Each year BAFTA congratulates all Film nominees by giving them a Nominee Gift Bag, a wonderful collection of coveted items from their Official Film Awards Partners. This year, we are offering you the opportunity to win one of these exclusive bags. All you have to do is correctly predict the 3 winners of the following categories…

• Leading Actor in 2013
• Leading Actress in 2013
• Director in 2013

A list of the nominees for these awards can be found here.

To enter the competition simply comment on this post with your answers. Correct answers will be entered into a prize draw to win the exclusive Nominee Gift Bag which includes our very own Champagne Truffles. Good Luck!

Congratulations to our competition winner Tanya R who correctly predicted the winners, Daniel Day-Lewis, Emmanuelle Riva and Ben Affleck.

* Terms and Conditions – All entries must be received by 8pm Sunday 10 February 2013. The prize of one BAFTA Nominee Gift Bag will be awarded to the contestant who correctly guesses the winners of all three questions (winner of Leading Actor in 2013, Leading Actress in 2013 and Director in 2013). In the case of multiple correct entries, all correct answers will be entered into a prize draw and the winner selected at random. The prize must be accepted as offered and cannot be substituted for another ‘gift’ or cash. The winner will be notified by comment reply and announced on the blog post on Tuesday 19th February 2013. No purchase necessary. Entrants must be UK residents at least 18 years of age. Sorry! Competition not open to Hotel Chocolat employees, their families, any partner running this promotion or affiliated companies, their employees or their families.

We are delighted to announce that we have won the grand prize at this year’s Retail Week Interior Awards – the Retail Interior of the Year – for our flagship Roast+Conch store in Covent Garden designed by Terry Moore (www.terrymooredesign.com). This jewel in the industry’s crown took place on 27th September at London’s Park Lane Hotel, where 700 top retailers and designers gathered to hear the results.

Roast+Conch is our new Covent Garden store that encompasses all that we do under one roof – with daily cocoa bean roasting and ultra fresh, small batch chocolate making in a theatre kitchen, as well as a café menu and our exclusive brewed cocoa drinks. You can also find all of your favourite Hotel Chocolat gifts and treats in the ground floor boutique, with the café and kitchen in the atmospheric basement.

Roast+Conch continues our strong design ethos that successfully marries the dual personalities of Hotel Chocolat – namely the sophisticated, fashion-led side of our stylish products and the earthy, authentic aspects of a hands-on cocoa grower. Roast+Conch Covent Garden was created to take our design ethos to another level – being a restful sanctuary for our guests, while also strongly reflecting the fact that we are one of the world’s few cocoa growing chocolatiers. We are absolutely delighted that our vision has been recognised with such a high profile award.

National Chocolate Week just wouldn’t be complete without the Chocolate Unwrapped show – which this year is on 13th & 14th October in The London Film Museum, Covent Garden. It’s a chance for visitors to completely immerse themselves in the world of chocolate, from cooking demonstrations and talks, to tasting chocolate from around the world.

So come along and visit us, where we’ll be showcasing our Less Sugar, More Cocoa chocolate philosophy and staging a Roast+Conch Pop Up Café. You’ll be able to taste our unique cacao cuisine dishes, as well as trying our revolutionary new brewed cocoa drinks.

We hope to see you there!

For more details and to book tickets please see chocolateunwrapped.co.uk

In celebration of National Chocolate Week, the Academy of Chocolate is hosting a conference that will bring together an enormous array of chocolate and cocoa experts. It’s set to be a fascinatingly day, covering everything from cocoa genetics and sustainability, to flavour combinations, chocolate tasting and a whole lot more in between.

It’s aimed at anyone with an interest in cocoa and chocolate, whether you’re a budding chocolatier, starting a chocolate business, or simply love chocolate. The line up of participants covers cocoa growers, buyers and experts, chocolatiers, expert tasters and chocolate entrepreneurs.

Academy of Chocolate Conference – 12th October – RAC, Pall Mall, London

The competition has now closed. Congratulations to the winner Alison, and the winning entry -“This is what the judges have been searching for….this chocolate DEFINITELY has the X-factor!” 

The X-Factor girls enjoyed a chocolate tasting adventure at our hotel’s Boucan Restaurant during their recent stay in Saint Lucia. We snapped this photograph on set and are giving away a Beauty Box for the funniest caption. Simply enter by leaving a comment on this blog post.

* Terms and Conditions – All entries must be received by midnight Thursday 4th October 2012. The prize of one luxurious Beauty Box worth £50 will be awarded to one entry chosen by the Hotel Chocolat judges. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The prize must be accepted as offered and cannot be substituted for another ‘gift’ or cash. The winner will be notified by comment reply and announced on the blog post on Saturday 6th October 2012. No purchase necessary. Entrants must be UK residents at least 16 years of age. Sorry! Competition not open to Hotel Chocolat employees, their families, any partner running this promotion or affiliated companies, their employees or their families.

We are always delighted to win awards for our chocolate – this year alone we have won no less than 7 Gold Star Awards at this year’s Great Taste Awards. It’s a real seal of approval for what we’re doing and we’re particularly pleased that two of our passions have been rewarded this year – our Less Sugar, More Cocoa philosophy and our Saint Lucian cocoa. Both of which can be tasted in our 50% cocoa ‘dash of milk’ milk chocolate and the 100% Island Grower’s Bar.

