10 Reasons to #ShopLocal this Christmas

  1. It is a proven fact that locally owned companies contribute more to local school, charities & community groups.
  2. Two thirds of money spent with local independent businesses stays in the local economy, compared to less than half that is spent with a high street chain.
  3. A local independent business is twice as likely to purchase from another local business, service provider, producer or tradesmen than a national high street chain.
  4. The character of a community is partly defined by the businesses that choose to reside there. This 'community character' has an impact on numerous things from visitor numbers & house prices to the levels of happiness of local residents!
  5. Small local businesses are the largest employers in the UK. These jobs are more likely to be permanent and full time as opposed to temporary, part time positions offered by several large high street chains.
  6. An increased number of local independent businesses creates competition & diversity on the high street leading to more choice & lower prices.
  7. Local independents are more likely to value your custom & are far more likely to offer discounts for loyalty or large one off purchases.
  8. It is estimated that just a 10% shift in consumer spending habits from national chains to local independents would create in the region of 2000 new jobs.
  9. Shopping local means less traffic & reduced pollution.
  10. Local businesses are more likely to keep any profits they make in the local community. 

Win a festive Chocolate Hamper in our Christmas #competition

With Christmas fast approaching I thought it was about time we did another competition.

The prize is one of our very special Christmas Chocolate Hampers (similar to the one pictured), full of our handmade chocolate bars & indulgent festive treats. The hamper has a value of £50 & will be delivered to you anywhere in the UK in time for Christmas.

All of our chocolate hampers are designed by you & come with our unique price promise. You can view all the different options & find out more about what goes into our chocolate hampers here http://www.chocolate-cafe.co.uk/gifts/Chocolate_Hamper/

To enter the competition simply follow us on twitter (so we can tell you if you have won) & then tweet or retweet this post.

The competition is open to UK residents only and will close at noon on Friday 14th December 2012.

A winner will be selected at random and notified by direct message on twitter (please make sure you are following us so we can let you know if you have won!).

Good luck & Merry Christmas from everyone at the Chocolate Café!

www.chocolate-cafe.co.uk

Donating prizes to Tesco

As anyone will know who follows me on twitter I am not a huge fan of supermarkets or large high street chains. However, I do use them and I acknowledge that they are a convenient place to shop for basic essentials and are a vital part of a vibrant community.
 
So when a couple of weeks ago I was approached by the local Tesco, who said they would like to get more involved with the local community, I was keen to see what they had in mind.
 
A meeting was arranged and last week I met a very nice young chap who was the 'Better Service Manager' from the local Tesco branch here in Ramsbottom. His idea was to see if we would like to get involved with a festive children's treasure hunt they run in store the week before Christmas...so far so good.
 
Now here is the thing!
 
He wanted us to donate three or so large prizes that they could give to the winners of the treasure hunt...and this kind of got my back up a bit.
 
Here is Tesco, with an annual turnover of £70,000,000,000 (that's £70 BILLION!) asking a local, independent family business to 'donate' prizes for its in store children's activities which are ultimately there to boost the Tesco stores sales
 
In return for donating these prizes we would be allowed to promote our business in Tesco by way of posters or leaflets. Although I am always looking for new ways to promote my business (and for a moment was tempted to accept) I ultimately decided not to go ahead. After now having a few days to reflect on this now and feel it is the right decision.
 
What do you think? If it was your business what would you do?

My visit to Granja Luker Cocoa Farm in Colombia

Last week I was fortunate enough to visit the Granja Luker Cocoa Farm in Colombia.
 
Despite working with chocolate for 5 years this was my first visit to a cocoa farm and I was incredibly excited. Granja Luker is a 20 hectare farm located near the town of Palestina in Western Colombia. The farm was created in 1962 by Colombian chocolate maker CasaLuker who are one of our suppliers. Its main purpose is to improve production and conservation of cocoa fino de aroma (fine flavour cocoa) and it is one of the few research centres in the world specialising in cocoa. The work they do at Granja Luker improves the quality of cocoa grown throughout South America and the training they offer helps to improve crop yields for farmers who really on cocoa for their lively hood.
 
Together with me on the visit was Keith Hurdman from Thorntons, Grant Dalgleish from HB Ingredients and Mariana Arensburg from CasaLuker. We were given a presentation about the work at Granja Luker and a tour of the farm by Farm Manager Mauricio Salazar. Mauricio is a trained agronomist specialising in fruit and cocoa and chatting to him was especially interesting as I spent several years in my youth studying horticulture and agronomy (I specialised in Sports Turf) and I was surprised how much of my knowledge came back to me and was applicable to cocoa.
 
