Hotel Chocolat take over

[crankedup5]

News that ‘Mars’ have taken over the Hotel Chocolat brand ones as a unpleasant surprise. H.C.
boss devises that the brand will not change and the cash boost from takeover will enable H.C. to expand into International markets.
Last chocolate producer that got taken over was Cadbury, and their product got mutilated with new recipes. Do hope the same fate doesn’t await H.C.

[theplayingmantis]

crankedup5 said:

News that ‘Mars’ have taken over the Hotel Chocolat brand ones as a unpleasant surprise. H.C.
boss devises that the brand will not change and the cash boost from takeover will enable H.C. to expand into International markets.
Last chocolate producer that got taken over was Cadbury, and their product got mutilated with new recipes. Do hope the same fate doesn’t await H.C.

Cadbury takeover has been a resounding success imo.

Tied old Cadbury never releasesda new products and was constantly retrenchung anything interesting like existed when I was a kid in the 90s (tiffin, old Jamaica, triple deck...the ones in a small size bar that b&m now imports from oz) and they had a very small and boring albeit as ever nice tasting product line before mondelez took over.

Yes there has been some issues changing the creme egg choc allegedly...don't see it myself, and some poor releases but the variety and new releases they now do is great.

[lrdisco]

theplayingmantis said:

Cadbury takeover has been a resounding success imo.

Tied old Cadbury never releasesda new products and was constantly retrenchung anything interesting like existed when I was a kid in the 90s (tiffin, old Jamaica, triple deck...the ones in a small size bar that b&m now imports from oz) and they had a very small and boring albeit as ever nice tasting product line before mondelez took over.

Yes there has been some issues changing the creme egg choc allegedly...don't see it myself, and some poor releases but the variety and new releases they now do is great.

So putting lots of palm oil in place of milk is a positive is it?

[Quhet]

theplayingmantis said:

crankedup5 said:

News that ‘Mars’ have taken over the Hotel Chocolat brand ones as a unpleasant surprise. H.C.
boss devises that the brand will not change and the cash boost from takeover will enable H.C. to expand into International markets.
Last chocolate producer that got taken over was Cadbury, and their product got mutilated with new recipes. Do hope the same fate doesn’t await H.C.

Cadbury takeover has been a resounding success imo.

Tied old Cadbury never releasesda new products and was constantly retrenchung anything interesting like existed when I was a kid in the 90s (tiffin, old Jamaica, triple deck...the ones in a small size bar that b&m now imports from oz) and they had a very small and boring albeit as ever nice tasting product line before mondelez took over.

Yes there has been some issues changing the creme egg choc allegedly...don't see it myself, and some poor releases but the variety and new releases they now do is great.

Whilst the product line-up has been expanded, I don't think the takeover has been an unqualified success and Kraft/Mondelez lost a lot of good faith by reneging on their promise to keep the Somerdale factory open and moving a lot of production overseas. I'm from Bournville and the buyout by is still seen as a great pity bit of a betrayal by most of the locals.

[theplayingmantis]

lrdisco said:

theplayingmantis said:

Cadbury takeover has been a resounding success imo.

Tied old Cadbury never releasesda new products and was constantly retrenchung anything interesting like existed when I was a kid in the 90s (tiffin, old Jamaica, triple deck...the ones in a small size bar that b&m now imports from oz) and they had a very small and boring albeit as ever nice tasting product line before mondelez took over.

Yes there has been some issues changing the creme egg choc allegedly...don't see it myself, and some poor releases but the variety and new releases they now do is great.

So putting lots of palm oil in place of milk is a positive is it?

as long as it taste good and most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference (i cant if that what's actually happened) then makes no odds to most. there sales haven't suffered have they?

[theplayingmantis]

Quhet said:

theplayingmantis said:

crankedup5 said:

News that ‘Mars’ have taken over the Hotel Chocolat brand ones as a unpleasant surprise. H.C.
boss devises that the brand will not change and the cash boost from takeover will enable H.C. to expand into International markets.
Last chocolate producer that got taken over was Cadbury, and their product got mutilated with new recipes. Do hope the same fate doesn’t await H.C.

Cadbury takeover has been a resounding success imo.

Tied old Cadbury never releasesda new products and was constantly retrenchung anything interesting like existed when I was a kid in the 90s (tiffin, old Jamaica, triple deck...the ones in a small size bar that b&m now imports from oz) and they had a very small and boring albeit as ever nice tasting product line before mondelez took over.

Yes there has been some issues changing the creme egg choc allegedly...don't see it myself, and some poor releases but the variety and new releases they now do is great.

