A York hot chocolate company is opening up a unique café in the city.
Chocolate & Co is getting ready to open their first bricks and mortar cafe on Lowther Street in the Groves.
The firm sells drinking chocolate buttons online, as well as taking a mobile ‘chocolate pod’ to events where they serve up hot delicious drinks.
Now the team is setting up a permanent cafe in a building previously home to a betting shop – with the aim of extending their good works in the local community.
The company was started in 2021 as a way of responding to tragedy, after its founders lost two close friends, Damien and Claire, to addiction.
Chocolate & Co offers work and training to those struggling with addiction or a history of offending, and aim to help give a fresh start to some of the most marginalised people in the community.
“It’s the whole reason we’re doing it,” said founder Linda Barrie. “So we can offer more hours and more opportunity.
“The mobile pod has been brilliant but we’ve been limited in how many hours we can offer and how many people we can employ. We’ve got more scope now, which is really exciting.”
Opening soon
They are hoping to open the doors the first week of September and the reaction, has already been super positive.
“People have been so positive in the community, we’ve had so much support. We’ve had an awful lot of support from other businesses who have given us their time and expertise,” said Linda.
“We’re hoping that we can be a good addition to the community – it’s lacking a coffee shop in the heart of it.
“Hopefully we can provide a really lovely space for people to come and enjoy a coffee and a nice cake or a light lunch. We’re really hoping that we can become part of the community.”
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The cafe will have a strong coffee and hot chocolate menu, with speciality ‘freakshakes’.
“Hot chocolates are our speciality,” said Linda. “We’re going to be doing some really ‘wow’ milkshakes and ‘wow’ hot chocolate.
“They’re all made with real chocolate so it’s going to be very delicious.”
There will be lots of homemade cakes and bakes on offer too, which will be made in house.
Chocolate & Co are hoping to set up a cake-away take out option too, for people on their way to work or if they don’t have time for a sit down snack.
The refurbishment process so far has been “going really well”. The team at Chocolate & Co have been working with Laura Sanderson from York creative agency Dogeatcog on the designs for the new establishment.
They have also been working with Laura on a rebrand for Chocolate & Co.
“It’s really lovely branding influenced by the two friends that we’ve lost,” explained Linda.
“We’re going to be selling our hot chocolate and our coffee from the cafe as well, so people can take it home to enjoy or to give it as a gift.”
The hot chocolates will be sold in single serve pouches or six pouches of drinking chocolate and their house blend coffee will be sold in beans or grounded.
The cafe are also asking for any groups in York who are looking for a space to host their meetings or relax with coffee and cake to get in touch.
“If you go into a cafe you can’t generally book, but we’d be really happy for groups who wanted to book us out or book a table for maybe eight to ten people.
“We’d love to be able to work with that and accommodate that.”
Chocolate & Co are also currently recruiting for their new cafe. If you’re interested in a space for your group or finding out more about recruitment, please contact Linda on 01904 946749 or at [email protected].
For more information visit the Chocolate & Co website.
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