Teenage memories of choosing individual mouth-watering chocolates in Belgium, France and Holland are behind Claire Burnet’s jokey suggestion that she and her husband Andy leave their London jobs and make chocolates in Dorset instead.

Soon after, they’d converted a small hairdressing salon in Swanage into a chocolate kitchen, complete with viewing window… and a tiny shop upstairs.  Yes, that’s right: upstairs!

It was 2002, and Chococo found itself in the vanguard of pioneering chocolate makers: only using fresh ingredients from local producers and sourcing chocolate with a clear provenance from countries like Madagascar, Venezuela and Grenada.

Find out why Claire and Andy use Raisetrade chocolate (it’s different to Fairtrade) … and how the mantra ‘spend a little, learn a lot’ has helped the couple grow their business from that tiny kitchen to four buzzing Chocolate Houses in Hampshire, Devon and Sussex, as well as Dorset…