BUSINESS MATTERS
Chocolatiers feel at home sweet home in Plymouth Market Plymouth Magazine’s Laura Joint has spent the morning with the family behind Plymouth City Market’s newest business to learn all about the art of chocolate-making…
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The Plymouth Magazine August 2015
Sweet success...Tracey Anderson with her son James
Walking through the front door at Chris and Tracey Anderson’s Cattedown home first thing in the morning is a bit like entering Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The kitchen is a hive of activity, with chocolate being tempered by Chris here and fruit ganache being piped by Tracey there. Over on the other side of the kitchen, Tracey’s son James is taking a tray of chocolate brownies out of the oven. Welcome to the world of artisan chocolatiers. It’s 8am and everything has to be cooled and set in time for the drive in to Plymouth City Market, where Sweet Chocolate Stories took over number 125 in the middle of June. Tracey and James’ first job on arrival each morning is to create an eye-catching display for their just-made chocolates and cakes. Today, the brownies and zingy passion fruit ganaches take pride of place alongside the shop’s biggest seller, walnut brittle in dark chocolate, and their hand-made chocolate bars. Tracey and James are the front of house faces, while Chris – who has an NVQ3 in Patisserie and Confectionery – prefers to remain behind the scenes in the kitchen. It’s a job he clearly loves doing: “My background is as an engineer with British Aerospace but I’ve always been interested in food,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to do everything from scratch and to see the end product. I’ve also got a sweet tooth as well, which is handy!” Chris did his NVQ3 at Camborne College while he and Tracey were living in St Agnes a couple of years ago. It was while they were there that they had the idea of making high quality chocolates. Tracey set up the St Agnes Community