Picking up seven Great Taste awards on her first try was the confidence boost chocolatier Chloe Oswald needed to take Chocolatia to the next level.
The Perth-born chocolatier picked up three three-star, one two-star and three one-star awards in this year’s Great Taste awards.
Chocolatia is also one of 25 businesses to be shortlisted for a prestigious Golden Fork award.
Her hazelnut latte bonbon, pecan pie bonbon and sea salt caramel filled bar were deemed “extraordinarily tasty” by the Guild of Fine Food – an accolade achieved by only 12 Scottish products.
“I entered seven products in my signature collection, so if I got one or two stickers they’d be on the boxes year round. To find out that every product we entered won something feels a bit ridiculous,” she laughs.
Chloe says “we”, though it’s just her with a helping hand from boyfriend Jamie.
The pair moved to Forfar a year ago to give the former Gleneagles pastry chef more room to work on Chocolatia.
Since going full-time last year, she hasn’t always found it easy to be a chocolatier by herself.
“Because I’m working on my own, there’s not much validation. It’s so easy to get stuck in your head and doubt yourself,” she confesses.
“There’s always that imposter syndrome lurking and thinking ‘what if these aren’t good enough?’
“Or looking at other businesses’ Instagrams who have staff and premises, thinking ‘my chocolates aren’t going to be as good as that’.
“To get the award is massive validation and gives me that confidence boost to say these are good. I need to stop doubting myself and the business.”
Chocolatia Great Taste success
Way back in March, Chloe submitted her chocolates to the Great Taste judging panel.
A total of 14,195 entries across all categories were judged blindly, so each Chocolatia product was clearly labelled with a number code to avoid confusion. Specialists from each sector judge the products and write feedback to the producers.
Across Scotland, products won 277 one-star, 99 two-star and 12 three-star awards. In total, 1.8% of entries received a three-star, 11% of entries a two-star and 28.8% of entries a one-star.
Chloe says: “Obviously I hoped that I would do well, but I didn’t think it would be this good.
“Even if you don’t get an award, you still get feedback. I was really wanting that feedback because working on my own, you don’t often get comments other than ‘these are amazing’.
“That’s great, but I do want to know if a flavour is too strong or something isn’t balanced enough.
“Because I’ve grown up working in kitchens, I’ve always been around people who will offer that. To get feedback from people who are more specialised in chocolate is great.”
Seasonal ingredients for the best taste
While the professional comments can help the chocolatier improve, loyal customers and their support keep her going.
At markets and on social media, Chloe speaks to lots of happy fans who will admit to eating a whole box of her treats in one go.
“It’s nice to know the judges felt the same as our loyal customers do,” she says.
“I get loads of validation and amazing support from customers. I think it’s a self-doubt thing that I think ‘is this technically good enough?’.
“People probably wouldn’t know some of the things I worry about, but I’m just like ‘that’s not perfect enough’.”
So how come Chocolatia is so tasty? That’s no secret, says Chloe. She simply uses good ingredients.
For Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas, she develops seasonal collections with Scottish ingredients. Like her raspberry cheesecake bonbon made with raspberries from Alyth.
Personally, she’s a fan of nutty flavours and will use roasted nuts wherever she can. But the flavour selling first at every market is salted caramel made with Scottish butter and Isle of Skye sea salt.
Each month, she prepares a batch of Chloe’s Signature Collection with a range of flavours she has developed through her career.
Expansion plans for Chocolatia
The award wins have Chloe looking towards Chocolatia’s future, hoping to find bigger premises for chocolate making soon.
“We definitely have room to grow and when we move, we’ll be looking to take on staff,” she says.
“Ultimately, I’d like to have a location where I can bring people in to do chocolate making classes with me. Right now, I go to other venues and host them, but I’d like somewhere I can attract people from all over.”
Her goal is for Chocolatia to be as well known as other popular brands – like the Highland Chocolatier – and the Great Taste wins will certainly give her a boost.
By showing new customers that her products are worth the investment, Chloe hopes to take her business to new heights.
“It’s not cheap, it’s peoples’ hard earned money and I totally understand that,” she says.
“I’m paying a bit more and we’re all paying a bit more, but we’re paying fair prices so that the people making the produce get paid and treated correctly.
“This is how chocolate should be and taste like, it should cost because everybody’s getting paid.”
