The Sweetest Thing

You may not recognise the name Kāpiti Chocolate Factory, but you’ve probably been enjoying their smooth chocolaty goodness for years without even knowing it. Established more than three decades ago by a Featherson local keen to see if she could make some chocolates as good as the ones her hubby had brought back from Europe, the company has grown out of the kitchen and into an established company that makes chocolate confections that are so good they’re used by other brands.

Known as ‘contract manufacturing’ this sees Kāpiti Chocolate Factory chocolate used in the likes of icecream, or in combination with other food producers such as Dark Horse to make coffee chocolate. Even better though, they can whip up short or long run made-toorder chocolate specialities for events, expos, businesses, or that special corporate occasion.

The company was originally named Nyco Chocolates by Featherston’s Lenore Nysse. The first customers were found at local markets, but the company moved to Kāpiti in 1992 and grew so strongly that it was soon producing for companies like the venerable Farmers and onceubiquitous Deka (who boasted a whopping 90 stores in its heyday). That is pretty good going for a little start up that used to test new products on friends and family, and production was then ramped up to a seven-day-a-week operation. By 2014 the owners’ circumstances had changed however, and the company was bought and run remotely for a year by a new owner who had a much more artisan approach. Then, in 2018, it was listed on Trademe, looking for a new owner and someone to give it the love it deserved.

Enter Sarah and James Abaniel. The couple and their two young children were running a Wellington based business, at least that was until James announced that he’d seen a chocolate factory in Kāpiti for sale on Trademe and that

they should go check it out. More on a whim and sense of adventure than a fierce determination to own a new business, they duly did check it out, and - officially making them the Best Parents Ever (TM) - they bought the company.

“Yes, the kids do love telling their friends that their Mum and Dad own a chocolate factorythough I’m not sure if anyone really believes them!” says Sarah, who now oversees the running of the business. “We didn’t really have any experience in chocolate - other than enjoying eating it! - but it seemed like a great project, a real adventure. We really felt the company had to stay in Kāpiti, that was where it belonged, and the Kāpiti community is just great to be a part of. There’s so much cool stuff going on.”

Sarah and James rebranded the company as the Kāpiti Chocolate Factory and set about rebuilding after all the upheaval since 2014. They focussed on growing the commercial contract work and things were going well until COVID reared its ugly head and their tourism and hospitality clients suddenly had no customers for souvenir chocolates.

Failure was not an option though, and like a lot of other truly business-minded entrepreneurs at the time the couple did a ‘COVID pivot’ and set out to increase their brand presence by selling chocolate under their own name and increasing their direct-toconsumer online presence.

In line with this, in September 2020 they purchased Kako Chocolates, which brings artisan and embossed chocolates to the Kāpiti stable, meaning they can produce boutique chocolates embossed with a company (or personal!) logo, in matching branded packaging. And because the company has hundreds of different moulds to choose from, you can have almost any size and shape you want, with almost any flavours and fillings you fancy.

Sarah Abaniel of the Kāpiti Chocolate Factory with another happy customer.

“The kids do love telling their friends that their Mum and Dad own a chocolate factory”

“You’d be surprised about the things we’ve been asked to turn in to chocolate! A common one - that doesn’t really work! - is protein powder, and um, let’s call them adult-themed chocolates! But also things like aniseed, feijoa, kūmara powder - all sorts of things. We don’t make our own chocolate from the bean, we take that in from New Zealand or Australian or Belgian manufacturers who use beans predominantly from the Ivory Coast or South America. This gives us a real flexibility to find what suits our customers.”

As COVID pivots go, this has been one of the better ones; the company now has six full time staff plus part-timers in the factory shop, and turns out a whopping 15 tonnes of chocolates each year.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be a corporate customer to get in on the action. The company has their factory shop in Raumati Beach, which offers not only sales but tasting, a chocolate making demonstration, and info on the history of chocolate. It’s best to book in advance for this, but at just $10 per person it’s perfectly suited for everyone from the young and excited, through to the mature and interested (and who should frankly know better). And if you want to indulge from the comfort of the couch, check out kakochocolate.co.nz - nougat, Dilmah infused treats, toffee almond clusters, hokey pokey, toffee gift boxes, and so much more.

Which all just proves there’s always a perfect way to say it with chocolate, no matter how big or how small you are.