Angus Thirlwell

Angus Thirlwell
Angus Thirlwell.jpg Thirlwell in February 2016
Born	Angus Thirlwell 1963 Seaham, County Durham, England
🏫 Education	Barnard Castle School
💼 Occupation	Founder of Hotel Chocolat
📆 Years active	1987–present

Angus Thirlwell is CEO and co-founder (with Peter Harris) of Hotel Chocolat, a British luxury chocolate manufacturer, multi-channel retailer and cocoa grower on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia.

Education and Family

Educated at Barnard Castle School, Thirlwell is married to Libby and divides his time between London and Saint Lucia.

Early Life

His father, Edwin, was one of the early directors of the Mr Whippy ice cream brand in the North East of England and then went on to run an ice cream business in Barbados. Three years old at the time, in the 1960s, Angus Thirlwell lived in Barbados until the age of nine. “I fell in love with the [Caribbean] culture and the way people are, and when, 30 years later, I came round to thinking about buying a cocoa plantation, there was only one place I wanted to do it and that was the West Indies.”

Early Career

In 1987 Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris set up Hotel Chocolat’s forerunner - The Mint Marketing Company which sold corporate branded peppermints. They started selling delivered chocolate gifts online in 1993 under the ChocExpress brand name. In 1998 The Tasting Club was created, an online monthly chocolate subscription which gave members the chance to rate and score new recipes.

Hotel Chocolat

2004 saw the launch of Hotel Chocolat, when their first retail outlet opened in Watford, north of London, adding to their existing online business. “We wanted something that was more than just a name; Hotel Chocolat had that escapist edge – the power chocolate has to lift your mood.” In 2018 Hotel Chocolat has 115 retail outlets in the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Hong Kong, including 29 cafés and retails online.

More cocoa, less sugar

One of sixteen côtes (cocoa orchards) at Rabot which produces single-côte chocolate.

‘More cocoa, less sugar’ is the driver for Thirlwell. Across the Hotel Chocolat range, cocoa is the lead ingredient. ‘Many chocolate manufacturers load their chocolate with cheap sugar. In fact, most mainstream ‘chocolate’ contains more sugar than cocoa, leaving you feeling sluggish, depleted and unsatisfied.' The rise of sugar in chocolate is driven by economics, it’s cheaper than cocoa. Thirlwell wanted to go against the grain. In 2017 less sugar became ‘no added sugar’ with the launch of Supermilk Pure.

Rabot 1745 Cocoa Estate

In 2006 Thirlwell and Harris invested in a 250-year-old 140 acre cocoa plantation on Saint Lucia – Rabot Estate, inspired by a book sent to Thirlwell by a Tasting Club member, Cocoa & Chocolate, Their History from Plantation to Consumer. This 1920 edition told of cocoa growing in the West Indies, and was particularly inspirational to Angus. He saw the potential to ‘be involved at every stage from tree to customer. To grow, harvest, ship, manufacture and sell directly to the consumer’.

Alongside their working Saint Lucian cocoa estate, Boucan luxury hotel, restaurant and spa opened in 2011. While staying at Boucan guests connect with the origins of chocolate, from harvesting pods to making their own, ‘bean-to-bar’.

It attracted key reviewers from the USA, including The New York Times.

‘Choco-tourism’ is helping revive a once floundering cocoa economy on the island of Saint Lucia, “The resort occupies a patch of the island’s oldest cocoa plantation, Rabot Estate, and is passionately dedicated to its cause: resuscitating the once-storied chocolate trade in St. Lucia, while taking full advantage of the allure of its signature food.”

Rabot 1745, Borough Market restaurant

Rabot 1745, Borough Market

In 2006 Rabot 1745 restaurant opened in Borough Market transporting Caribbean, cocoa inspired cuisine from Saint Lucia. “Cocoa has been a savoury ingredient for more than 3,000 years, and that is what we want to help people rediscover.” Every part of the cocoa bean is used, the lychee-like pulp in sauces, cocoa shells in cocktail infusions and chocolate desserts made from beans grown in Saint Lucia. “It seems appropriate that the word cocoa is derived from ancient Greek, where it translates as “food of the gods”. A meal at Rabot 1745 is certain to make you feel godlike.”

BAFTA dessert

Thirlwell’s high-cocoa approach to chocolate has featured in BAFTA desserts for eight consecutive years since 2010. The signature dessert at Rabot 1745 is also on the BAFTA awards dinner menu. In 2018, the single-origin chocolate was Nicaragua 76% Supermilk.

Cacao drink infusions

Other chocolate makers discard the outer cacao shells. For Thirlwell this was an opportunity wasted. Having seen the potential of infusions in Saint Lucia, he knew every part of the bean could lead as an ingredient. Cacao shells were no exception, lending malty notes to a drinks range which include award-winning Cocoa Gin and West Indies Pale Ale.

Beauty: Rabot 1745

2017 saw the launch of a new beauty range, Rabot 1745, inspired by cocoa and the flora and fauna which surround Hotel Chocolat’s Saint Lucian plantation. Partnering with the company chairman, and former Lush CEO, Andrew Gerrie a new range included skin enhancers, protectors and cleansers.

Ethical cocoa farming

Given the disparity between those who enjoy fine chocolate and the subsistence cocoa growers who nurture the beans, Thirlwell wanted to make a difference. This led to founding Hotel Chocolat’s own Engaged Ethics programme in 2002 delivering sustainable benefits to cocoa communities in both Saint Lucia and Ghana.

Saint Lucia

Prince Charles visited Rabot Estate in 2008 to lend his support to their Engaged Ethics programme.

In Saint Lucia a model of fair pay for cocoa cuts out the middleman, which benefits farmers directly. Subsidised disease-resistant seedlings are passed on to farmers with a guarantee to buy back the whole crop at a pre-agreed, premium price. This ethical approach attracted the attention of like-minded royalty. ‘Prince Charles visited the Rabot Estate in 2008, fascinated by their ethical and sustainable approach.'

A fair price for cocoa meant farming was once again a lucrative proposition and revived the once abandoned heritage crop.

Rainforest-friendly cocoa farming is actively promoted. ‘Shade grown’ cocoa encourages bio-diversity and prevents soil erosion. Cocoa is interplanted with larger, indigenous trees, rather than the mono-crop approach – clearing all other vegetation.

At Rabot Estate plantation Saint Lucia, cocoa is grown under organic principles – no chemical fertilisers or pest controls. Rare old breeds of cocoa tree were rediscovered in 2006, and now flourish, ‘3,000 mature cocoa trees, some of which are rare and heritage varieties discovered in the 1930s.’ Seedlings nurtured on the cocoa estate guarantee their sustainable future, in chocolate.

The environment

Hotel Chocolat is constantly reviewing how to reduce packaging and harness renewable resources across the business. This is a key issue for Thirlwell, who drives new enviromental initiatives. Some recent advances include: one of first to launch 100% compostable take-out cups and lids in 2018, source nearly all card and paper packaging and shop bags from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sustainably managed wood pulp, distribution centre has its own waste compactor, close to achieving ‘zero to landfill’ goal by recycling all waste produced.

Thirlwell is an early investor in Plastic Energy Ltd, an environmental company with specialist technology enabling formerly unusable ‘dirty plastic’ waste to be reused to create recycled plastic or clean fuel. This gives the waste an economic value which incentivises against dumping at sea, landfill or incineration, helping to protect our environment.

References

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