Listening to customers

According to Peter Harris, co-founder of Hotel Chocolat, even after 25 years his company is probably just beginning its journey. From its birth as a mint marketing operation it has matured into an award winning business with an annual turnover reaching £70m. Operating 75 shops in the UK, it now employs over 1,000 people and has invested millions in a state-of-the-art chocolate factory in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. In an interview for Cambridge Judge Business School's website Peter Harris, formerly Finance Director and now focused on the chocolatier's growth and development at home and abroad, talked about the company's 'brand soul' of originality, authenticity and ethics. He also addressed the future. "Hotel Chocolat has probably only just begun. It is successful in the UK but overseas I can see us growing successfully and becoming an international brand."