BIZZ BUZZ From L to R: Peter Klauber - Chairman, Hotel Chocolat; Phil Buckley - Estates Director, Hotel Chocolat Estates Ltd [St. Lucia]; Peter Harris - co-founder & co-owner, Hotel Chocolat; Angus Thirlwell - co-founder & co-owner, Hotel Chocolat; Ezekiel Joseph - Minister of Agriculture; Hon. Senator Allen Chastanet - Minister of Tourism
Taste of St. Lucia in London
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aint Lucian chocolate is now available in the centre of London, England. Hotel Chocolat at Robot Estate in Soufriere where locally grown cocoa is being processed into some of the finest chocolate products in the world, serves as the chocolate source for the newly established store branded, ‘The Rabot Estate Saint Lucia, Cacao Grower & Chocolatier’. The facade of the store located in Borough Market aims to bring the feeling of a cocoa estate into central London, with a weathered, natural look heightened by displays of aged wooden fermentation shovels, locally painted cocoa pods, roasted cocoa beans and images from the working estate projected onto a whitewashed brick wall. Angus Thirlwell, co-Founder of Hotel Chocolat and co-owner of Rabot Estate noted, “To make a full success of our ecotourism project in Saint Lucia it is essential Business Focus
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that we win the hearts and minds of London’s foodies. Our success is powered by sustainable interest and demand for our chocolate, our ethical approach and our ability to connect cocoa growing with fine chocolate”. Along with St. Lucian Chocolate for sale, Cocoa tea made from Saint Lucian cocoa will be served, together with savoury cacao dishes such as Chilli Chocolate Chicken on Rocket and sweet dishes include the Rabot Estate Chocolate Pot. An extensive collection of fine chocolate recipes based on Saint Lucian cocoa leads the chocolate part of the offer including a 65% dark made with beans from the late 2009 harvest and a 50% milk chocolate from the same crop. Chairman’s Reserve rum will also be served and sold by the bottle. Within London’s 20 million population, Borough Market is consistently voted the top food market and has a history dating back to 1200. It is a mecca for foodies,
the local community and anyone keen to discover ‘real London’. In the UK the well-established Hotel Chocolate which already boasts 42 locations has plans to add 10 more to the chain this year. It was founded by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris. Three years ago they began a cocoa renaissance project centred on the historic Rabot Estate near Soufriere and led by Country Head, Phil Buckley. The effects of this cocoa renaissance have already had substantial effects with 80 independent cocoa growers now taking part. The next part of their ambitious agro-tourism project involves the opening of a 14-room eco hotel at Rabot Estate in November this year and a chocolate factory also on the estate in the following 18 months. BF For Further info: www.rabotestate.com