Looking for a romantic getaway this Valentine’s Day? You might check into the Hotel Chocolat, a British chocolatier that last year made Chicago its home base in the new world.
While there are no actual overnight stays at any of the four Hotel Chocolat locations in Chicago, a visit could provide an exotic European escape, with hot chocolate drinks, a wide variety of flavored chocolates and a cozy cafe to indulge.
Purchased by Mars two years ago, Hotel Chocolat may soon be expanding beyond Chicago, bringing elevated drinking chocolate and candy to markets across the country, according to Kelly Goering, 45, a veteran Mars executive who became the inaugural general manager of Hotel Chocolat US.
“Chocolate is a category that is ripe for disruption,” said Goering, 45, during a visit Thursday at the Lakeview store on Southport Avenue.
Hotel Chocolat launched its first Chicago store last April in Lakeview and has since opened three other locations, including its U.S. flagship on North Michigan Avenue. The immersive stores feature Hotel Chocolat’s “Wall of Chocolate” flavors, as well as its Velvetiser Café, serving the brand’s signature drinking chocolates — a continental take on hot chocolate and more.
Founded in 2004, Hotel Chocolat sources its cacao and its roots to a farm and hotel on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. The company also has a manufacturing facility and 160 retail stores in the United Kingdom.
In January 2024, candy giant Mars completed a $662 million acquisition of Hotel Chocolat, putting the premier British chocolatier under the umbrella of its Chicago-based candy division.
Hotel Chocolat soon began the mission of retail expansion in the U.S., starting in the home market as a standalone segment within Mars Snacking, which includes everything from M&M’s to Snickers. After the sale, Hotel Chocolat founder Angus Thirlwell, who remains president of the company, relocated to Chicago to oversee his creation’s expansion in the U.S., working with Goering.
In addition to four Chicago stores, Hotel Chocolat is set to open two suburban locations this year: Hubbard Woods and Oak Brook. Hotel Chocolat is also planning to expand into new U.S. markets on the West and East coasts, with a target of eight to 12 stores by year’s end, Goering said.
Longer term, the chain has more ambitious growth plans to open 70 to 100 stores across the U.S. within the next five to seven years, Goering said.
The 2,800-square-foot Southport store features a hot chocolate cafe and a wall of chocolate featuring small boxes with a dizzying variety of flavors, from Pistachio & Raspberry to Orange Marmalade, which sell for $8 each or three for $20, according to the illuminated sign above the display.
Another illuminated sign on the wall near the cafe’s tables and couches reads, “More Cacao, Less Sugar,” the company’s motto.
The store is redolent with the aroma of warm chocolate and an ambience evoking the agricultural roots of cacao with plants and growing tunnels. Beyond the cafe, shoppers will find a wide variety of gifting chocolates, with special packages targeting the chain’s first U.S. Valentine Day’s and upcoming Easter.
Last-minute shoppers can score major Valentine’s Day points with a modest budget, Goering said. For example, the “With Love” assortment features a variety of 27 heart-shaped truffles for $50.
In the pipeline for Easter is a football-sized sculpted white paper pulp egg filled with assorted chocolate — long a favorite in the U.K. — which will hit U.S. stores next week with a price tag of $45.
Early holiday returns have been promising, Goering said.
While declining to disclose revenue, Goering said the Chicago stores have seen over 60,000 customers since opening last spring.
“The response has been exceeding expectations, which is fueling the expansion and where we want to head,” Goering said.
About a half-dozen people wandered around the Lakeview store during the midday Thursday, casually perusing the offerings.
Amna Baig, 23, of Plainfield, was among them, stopping in with a friend for their first visit to Hotel Chocolat after learning about it on social media. She got a hot chocolate to go.
“It’s good quality,” Baig said. “I think it’s one of the best I’ve had. I’d get it again.”
Shoppers can also buy the actual Velvetiser for about $150, with packets of shredded chocolate for sale as well, enabling them to bring the Hotel Chocolat experience home.
For those who don’t think a chocolate shop can be romantic, just ask Jack Anton and Betsy Lamb, associates at the Lakeview store, who have been whipping up chocolate drinks together since its opening. The co-workers are now engaged.
Down the road, Hotel Chocolat is looking to add a European feature that has yet to travel across the pond — chocolate-flavored alcoholic drinks that employ the Velvetiser to whip up such concoctions as an espresso martini. But getting a liquor license in Chicago may take some time, Goering said.
While cocoa prices have risen dramatically in recent years, a box of chocolates may still be a relatively economical way to navigate Valentine’s Day.
A study released Wednesday by BMO, the Canadian banking giant whose U.S. operations are headquartered in Chicago, found that Chicagoans are spending an average of $183 per date, up from $169 last year.
The so-called “date-flation” may be a deterrent to going out, even when Valentine’s Day lands on a Saturday, as it does this year. BMO is projecting a 21% decline in the number of dates Chicagoans go on this year, according to a study.
Staying home with a box of chocolates may be an economic alternative.
“With a dating budget and open financial communication with their partner, Americans can keep the spark alive without setting flames to their budget this Valentine’s Day,” Paul Dilda, head of U.S. consumer strategy at BMO, said in a news release.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
