Who We Are

Welcome to our first blog post of the year - and with an aim to there being many more to come! We thought we’d start by introducing who we are as a company, and individuals too.

The Cosy Chocolate Company was officially born in the Christmas of 2018, when Matthew Gilham (the director!) realised his passion for chocolate making. As a family (Matthew and Jenny) we had been experimenting with different chocolate recipes for a while, always trying to create something from scratch that tasted rich and cocoa-y, but not too sweet - as so many supermarket brands are.

That was when we stumbled across drinking chocolate. Certainly Jenny was already a fan (with a number of competitor brands sat in our cupboard at the time!) - but together we worked out that with careful recipe control, we could create drinking chocolate from real chocolate that was neither too fatty (as many ‘real’ hot chocolates can be), nor too sweet. The first recipe - our original - was created. Such a eureka moment!

From there we couldn’t resist experimenting with different flavours. Could we make a chocolate orange? A mint? A salted caramel? We were absolutely determined to create flavours using only ingredients sourced responsibly, but that were also entirely natural.

Kitchentop exploration suddenly became taste testing evenings with friends and family, with an overwhelming response that we were onto something. And we were hooked - the difference between ‘real chocolate’ hot chocolate and it’s powdered alternative was abundantly clear to us. This was the way to consume hot chocolate. It was smooth, creamy, cosy. A different experience entirely to the sweet, watery experience we’d grown accustomed to in all the usual coffee shops. We had to share this experience with others!

From there, we began tentatively attending markets to see what the response would be from folks outside our immediate circle. And wow, what a reponse it was! We had nearly sold out after our first market in Great Malvern, and immediately had to start building the infrastructure to craft more chocolate faster! We ventured further afield, trying out new events and markets with the enthusiastic help of family and friends running the stands with us.

In 2021 we outgrew out little country kitchen and moved the business to its own space in Wickhamford, Evesham. This was absolutely the right decision as Matt and Jenny had a baby on the way, and their home was running out of space! By that time we had hired our friend Rachel and then Jenny’s parents - Jon and Ness - who together helped to craft chocolate to the highest standard our equipment would allow.

Over recent years Jenny and Matt were able to release the ‘single origin’ range of drinking chocolate - which was a passion project close to their hearts. These flavours celebrate beans sourced from specific locations, with beautifully unique flavours that are entirely down to environmental factors affecting the cocoa beans, such as soil acidity, climate and rainfall. Moving away from economy cocoa meant that they could start closing the gap between cocoa farm origin and finished product - something we are hoping to continue to grow and develop! Our dream as a company is to get as close to sourcing cocoa beans from the farmers directly as we can - putting as much positive stuff back into the (hugely exploited globally) cocoa trade as we can.

So that’s our business - but who are we? Here’s who is currently on the team…

Matthew Gilham is the chocolate genius behind the product. He is incredibly passionate about the customer experience of our products, and is brimming full of ideas for new flavours and new ventures in our company we might look to pursue in the future. If you see us attending events, it’s usually him behind the stand - smiling and happy to share with you a taste of any of our delicious flavours!

I’m Jenny - wife to Matthew (the mastermind). I run the business on a day to day basis doing things like overseeing stock, booking shows and getting the pleasure of communicating with our retail and wholesale customers. We are soon to be due our second child, so with the family growing - I’m certainly kept busy! And I must say, it’s the cosy moments enjoying a mug of our Colombian hot chocolate that gets me through those busy days!

Also currently working hard for us is Ness - Jenny’s mum. She is currently the master chocolatier overseeing the daily running of the chocolate kitchen. Her passion for high quality chocolate and efficiency make her a superb addition to the team! If you pop into our unit to pick up some drinking chocolate in person, she’ll be the lovely smiling face that greets you.

So that’s us at the moment! Who knows where The Cosy Chocolate Company will go next? New flavours? New products? New events? We all can’t wait to see as the year unfolds! Please do take a look at our products on our website and give them a try - and I assure you, you’ll see what I’m talking about…