The Great Taste Awards are acknowledged as one of the benchmarks of high quality in Britain and have been described as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world. To get a taste of our award winning chocolates, from this year and last, we recommend the following:

Spotlight On Midnight Mints (2012 Great Taste Awards)
Chilli Liquid Chocolat (2011 Great Taste Awards)
66% Rabot Estate Dark Chocolate (2011 Great Taste Awards)
50% ‘Dash of Milk’ Praline (2012 Great Taste Awards)
100% Island Growers Bar (2012 Great Taste Awards)
Hazelnut Bûche (2012 Great Taste Awards)
Spotlight On Salted Caramel (2011 Great Taste Awards)

To celebrate the London Design Festival’s tenth anniversary,  we have collaborated with leading British designer Paul Cocksedge  to create an original sculpture, made entirely from chocolate. Paul has used almost a thousand pieces of our chocolate to create a wall-hanging pattern that interacts with the viewer – to become something beyond itself.

“I wanted to leave these beautiful pieces of chocolate as they were, instead of creating an object simply to be looked at, and so losing the whole idea of taste,” Paul explains. “The true art of the chocolatier appeals to your palate as well as your eyes, and through the process of placing these exquisite pieces in various patterns, the project started to grow…”

Closer inspection of the sculpture, entitled “Gift”, reveals how the project comes alive. Taking its visual cues from the iconic chocolate box, this large, intricate and colourful mosaic also conceals a secret –  a QR code – and a surprise gift when you scan it…!

The QR code leads the visitor to our website where they are rewarded with a voucher. Following a journey through London to our Roast+Conch store in Covent Garden, the voucher can be exchanged for a complimentary, limited edition chocolate box, specially made for the London Design Festival 2012. The chocolate’s journey from eye to mouth has been completed!

Paul’s contribution to ‘Designs on Chocolate’ for the London Design Festival is a striking blend of traditional crafts and digital technology.

Paul adds: “This has been an exciting project for me, working with a material like chocolate for the first time. The idea is to create a pattern which is seemingly random but which, through the subtle introduction of technology, becomes something altogether new, the start of a journey.”

For us, we’re delighted to be part of this and to collaborate with such a talented, young British designer. We’ve been championing British creativity ever since we established our company and started making British chocolate exciting again.  Chocolate is something that just cries out to be shared and so the concept of our sculpture, that it has a gift to give back to the viewer, perfectly captures the enormous appeal of chocolate.

The creation will be on show for the duration of the London Design Festival at Tom Dixon, The Dock, Wharf Building, Portobello Dock, 344 Ladbroke Grove, London W10 5BU.

Photographs by Mark Cocksedge

Our Reading Store entered the Reading Retail Awards and came away with two prizes! Regional manager Gary Caller and Reading’s Assistant Store Manager Jess, attended the black tie awards ceremony and enjoyed a champagne reception and three course meal.

The first award ‘Learner of the year’ was to be won was by Jess, who recently graduated from her Chocolate Diploma. Learner of the year is awarded to an individual who has achieved success through a formal learning programme and whose success has not only made a difference to their own personal development but has also benefited their employer and work colleagues.

The second award to be won was ‘Store Manager of the year’, won by Kirsty. ‘Store Manager of the year’ is awarded to a manager from a retail store that has demonstrated an excellence in the ability to deliver a brand or company’s values and message. They have proven their ability in leadership, retail and general management skills. Areas for recognition include; staff incentives or training, introductions of new services for the benefits of customers, environmental innovations and enhancements to customer satisfactions.

Congratulations to our Reading Hotel Chocolat team, and thank you to all those who voted!

We’re delighted to have no less than seven Gold Star winners in this year’s Great Taste Awards, including two made with Saint Lucian cocoa from our own estate.

To have won so many is a real seal of approval for what we’re doing and we’re particularly pleased that two of our core passions have been rewarded – our Less Sugar, More Cocoa philosophy and our Saint Lucian cocoa.  Both of which can be seen and tasted in our 50% Cocoa ‘Dash of Milk’ Pralines and the 100% Island Grower’s Bar.

The Great Taste Awards are acknowledged as one of the benchmarks of high quality food and drink here in Britain and have been described as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world and ‘the epicurean equivalent of the Booker Prize’.  This year over 2,500 producers entered over 8,800 of their products for blind tasting by over 350 judges.

Our full list of Gold Star Award Winners – Spotlight On Midnight Mints • 50% ‘Dash of Milk’ Praline (made with Saint Lucian cocoa) • Salted Caramel • Chocolate Bûche • Orange Tangs • 100% Island Growers Bar (made with Saint Lucian cocoa) • Caramel Smudge

Last week Roast+Conch played host to Hotel Chocolat’s first event with London’s elite Yelpers. Yelp.com worked with our team at Roast+Conch to host an evening of chocolate tasting along with sampling of our revolutionary new cocoa drinks – the cocoa macchiatos and Liquid Chocolat flowed!  The evening proved to be a great success, with over 50 guests sampling the best of what our Covent Garden store has to offer. But don’t just take our word for it, you can see for yourself what they had to say and follow the reviews of Roast+Conch on the yelp website here.