Staff at a Sneinton-based firm are celebrating their success as fifteen products will now be sold in Selfridges, London. Officials from Luisa's Vegan Chocolates are also planning to open a second location in Sneinton Avenues.
The buyer approached founder Luisa Vici-Bedi and Marketing Director Isabella Bedi in late April after reading about the Easter bunny products the company made. When the team held an exhibition at the Royal Society in London, they invited the buyer to join them which impressed them so much that they placed an order for 15 different product lines.
"It feels a bit surreal at the moment because I've only been making chocolate for five years but I've immersed myself in the chocolate world just doing my thing. People really love the product and we have slowly been building up a customer base but this came out of nowhere and we didn't see it coming," Luisa said.
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Isabella added: "We had a conversation about four years ago where someone asked me if we could see ourselves in supermarkets. We said something like Selfridges would do it and now here we are. It's a full circle moment and we are thrilled."
Luisa Vici-Bedi is one of very few artisan bean-to-bar chocolate makers in the country. She is passionate about getting visitors to the shop to try the chocolate and encourages them to think about chocolate the same way you would when buying coffee or wine.
"We bring out these wonderful flavours in chocolate that are present naturally very much like coffee. One region of Colombia can taste very different from another because of the soil, insects, growing conditions or the environment or what the farmers do," Luisa said.
The smell of rich chocolate fills the air from the moment you walk into the shop and Luisa herself is on hand to recommend the best product to suit any taste. The natural flavours of the vegan chocolate are perfectly complimented with unusual ingredients such as turmeric, matcha or gingerbread.
"We don't just cater for people who like dark chocolate, we have something for the whole market. People come into our shop and try the milk chocolate but are surprised there is no dairy in there. There is a lot of goodness in there from nuts, oat milk or even tigernut milks," Lusia explained.
"We have a lot of seasonal favourites like pumpkin spice or gingerbread, we even have a coffee latte bar and some made with cashew nut milk. One of the customer's favourites is the Sicilian Orange 75 percent from the Solomon Islands. We have won over 25 worldwide awards for it so we are renowned chocolate makers in this industry."
Visitors can be surprised by the different flavours that exist within the chocolate which Luisa explains can be a result of many different factors when the beans are growing.
"It varies from one region to another but also one country to another. All of the 72 per cent chocolates that we make and taste will be different so this big comparison with this will be coffee where you have all these unique nuances that present naturally. A lot of our customers like to taste, smell and see where the chocolate has been made because it's only in tasting it that you can appreciate the difference."
Luisa and Isabella are about to open a second shop in the avenues where customers will be able to see the chocolate being made while keeping the original location for customers to purchase. Luisa is also focused on keeping the brand as ethical and environmentally friendly as possible from sourcing beans, paying 69 per cent above the going rate for chocolate to the compostable packaging that the chocolate comes in.
"We source directly from the farmers and pay them 69 per cent if not 100 per cent in developing countries for their beans. Direct trade means that farmers get all the money and have a monopoly over where they can work and they can support their communities or send their children to school," Luisa explained.
"We have a lovely trade relationship with our farmers who tend to have smaller crops and land that do not produce masses of cocoa. They produce a premium crop which goes on to make our chocolate and we enhance the wonderful flavours. There is no deforestation so it's better for the environment too because they use everything on the land and grow a variety of crops."
Luisa is proud to be a part of the Sneinton market revival that has seen the area become a vibrant hub of craft and independent business owners. From this weekend, customers will be able to watch the beans through the window of the second shop and see the different stages of production.
"I'm proud to be here and breathe life back into a market that is such a vibrant part of the city. It's really nice to have that sort of life in the area which is fresh and new. This is my home and I would like to stay here and now we have the second shop which should open this weekend where we roast the beans."
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