This year, The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company is celebrating 10 years based at its current premises in Cotgrave.
The idea first came to founder Helen Ellis in her kitchen in Gamston, after becoming a stay-at-home mum for her two boys. Helen wanted to create a unique chocolate gift that was perfect for sharing among friends and family, and also enjoyed the flexibility that working for herself could offer, and so The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company was born.
In September 2008, the business idea had gained such momentum that the chocolate company was moved into its current premises on Manvers Business Park in Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire, with just three members of staff.
Ten years later, it now occupies three units on the site; employs 13 members of staff from the local area and produces approximately 10,000 products a week, by hand, for direct, corporate and trade customers, with retailers including Next, Prezzybox and FunkyPigeon, to name but a few.
So how has the business changed in the last 10 years? “Moving into our current premises has enabled us to expand the business further, by taking on more staff and more equipment to help facilitate the processing of our orders. One of our key-selling points has always been that we pride ourselves on producing high quality chocolate pizzas and gifts, by hand, that people love to give as much as they would like to receive,” explains Helen.
“Having recently implemented a new review system on our website, we are continuously receiving praise from our customers about the excellent customer service we provide along with the high standards of presentation across all our chocolate gifts. As a small business-owner, this makes me really to proud to see that we have been able to achieve all this and so much more whilst still staying true to our hand-made roots.”
So how has the business changed in the last 10 years? “Moving into our current premises has enabled us to expand the business further, by taking on more staff and more equipment to help facilitate the processing of our orders. One of our key-selling points has always been that we pride ourselves on producing high quality chocolate pizzas and gifts, by hand, that people love to give as much as they would like to receive,” explains Helen.
