Hotel Chocolat co-founder offers his ten steps towards chocolate heaven

4. Test out a partnership
“People share flats and months later they are no longer friends — business is similar. My partner and I spent a year working together in a different business. I respected his ability to sell and he hopefully respected my ability in finance. Working together is like one plus one makes three.”

5. Sell together
“I’d get orders from people like Ford and British Airways and he’d have the Dorchester Hotel, Vauxhall — we competed. Both selling created camaraderie and shared responsibility.”

6. Go without
“We didn’t spend money until we’d earned it. We probably didn’t have the most sparkling clothes or meals-out but weren’t any less happy. We were motivated by what we were doing.”

7. Pay yourself
“When we started, we lent our business £5,000 each and paid it back to ourselves at the rate of £500 a month. It gave us a goal, if you worked for the month you actually got something at the end of it, although it was your own money.”

8. A financial class helps
“When I was in the computer business I raised £250,000 completely unsecured. I don’t know anyone who has raised that. I was a chartered accountant so the bank thought investing in me was worth a try.”

9. Seperate bank figures
“Have two sets of figures: the figures to motivate your staff and more moderate figures for your bank.”

10. Seek out Opportunities
“A member of our chocolate tasting club sent us a book on cocoa production — which we read. We could have left it there. Instead we found an estate in St Lucia and went over. I made appointments with four out of 12 cabinet ministers — I wanted to know the industry wasn’t about to be nationalised. We came back with a signed contract. It was mad but it was our hearts.”