Hotel Chocolat

When the very first Hotel Chocolat store opened its doors in North London in 2004, it was the start of a revolution in British chocolate. Two entrepreneurs, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, were on a mission to make chocolate exciting again. [...] When we first started making our Easter eggs, more than a decade ago, experts advised us to make them as thin as possible. We did the opposite, opting for ridiculously thick shells that are still satisfyingly snappable. Everybody said a bar of chocolate should be equally divided into bite-sized pieces - but squares are predictable, so we broke the mould and made our Slabs, inspired by the shape of molten chocolate when you pour it onto the cool marble of a chocolatier's table. Hot chocolate was commonly made with lack-lustre powders, or by standing over a hot stove whisking grated chocolate into milk. We knew there had to be a better way, so we invented the Velvetiser for barista-grade drinking chocolate, at home, at the touch of a button. [...] We're one of the world's few chocolate makers to actually grow cacao on our beautiful Saint Lucian cacao farm, Rabot Estate.

Hotel Chocolat's own words, unedited, quoted from hotelchocolat.com.