Wow! We all agreed with her to some degree, but were a little bit reluctant to commit to this as we all had our own individual businesses to run as well.  It was an exciting prospect too!

So in the midst of Valentines Day, Mothers Day and Easter, we have been working together to plan this Wedding Show.

The whole point of this show is to create something unique and different. We have planned with military precision the decor of the hall, the setting and the exhibitors. The exhibitors are hand-picked local independent businesses who truly want to provide an extra special and unique service to make any occasion stand out.  There will be no hard sell on the day – the idea is to make it a joy to plan the day, not a chore!

It has been great fun working with everyone and now the day is almost upon us!

I have been told by the other ministers “loose lips sink ships” so this is all I will say for now about the show, but I truly hope you will join us for this event and come and see for yourself!

The show is on 4th May … 3 to 5pm and will be held at  Wallasey Village URC, CH45 3LP

It was a great day. Kirsty, their photographer,  arrived first. As we had everything ready our own photographer Hollie of Rivington Photography was also there to photograph the eggs.

We prepared all the eggs and selections that we were offering for both Mothers Day and Easter. Both photographers were completely inobtrusive as we worked around the chocolate room.

Emma the journalist arrived, and I felt I had so much to say that poor Emma had barely five minutes to sit down before out came a tirade of what had been happening with the Chocolate Cellar in the past year.

Since we closed the shop in December 2011 we have kept a fairly low profile in order to get used to our new way of working. We have been working with farm shops, cafes, bars, hotels, schools and also on our online shop.  Behind that change we carry the same values and principles. It was really good to stop and think and talk about the business and how we have adapted to current times.

Thank you Emma for listening and providing us with the opportunity to pause for a while and think!

Here are some photos that Hollie took. The full Easter collection will be online very shortly and will also be on sale at the International Market in Liverpool from 28th to 31st March.

A fully edible chocolate heart with a lid

“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.”  – Mother Teresa

I love this quote. For me it shows what Valentine’s Day is all about.

Many people seem to find Valentine’s Day a stressful time.

Quite often couples agree not to do much on Valentine’s. Men are then baffled when their partner presents them with a gift on the day with an expectant look on their face. There is then a sudden panic as one tries to arrange an amazing experience for their partner that they can present them with as a surprise on Valentine’s Evening. We have often been called in to save the day last minute!

From a female perspective I would say it is not about the gift itself. Obviously there is a certain standard that the gift should pass. It is more about the gesture. It is about the thought and effort that has gone in to the gift. It is about feeling valued, and knowing that you weren’t an afterthought on the way home from work. It is about the delight you feel when you go through the mechanics of untying the ribbon, opening the box and finding a little treat just for you.

We have put together a few tips that we think are important – we hope you find them useful:

• Plan ahead – look around you. When you start to see pink and red in the shop windows with lots of hearts everywhere it is time to think about what you would like to do for Valentines. The date does not change – it is always on 14^th February.
• Keep it a surprise – most people love surprises!
• Consider the recipient – think about what your Valentine really likes. Find out if they prefer milk or dark chocolate before buying that box of chocolates!
•  Wrap it – even if it is in a ready-made gift bag.

If you do come to the conclusion that our chocolates would make the perfect gift, here is the link to pre-order www.thechocolatecellar.co.uk/shop

I have to be honest I was very annoyed and surprised to see this. Tesco’s is generally not a good name to bandy about in the independent world of business. There is much resentment amongst independent businesses about the way large supermarkets have worked hard to wipe out independents. As soon as an announcement is made that they have applied for planning permission communities do go up in arms to save their local economy. The debate goes on forever. Tesco’s do seem to have the least favoured name in the game!

I will hold my hand up. I do shop in large supermarkets – I have a Tesco’s near me which I regularly visit as it is very convenient. I wish I didn’t have to and try and avoid this, but I have a lack of choices when it comes to buying some goods. This choice will be further diminished if more independent business loose the battle for survival.

When I do support local businesses, I feel fabulous. Whether it is a local florist, a local farm shop or a small independent dress shop, I feel that I have done something (however small) to support my local economy. I value the customer service, the skill, time and effort that has been put into the business to provide me with the service that I am paying for. I make the choice with my eyes wide open as to which business I am supporting.

