The end of Hotel Chocolat.

[Pasithean]

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

please don’t change it.

I've just got my velvetiser out!

Years ago I worked with a lady, her dh worked for HC management and she would bring in lots of their chocolates for us to scoff in our office, I thought it tasted basic and boring even back then.
I love chocolate and eat it every day, I may have basic tastes but imo you can’t beat a bit of Lindt or Galaxy chocolate.

Inferior chocolate, superior advertising.

Can’t stand them. My middle child loves hersheys 🤮 don’t know what else over here is good but not too pricey to replace HC with

No loss to me, nasty stuff! 🤮

I always feel bad when I get their chocolates as a gift because I know they're not particularly cheap, but I always re-gift.

Shame for those who like it though.

Love snickers. Hate HC. Zero snobbery here. I like kitkats and Lindt too.

It is quite sweet that people are being so defensive about this brand.

It is rather naive to think that a thread about a chocolate company changing hands won’t invite comments on said chocolate. Does anyone really care who likes what brand of chocolate?!

Bring back spiras though. I would sell a kidney for those creamy twisty bars.

We went into a store a couple of years ago when DS wanted to buy a pack of a particular type of chocolate he'd been given by a friend which he liked. They wouldn't let him buy just one pack, it "had to be" either 2 or 3 packs (can't remember which), so they lost a sale as he didn't want to buy so much. Very strange way to run a business.

Lots of companies sell to a new investor but it doesn't always mean a change in product.

I read it as more a case of a bigger organisation like Mars wanting to invest in overseas outlets and they had the finances and experience to do it.

The founders have done very well out of it and one has put some of their equity back in so he will have skin in the game,

We play a family game of guessing the chocolate on Christmas Eve,splashed out on the massive Christmas wreath box last year from HC and was sorely disappointed.
None of us liked a single one!

(As an aside, If anyone has a recommendation for a nice christmassy box of chocolates I can get for thos Christmas Eve, I'd be grateful. The red box from Leonidas is the frontrunner at the moment)

They used to do a "3 for £10" so they might have been trying to upsell.
He could of course have just bought one, maybe the sales assistant did not make that clear.

I quite like HC but I can never understand people's glee when something they don't like gets taken over/discontinued/whatever (this is a general comment not aimed at this poster).

Not a fan. Couldn't find a decent dark chocolate there guaranteed to be gluten free. I much prefer Montezuma.

I'm gutted. Love their 40% hot chocolate and some of their truffles. Please don't ruin them like US food brand takeovers usually do 😥

Nope, he couldn't "just buy one". I was with him and we asked if we could, but the sales assistant said no, they had to be bought in 2's or 3's.

It is rather naive to think that a thread about a chocolate company changing hands won’t invite comments on said chocolate. Does anyone really care who likes what brand of chocolate?!

Your second sentence contradicts your first @PrawnPuri. Either you find it hard to believe that anyone cares who likes what chocolate, or you are unsurprised that people will immediately come on to share their opinions. You can’t be both!

It's the only chocolate I eat nowadays. I hope it doesn't change

I love their cherry liqueurs, and their hot chocolate

@McQueensMuse The one with the drawer? I was admiring it the other day.

Never liked their chocolate anyway sooo goodbye!

By ‘cares’ I mean does anyone feel upset at what brand someone likes. I like some and don’t like some. And am interested in others’ preferences. But it affects me not one bit emotionally. If someone only likes prestat, I am fine with that. I don’t need to call them a snob because I prefer snickers!

The best chocolate ever.

Oops...FLAVOURSHawke’s Bay Black Doris Plum & Roasted Almonds in Dark Chocolate, Marlborough Sea Salt & Caramel Brittle in Creamy Milk Chocolate, West Coast Buttermilk Caramelised White Chocolate, Wellington Roasted Supreme Coffee Dark Chocolate, Marlborough Sea Salt & Caramel Brittle with Saffron in Dark Chocolate and Nelson Pear & Manuka Honey in Creamy Milk Chocolate.

I agree. Thorntons makes my mouth hurt it’s so sweet and sickly.

Booja Booja are my go to now.

Their white chocolate hot chocolate in the Velvetiser is Heaven on a cold day. Hmmm, I might go and make one now!

Ooo. Yes. Montezuma do some really lovely interesting tasting bars if choc. I wish I had some chocolate right now. Shouldn’t have. Locked on this thread.

Of course he could just buy one, he must have been mistaken.

Hotel Chocolat threads always go the same way with dozens of posters saying how shit and overpriced they are, followed by recommendations for Audrey's chocolates.

I've now tried these and they're nice but really nothing special or significantly better than Hotel Chocolat, despite costing about 50% more.

I've been buying HC since they were mail order only and they're the same as they ever were and probably some of the best that are widely available without paying ££££s, the box of Audrey's I bought cost nearly £60