BRAND FOCUS


We’re excited to build our presence and prove the store model in Utah and then take the brand into other store locations across the U.S. while building the retail channels. The milestones are not simply about opening stores. We will be looking at sales, repeat customer rates, customer acquisition, and ultimately store-level economics. We also want to understand whether we are genuinely creating a new habit around drinking chocolate rather than simply generating curiosity around a new opening.


How is Knoops approaching the challenge of building a chocolate drinks category in a market where consumers may be less familiar with the concept? We are helping consumers understand a different way of thinking about chocolate and the store is incredibly important in that respect. It is where we can introduce people to the idea that chocolate has the same kind of depth and choice that consumers already understand in coffee or wine and is made for drinking. You can choose the chocolate percentage, the milk, the temperature, and mix ins. Our tastemakers can guide people through that process, so you don’t need to be a chocolate expert to enjoy it. We also don’t want to position Knoops as


something that replaces coffee or another existing drink. We are adding something to the culinary landscape with a new ritual and a new occasion. That is why the breadth of the offer is important. Chocolate can be hot, iced, frozen or a milkshake and it can be a morning treat, an afternoon pick-me-up, an evening indulgence or something social. Ultimately, category creation comes from getting people to try it, love it and then come back. The stores allow us to do that education and discovery at scale.


What is the balance between growing the physical store estate and building Knoops At Home as a retail and wholesale proposition? We don’t see those as competing strategies. They are two sides of the same model. The stores are where we create the experience, introduce people to the category and build the brand. Once consumers understand the product and the ritual, there is a very natural opportunity to bring that experience home through our hand-flaked chocolate. That is why we describe ourselves as a multi-channel business led by the store network. The store creates trial and brand awareness, while Knoops At Home gives consumers a way to recreate the experience themselves and gives us a much broader distribution opportunity. In the UK, we are now also broadening


the distribution of our ‘Knoops At Home’ hand-flaked range by expanding into delicatessens, farm shops and premium


product a sense of craft and theatre, but it is also incredibly practical because it allows people to make a genuinely premium chocolate drink at home. For premium grocery, delicatessens and farm shops,


I see it sitting within


the intersection of premium chocolate, gifting,


indulgence and drinks. We are IF WE CAN MAKE


CONSUMERS THINK ABOUT CHOCOLATE IN THE SAME WAY THEY THINK ABOUT COFFEE, NOT JUST AS SOMETHING YOU EAT, BUT AS SOMETHING YOU CHOOSE, CUSTOMISE,


DISCOVER AND BUILD INTO YOUR EVERYDAY RITUALS, THEN THE OPPORTUNITY BECOMES MUCH LARGER


grocery retailers. With access to thousands of outlets, this represents the next phase of Knoops’ multi-channel UK expansion, building on its own stores, direct-to- consumer and Amazon channels, alongside leading retailers including Ocado, Harrods, Selfridges and Whole Foods. Wholesale distribution is a major step


forward for our hand-flaked ‘Knoops At Home’ retail offering. With access to delicatessens, farm shops and premium grocery retailers across the UK, we can accelerate growth and meet the strong consumer demand we’re already seeing for ‘Knoops At Home’ across our sales channels.


What opportunities do you see for hand-flaked chocolate in premium grocery, delicatessen and farm shop channels, and how will these products be positioned alongside more established chocolate formats? The hand-flaked format is part of the unique Knoops experience.


It gives the


bringing something familiar - chocolate - into a different occasion and showing people how drinking chocolate can be a premium experience. The range of Knoops percentages and origins also gives retailers something to work with. A 28% white chocolate, a Venezuelan milk chocolate or a 100% extra-dark chocolate can appeal to very different consumers, while the provenance and craft story give the retailer a strong premium narrative.


Will international expansion and retail distribution require the product range to evolve for different markets and consumer occasions? One of the things we are learning already is that the ritual can stay the same but can vary between territories. The Knoops experience is about choosing your chocolate percentage and creating a drink around your taste and your occasion - what changes is the local context. We are already interested in ingredients and flavour combinations that make sense in Utah, for example, and we want to work with local producers where there is an opportunity to do that. The power of the brand however comes


from the consistency of the Knoops experience - the chocolate library, the craft of the flakes, the choice and the idea of Knoopology. We will localise around that rather than dilute it.


More broadly, how do you see the next few years of growth for Knoops and where do you believe the biggest opportunities now lie for the brand? I still believe there is the potential for Knoops to be a global chocolate drinks platform: physical stores, Knoops At Home and wholesale. The next few years are about executing this opportunity. In the US, we have an enormous market to explore, beginning with Utah and internationally, we have already demonstrated that the concept can travel through our UAE business. The biggest opportunity for us though is category creation.


If we can make


consumers think about chocolate in the same way they think about coffee, not just as something you eat, but as something you choose, customise, discover and build into your everyday rituals, then the opportunity becomes much larger.


OCTOBER 2026 • KENNEDY’S CONFECTION • 33


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