...
Except for the Velvetiser, which I am fed up of hearing about at Christmas!

I love that mentality...
Someone expresses a concern for something they love disappearing... and it's followed with a stream of:

I never liked it
It sucks
Good riddance...

You know, all the helpful comments.

It's akin to someone posting a pic of their kid and everyone saying it's ugly.

But it’s not disappearing though… it’s been purchased by a company that recognises its value and will want to invest in bringing the brand to more customers around the world . They’re not going to rubbish the brand by creating inferior products… they’d be stupid to do that. Cadbury tried it and had to revert back as they lost sales.

It's really weird that because some posters don't like it, they can't imagine that others would or that others would be sad that it's changing. It's so self-obsessed to feel everyone needs to know you don't like it and don't care it's being taken over.

It used to be so much better, and with a much more exciting range of lines. We used to get the monthly chocolate club when it was in its infancy, generally pretty innovative flavours. Once they'd stopped doing the funky slabs, I always got one for my OHs birthday/Christmas, we stopped really buying anything from them. The Kirsch cherries are still pretty good but the rest is just dull and sweet, I always wished for a super strong coffee chocolate.

This - it wasn’t a thread asking for opinions on HC and which brands are better!

Really very sad if anyone is taking criticising a companies products that personally. It is literally a whole world away from criticising their child.

I never thought they were really any nicer than disgusting Thorntons. Just better marketing. Cadburys used to be better IMO, before it got bought out and ruined as well. It's great for my chocolate consumption though which has gone right down. Except for Montezumas chocolate, that's my go to now.

I used to love hotel Chocolat, back in the day when you only saw it advertised in the newspapers and had to send off for the boxes to be delivered. Then it was fantastic chocolate.

Now it's bloody awful, they're everywhere like Thorntons used to be and going the same way IMO. My brother still gets me one of their Easter eggs every year (because I used to love them) but I wish he'd stop.

Maybe this change will be a good thing?