Celebrating Poundbury Magazine Issue 6: The bright thinkers and entrepreneurs | Page 34

AROUND THE WORLD
In Chocolate
It’s not every community that can boast they
have a chocolate factory on their doorstep
I
f you pop into House of Dorchester at any time of the day
“We’re incredibly delighted with the exciting new chocolates
you will be greeted by the charismatic Joan Hambridge and her
from our products development team, who alongside coming up
team in the popular outlet shop.
with beautiful new flavours also make the weird and wonderful
The factory is nestled in the midst of houses at the bottom
giant rainbow chocolate bunnies and giant slabs of chocolate.”
of Victor Jackson Square and to the untrained eye it would be
Describing the company’s merger and expansion, Annie said it
hard to know there was such a big commercial enterprise there.
has really helped to take the products to a world stage.
However, the once small Dorchester-based factory has recently
She said: “I’ve seen lots of changes at the company, and lots of
expanded after being bought by Charbonnel
different chocolates, and lots of different
et Walker three years ago and following this in
customers. So it’s been fun. It’s a lovely place
“Everybody comes in and
March this year all production for the world-
to work and I think we’re very lucky in
says, ‘Ah! I love the smell.’”
renowned company moved to the
Dorchester to have this here.”
Joan Hambridge
Poundbury site.
To mark the historic royal wedding earlier
Charbonnel et Walker continues to make
this year of HRH Prince Harry and Meghan
its signature chocolates to the esteemed recipes of Mme Charbonnel
Markle, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, House of Dorchester
alongside world-renowned Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles and
made their own label chocolates for the Royal Palaces, a royal
Milk Sea Salt Caramel Truffles.
collection for Buckingham Palace and royal wedding slims for
House of Dorchester is now stocked all around the world,
department store John Lewis.
ranging from the shelves of John Lewis, Waitrose, Selfridges,
The House of Dorchester journey began back in 1963 when
Liberty and Harrods to Goulds in Dorchester, Olives Et Al in
Richard and Christine Ungaretti opened the ‘Dorset Maid’ chocolate
Poundbury, The Fridge in Dorchester and Darts Farm in Devon
emporium on High West Street Dorchester.
and as far as Macy’s in the US.
More than half a century later, the couple’s legacy lives on. Now
House of Dorchester Commercial Manager Annie Carter said:
called House of Dorchester, the company continues to make
“We expected business to grow and now we are proud to say we
chocolates to traditional recipes whilst creating innovative new
export our chocolates all around the world.
flavours and all the while retaining their Dorchester roots.
34 WWW.CELEBRATINGPOUNDBURY.CO.UK
Annie Carter, Ho
use
of Dorchester
Above: Sam Allner and Joan Hambridge at the
factory in Poundbury
Left: Carrot Cake Truffles by House of Dorchester
Below, right: Meghan Markle Sparkle chocolates
by Charbonnel et Walker
House of Dorchester first moved to
Poundbury in 1998. On July 7 1988, HRH
The Prince of Wales opened the factory
and has continued to visit regularly ever
since.
As the business has expanded over the
decades, so too have people's tastes and
expectations with regards to chocolate
and confectionery. House of Dorchester
makes classic chocolates but also new
and unusual flavours and textures such as
chilli chocolate, Carrot Cake Truffles and
sparkling glitter truffles.
Operation manager Mahesh Desai
watches over the busy production line
where workers still hand finish every
single chocolate.
“This chocolate factory is very
innovative,” he said. “We’ve got a great
team, a great atmosphere. And we’ve got
several people working for us from the
local area. Everything is done here from
start to finish. So from the raw material
to the finished product.”
Speaking of the recent growth in the
merger and extension, Mahesh added:
“With the growth of the business and
the merger between Charbonnel et
Walker and House of Dorchester, we’ve
had to increase our production facilities
and put an extension on last year so that
we can increase our dispatch area.
“We’ve doubled the staffing levels
and these will increase again in peak
times such as Christmas and Easter.”
The factory outlet shop is open
weekdays and offers a great range of
chocolate. It is a very closely guarded
secret of the community, who clearly love
the team and sneaking in to buy their
favourite chocolate.
Shop assistant Joan said: “It’s lovely
because everybody comes in and says,
“Ah! I love the smell.” Everybody loves the
smell. They love the smell and they get
quite giddy when they’re in here. And of
course we have tasters so a lot of them like
to taste the chocolates.”
OUTLET SHOP
House of Dorchester has its own outlet
shop which is very popular and a great
place to head for presents.
The shop is open 9am-3pm (Mon to Fri)
and the address is Victor Jackson Ave,
Poundbury, Dorchester DT1 3GY
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