What makes Whitakers different? As well as being a down to earth, real company run by real people, we have and always will stick to our roots and for Whitakers, that’s specialising in niche chocolate production. We are so passionate about what we do and we’re very lucky that the whole team is onboard and shares our vision for the future (they also come up with some AMAZING ideas!).
How has the food and drink sector fared during the covid pandemic? Did you see a rise in chocolate sales? Like any sector, there are winners and losers, and the food/ drink sector wasn’t any different. For us it was a tough time, whilst we did see an increase in our retails sales, especially online, other areas of the business really suffered. Half our business is in the catering and hospitality sector so, as you can imagine, this was heavily affected and one of the last parts of the business to make a comeback. Thankfully, we are now moving in the right direction and the future is looking very bright.
What other trends are you noticing in chocolate at the moment? Lots and it’s a forever changing landscape. Whether it’s the development of vegan chocolates, dairy free or weird and wonderful flavour combinations. The choice for the consumer is so varied and is getting wider all the time. The skill is knowing which trends to follow and which to leave to someone else!
44 Kennedy’s Confection March 2022
For us, we see a real opportunity in growing our vegan
range, in particular the development of vegan milk chocolate products.
Is the gift sector lucrative for you as a business? Why? As we develop and grow our own brand of retail products, gifting is a very important area to our growth plans and brand strategy. We’ve spent the last couple of years listening to what our customers want and developing new and innovative products to fill gaps in this market. In particular, the vegan and gluten-free chocolate gift market.
Why is Fairtrade important to the business? At Whitakers Chocolates we value our environment and the community we operate within. We believe in doing the right thing, treating people fairly and understand that even the smallest of steps can make a huge difference.
Our goals are broken down into five key areas:
• Responsible trading • Protecting the cocoa farmers livelihoods • Community wellbeing • Protecting our planet • Consumer confidence
We believe everyone in this world should be treated fairly and given a fair price for the work they do. If that means we
KennedysConfection.com
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