Ishida weighers help hotel chocolat meet surging demand for velvetiser
As a brand synonymous with quality and innovation , Hotel Chocolat uses only the best ingredients – a factor that extends to the production equipment at its manufacturing base in Huntingdon . So when the company invested in a dedicated plant for its Velvetiser drinking chocolate brand , two Ishida CCW-RV multihead weighers have become an integral part of the packing line solution .
The Velvetiser brand , launched in 2018 , is one of Hotel Chocolat ’ s greatest successes , enabling the creation of drinking chocolate using sachets of pure chocolate flakes . In order to meet huge consumer demand , Hotel Chocolat took the decision to convert existing warehouse space into a dedicated production line for the flakes , enabling a four-fold increase in capacity .
Offering a diverse range of sizes , from retail packs to larger variants aimed at
42 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk cafés and businesses , and over a dozen distinct flavours , weighing accuracy was a critical requirement for the success of the new packing lines .
Simon Wood , Head of UK Manufacturing Projects at Hotel Chocolat , had used Ishida in a previous food production role and knew its multihead weighers had the hygienic design , reliability , performance and precision to deliver .
“ Chocolate is understandably temperature-sensitive , the flakes used in the Velvetiser are small but non-uniform in size , and there ’ s always a residue of