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  "description": "THE BIG INTERVIEW: After two decades of building a distinctly British premium chocolate brand, Angus Thirlwell is tearing up some of Hotel Chocolat’s best-known formats — and placing a long-term bet on US expansion, cocoa integrity and a more radical definition of what ‘real chocolate’ should mean",
  "path": "/hotel-chocolat-bets-on-reinvention-in-america-as-premium-chocolate-holds-its-ground-at-home/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-10T12:42:42.000Z",
  "site": "https://cocoaradar.com",
  "tags": [
    "Subscribe\n        →",
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  "textContent": "From our desk to yours. DailyDaily.\n\n##  Join our growing community of members and receive a free version of our daily newsletter on what really matters in cocoa.\n\nNo spam. Unsubscribe anytime.\n\n\n        Subscribe\n        →\n\n\nFor most consumer brands, this would be an awkward moment to start dismantling familiar bestsellers.\n\nBritish households remain under pressure. Cocoa prices, though off their peaks, have delivered one of the most violent cost shocks the chocolate industry has seen in years. Easter gifting – the sector’s biggest seasonal seller – became entangled in what tabloids gleefully branded ‘eggflation’ in the run-up to last weekend’s holiday.\n\nYet Angus Thirlwell, Hotel Chocolat’s co-founder and chief executive, sounds less defensive than energised.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\n\n\n\nAfter more than 20 years of defining premium chocolate gifting in the UK, the company announced last month it is retiring some of its signature formats, including the Sleekster and H-Boxes, in favour of a new modular **‘** Boxed Selections’ range designed to stretch from entry-level gifting to more elaborate assortments.\n\nAt the same time, the group is pushing deeper into bricks-and-mortar retail in Britain while attempting, for the third time, to crack the US market – this time from Chicago, where Thirlwell has effectively moved in “above the shop”.\n\n### This post is for subscribers only\n\nBecome a member to get access to all content\n\nSubscribe now",
  "title": "Hotel Chocolat Bets On Reinvention In America As Premium Chocolate Holds Its Ground At Home",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-10T12:42:44.637Z"
}