Whilst the product line-up has been expanded, I don't think the takeover has been an unqualified success and Kraft/Mondelez lost a lot of good faith by reneging on their promise to keep the Somerdale factory open and moving a lot of production overseas. I'm from Bournville and the buyout by is still seen as a great pity bit of a betrayal by most of the locals.

disappointing as that is in the grand scheme of things the opinion of a couple of thousand locals is largely irrelevant to what they do.

[C5_Steve]

lrdisco said:

So putting lots of palm oil in place of milk is a positive is it?

I'll take things that aren't true for $1000 please.....

They took out the palm oil from the milk chocolate years ago. Lindt did have some in some of it's filings but only trace amounts.

HC have been looking to grow the business for some time and this will clearly help them. I'll be honest though I haven't bought anything from them for a long time, there are far more options now for high-quality chocolate that are better than HC.

[Bonefish Blues]

crankedup5 said:

News that ‘Mars’ have taken over the Hotel Chocolat brand ones as a unpleasant surprise. H.C.
boss advises that the brand will not change and the cash boost from takeover will enable H.C. to expand into International markets.

£144 million does that, I guess.

[Panamax]

Now then luddites, what about
the orange KitKat.
the dark choc KitKat
the caramel KitKat
that's real progress.

And best of all, the 4 Finger Vegan KitKat.
I thought that was when I waved at them with both hands, but apparently not,

"You asked, we listened. Introducing the KitKat® Vegan 4 Finger bar. Enjoy our first ever plant-based break made with a rice-based milk alternative to create an indulgent-tasting, vegan chocolate and crispy wafer combo. Take a moment to tear, break, snap and enjoy plant-based tastiness."

[crankedup5]

Never has the statement ‘it’s all a matter of taste’ been more appropriate

[Mr Penguin]

C5_Steve said:

I'll be honest though I haven't bought anything from them for a long time, there are far more options now for high-quality chocolate that are better than HC.

I would rather have Thornton's over HC which is one of the most over-rated and over-priced businesses in Britain.
I do think that Mars will help them grow and its fairly common for large businesses to have a higher quality brand sitting above the mass market tier that they are known for so I wouldn't expect the quality or style to change too much.

[C5_Steve]

Mr Penguin said:

I would rather have Thornton's over HC which is one of the most over-rated and over-priced businesses in Britain.

I agree it is now but it didn't used to be, their USP was the quality and range of their chocolate with their single origin range being one of most easily accessible and obtainable ranges however in recent years they've moved their focus onto more generic stuff.

Their Rabot brand restaurants and Hotel's are still brilliant but the general HC shops have become another Lindt unfortunately.

[RayDonovan]

Interesting move and I'll keep a fairly close eye on it given I work for one of their competitors..

Good move for HC, their latest results are poor and the retail estate will continue to be a drag on their P&L. Would expect a level of expansion into Grocery retail sooner rather than later...

My guess would be a Sainsbury's exclusive..

[dragonflyjade]

Certainly a surprise as I wondered why HOTC had a 160% increase on share price the other day. This placed a 8% premium on the business by my rough calculations. I didn't top up my holdings as I was wondering if a collapse was due.

A failed Japanese expansion, poor post-pandemic sales but unique business setup with cocoa estate and hotel have left the business in a position for takeover. Mars have picked up an upmarket position. Consumers will never know the British brand is now international.

[RayDonovan]

One thing Mars will do is rationalize the range. Too many lines and too much complexity inhibits them massively.

[Bonefish Blues]

RayDonovan said:

One thing Mars will do is rationalize the range. Too many lines and too much complexity inhibits them massively.

Tremendous discounts after Xmas though

[Martin315]

Mr Penguin said:

I would rather have Thornton's over HC which is one of the most over-rated and over-priced businesses in Britain.

Have you forgotten about Fevertree? Up there with Bremont with industrial levels of marketing bullst.

[Trevor555]

Don't think there's room to expand much in their existing site.

I've seen some suggestions on the HDC planning articles, but not seen much difference to their site so far.

Know several people who work there, happy to say they enjoy it, and say it's a good company.

Just hope that doesn't change for them.

I'll guess that if they do expand it'll be a new site somewhere.

Hope not as I often nip into the factory shop, bags of bits/offcuts, and post xmas/easter stuff on discount.

[crankedup5]

We have been retail customers of HC for years, however a Marimba opened on our High St, I will be considering their chocolates next time we need a top up.
Any thoughts on their chocolate ?

Edited by crankedup5 on Thursday 23 November 17:55

[RayDonovan]

I've not tried any, but look to use standard fare ingredients and you're paying for the handmade element rather than finer base product. Worth a shot I'd say