I guess that is what I am so annoyed about. Every independent business I know has hours and hours of toil behind it. It takes years to build good strong relationships with customers and we all endeavour to go that extra mile for our customers.

How annoying then that a large multinational company should try and emulate this … but by not being open about the fact that they are a chain with vast resources. They are trying to jump on the bandwagon of the fight for survival for the small businesses – by trying to take their customers! I wonder if someone in the boardroom flippantly said “if you can’t beat them, join them” when their profits were down last year.

This has made me more determined to avoid them and to ensure that I spend my money with local businesses. Businesses where I know people care and have worked endless hours to give me the product and services that I wish for.

There is a magic in visiting a local business. The owners take pride in what they do and what they have achieved so far. The hard work is evident in their product. There is a special atmosphere and I truly wish good luck to every real artisan and independent business out there!

This weeks sees the launch of chocolate week and we are really excited.

More so than usual! Believe it or not, it has been 10 months since we closed our shop on Hanover Street in Liverpool. It was a tough and sad decision, but nonetheless a necessary one. I feel that this Chocolate Week is a celebration of the past 10 months and the way we have become a much more dynamic, flexible and proactive business.

We have been working hard out there with workshops, local eateries and delis, and farmers markets and we feel that this chocolate week we have a new identity to celebrate.  We have made new partnerships and have enjoyed being out there seeing our lovely customers.

Our key events for the celebration of chocolate week are at Croxteth Hall on 10th October – a chocolate tasting, and at Wirral Farmers Market on 13th October with a chance to “Celebrate Chocolate”. We are inviting people to come and build a chocolate sculpture with us

This is the second time we are attempting a chocolate sculpture in public. The first time was a little bit difficult as it was on a very very hot day in a marquee  (we still had fun with chocolate).

Here’s at least one person hoping that the 13th will be cold! Hope you’ll be coming along to help!

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Personally if we weren’t attending with our chocolates anyway, I would go to both – they are both themed around food but very different!

Better get cracking with our production for these!

The dates to save in your diaries are:

Wirral Food and Drink Festival – 26th and 27th August

Liverpool Food and Drink Festival  - 1st and 2nd September

We have two tickets for the Wirral Food and Drink and two tickets for the Liverpool Food and Drink up for grabs this month and it’s so easy to win them.
All you have to do is design a truffle. Weren’t we all amazed and impressed with the TeamGB this year?! So, in celebration of the amazing medals and sucesses of TeamGB, what truffle would you design for them?

The more creative the better and if your ideas special enough we may even create it for the festivals to sell!

Submit entries via facebook on our wall or by tweeting your idea to @ChocolateCellar with #olympictruffle
Closing date midday Thursday 23rd August 2012.

We’ve had great media coverage and this has helped to get the message out there that we are not closing down the business, but we have just decided to move away from the shop.

We have been busy delivering our dabble and creative workshops – some have been public ones and others have been private hen parties or private corporate events.

It is great working with groups on chocolate making, and it is brilliant when people see how much they can actually do for themselves with chocolate.

Being mobile has presented some interesting challenges, but overall the experience has been fantastic. Leaf Tea Bar on Bold Street is a lovely contemporary setting and is lively and fun. We work upstairs and feedback has been fantastic.

Claremont Farm on the Wirral is a very different setting. Very open with lovely views and a delightful kitchen which always pleases our chocolatier students.

We had our first experience at The Brink on Parr St yesterday and it was great to have a secret room just to ourselves but also have access to the lovely food and drink from the cafe. If you haven’t been do go and try it. The hummus was lovely!

It is an honour to work with these lovely partners and all of them offer many many other activities, so I would urge you to check out their websites.

We are soon to introduce an online booking system which will enable people to book themselves on to workshops and events.

Our next very busy week  is 11th to 18th February when we are participating in a number of markets, holding a valentines day evening workshop, and running children’s workshops!

Really looking forward to it all.

Hoping to see many of our regulars at one of our forthcoming events.

Firstly, from the very bottom of my heart, I would really like to thank everyone for their kind words and support on the closure of the shop.

It is wonderful to have so much goodwill around us and the blessing of so many people. The Chocolate Cellar Team are truly honoured.

We are now looking forward and planning themes and events for for the future.