Granja Luker operates a innovative and highly advanced grafting system which allows them to take the very best of their Criollo and Trinitario cocoa plants and reproduce healthy and hardy cocoa seedlings. These seedlings are made available to cocoa farmers to increase the size of their farms or to replace ageing or poorly performing trees.
 
The farm also works on developing sustainable and ecologically sound planting models and grows a huge array of tropical fruits, palm trees and teak. These other crops provide shade for the cocoa plants and valuable alternate revenue streams for the cocoa farmers.
 
The highlight of my visit was planting my very own Chocolate Café cocoa tree and eating a delicious lunch of Bandeja Peisa (beans with pork scratchings, sausage & mince together with fried plantain, boiled rice, fried egg & avocado) and fresh lulo juice prepared by the ladies who work at the farm. I also took several of our handmade chocolate bars [pictured] so the farmers could taste the end product of all their hard work.
 
You can discover more about CasaLuker, GranjaLuker and Fino de Aroma cocoa here http://www.lukeringredients.com/index.php/en/granja-luker  and you can purchase our handmade chocolate bars in our Ramsbottom store, by telephone mail order or online at www.chocolate-cafe.co.uk

My visit to Granja Luker Cocoa Farm in Colombia

Last week I was fortunate enough to visit the Granja Luker Cocoa Farm in Colombia.
 
Despite working with chocolate for 5 years this was my first visit to a cocoa farm and I was incredibly excited. Granja Luker is a 20 hectare farm located near the town of Palestina in Western Colombia. The farm was created in 1962 by Colombian chocolate maker CasaLuker who are one of our suppliers. Its main purpose is to improve production and conservation of cocoa fino de aroma (fine flavour cocoa) and it is one of the few research centres in the world specialising in cocoa. The work they do at Granja Luker improves the quality of cocoa grown throughout South America and the training they offer helps to improve crop yields for farmers who really on cocoa for their lively hood.
 
Together with me on the visit was Keith Hurdman from Thorntons, Grant Dalgleish from HB Ingredients and Mariana Arensburg from CasaLuker. We were given a presentation about the work at Granja Luker and a tour of the farm by Farm Manager Mauricio Salazar. Mauricio is a trained agronomist specialising in fruit and cocoa and chatting to him was especially interesting as I spent several years in my youth studying horticulture and agronomy (I specialised in Sports Turf) and I was surprised how much of my knowledge came back to me and was applicable to cocoa.
 
Granja Luker operates a innovative and highly advanced grafting system which allows them to take the very best of their Criollo and Trinitario cocoa plants and reproduce healthy and hardy cocoa seedlings. These seedlings are made available to cocoa farmers to increase the size of their farms or to replace ageing or poorly performing trees.
 
The farm also works on developing sustainable and ecologically sound planting models and grows a huge array of tropical fruits, palm trees and teak. These other crops provide shade for the cocoa plants and valuable alternate revenue streams for the cocoa farmers.
 
The highlight of my visit was planting my very own Chocolate Café cocoa tree and eating a delicious lunch of Bandeja Peisa (beans with pork scratchings, sausage & mince together with fried plantain, boiled rice, fried egg & avocado) and fresh lulo juice prepared by the ladies who work at the farm. I also took several of our handmade chocolate bars [pictured] so the farmers could taste the end product of all their hard work.
 
You can discover more about CasaLuker, GranjaLuker and Fino de Aroma cocoa here http://www.lukeringredients.com/index.php/en/granja-luker  and you can purchase our handmade chocolate bars in our Ramsbottom store, by telephone mail order or online at www.chocolate-cafe.co.uk

The winner of our 'Picture Yourself' #competition for October is @JudeHale

Congratulation to Judith Kelly (@JudeHale) who is the winner of our 'Picture Yourself' competition for October.
Judith wins for this pic of one of our Milk Chocolate & Caramelised Hazelnut bars next to the Rialto Bridge in Venice. October saw us receive more entries than ever before and so unlucky to you if you didn't win - it was very close!
 
Judith wins three handmade chocolate bars of her choice and has a chance of winning a chocolate & champagne hamper for Christmas.

If you would like to enter our 'Picture Yourself' competition then please send us a photo of yourself together with one of our handmade chocolate bars.

You can buy our handmade chocolate bars in our shop in Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester, by telephone mail order (01706 822828) or online here http://www.chocolate-cafe.co.uk/handmade-chocolate/

As well as the image please tell us your name and when/where the photo was taken. Then email it to info@chocolate-cafe.co.uk or tweet them to us '@welovechocolate' on twitter.

The competition is open to UK residents only and one winner will be chosen every month until December 2012 when an overall winner will be chosen in time for Christmas

Good Luck!