I have been invited to Radio Merseyside for a chat tomorrow morning on The Breakfast Programme about the business and how businesses need to keep constantly changing and re-inventing themselves – especially in this economic climate. I am really looking forward to that as I really want people to understand that although the closure of the shop is certainly not a cause for celebration, it really is a positive step that we are taking to enable the business to move forward.

This week really has been a step in the right direction as we have been busy with taking bookings for Wedding Cakes at The Wedding House , bookings for workshops with Leaf Tea Bar, The Brink and Claremont Farm as well as dealing with online orders.

I do feel like I have been hibernating since Christmas Eve, but now feel wide awake and ready to move forward. I have made lots and lots of notes on what I would like to do this year.

I thought I would make a “to do” list instead of resolutions. So, I have an exciting list of all that I individually and we as a business would wish to do. I am hoping to achieve all of these, but even if half of these items are completed, it is going to be a fabulous 2012.

On that note, I would like to wish everybody a very Happy 2012 and hope that this year has started off well for them.

Hope we’ll see you at either Woolton or Wirral Farmers market on Saturday. Remember to e-mail us if you would like to order anything for collection!

Bala

This decision has been a difficult one. The building lends itself beautifully to the artisan nature of the business. We have wonderful customers who we also see as friends who use this location as a special meeting place.

We do however see our strengths in creating new and exciting chocolates and products and taking our chocolate experience out to people and have made the decision that this is the way forward for us.

This means that we will be able to focus more of our “quiet” time into developing new products and recipes. During the busy periods we will be out at events and markets with our delightful goodies. We will also be running pop up shops during the busy periods and details of these will be sent out via our newsletter and published on our website as well as being announced on Facebook and Twitter.

Our next markets are being held in Woolton Village and New Ferry, both on 14^th January from 9am.  Further details of markets we attend are attached.

Details of our whereabouts will always be available on our website and also on our Facebook page.

The Hanover Street experience has been wonderful and I would like to thank everyone on behalf of The Chocolate Cellar Team for sharing that experience with us and being such good friends of the business. We do hope that you will continue to support us in our new format and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Bala

Chocolate

We are regulars at the following markets and items can be ordered over the phone or by e-mail and picked up at these markets:

Woolton Farmers Market – runs 2^nd Saturday of every month – next market – 14^th January

Wirral Farmers Market – runs 2^nd Saturday of every month – next market – 14^th January

Lark Lane Farmers Market – runs 4^th Saturday of every month – next market – 28^th January

Allerton Road Farmers Market is a pilot scheme which we have participated in and if it goes ahead will be running on the 3^rd Saturday of every month.

Hoylake Food Fair – run on an adhoc basis – usually once every six months

Wirral Food and Drink Festival – August Bank Holiday

Liverpool Food and Drink Festival – 1^st weekend in September

We have been spending some time on improving our online shop and are still doing so. Our products will continue to be available online.

In addition to this, a number of our products are available from Claremont Farm Shop, Roses Tearooms, Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, Lady Lever Galleries. We are speaking to other outlets about stocking our items as well.

Workshops

We will continue to run our workshops offsite in partnership with a number of venues including Leaf Tea Bar and Claremont Kitchens. Anyone with a voucher or anyone wishing to book a workshop can contact us as normal on 0151 200 2202 or e-mail us on chocshop@thechocolatecellar.co.uk

Celebrations and Weddings

A selection of our cakes and celebration chocolatescan be viewed at The Wedding House, 3-4 Great George Place, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 7AG. Consultations can be arranged here.

Hot Chocolate

Our hot chocolate can be enjoyed at Junction Coffee and also our “Pop up Chocolate Cellar Experiences” which will be held on special occasions or can be booked as a party! The next experience will coincide with Valentine’s Day…. details to follow soon.

As a result we have made the decision to suspend our hot chocolate cafe until Christmas. We will also be closing on Mondays and Tuesdays to allow staff to make the stock in order to meet demand.

We do hope that you will find our new Christmas Chocolate Shop exciting and look forward to sharing the experience with you.

We will also be bringing our chocolate out to you as we are attending a number of events and markets between now and Christmas.

Details of these events will be published on our Website and also on our Facebook and Twitter Feeds.

We do take a limited range to markets so if there is something that you would like to order and collect at the markets this can be arranged in advance with us. Please call, e-mail or message us on Facebook to arrange this.

Thank you for your continued support.

Bala