A POPULAR chocolate shop couple are celebrating ten years of success on Barney’s high street.
Kenny Walker and his wife Sarah Hall took over the reins at Chocolate Fayre on November 1, 2013, after having been loyal customers of the Horsemarket shop under its previous owners Sandra and David Sumner.
Mr Walker said: “We loved the product and we loved the set-up. Sarah always joked we would buy it if it came up for sale and one day she walked in with an estate agent brochure listing the business.”
It would prove to be a baptism of fire as it was the shop’s busiest period in the run-up to Christmas. They were fortunate that the Sumners’ key staff member, Christoph Herren, came with the business and he helped guide them.
Mr Walker said: “It was terrifying stuff in some ways but we got our feet under the table to some extent and in January we took a big breath and worked out what we had to do.”
The couple launched their first website at the same time as they were preparing for the Easter trade in 2014, creating additional online trade.
The chocolatier said: “We were working seven days a week. I remember working something like 65 days straight. It probably took us two-and-a-half years to outgrow that shop and it was becoming incredibly difficult, especially at Christmas time, to operate behind the scenes because of the space.”
By coincidence, the building that housed the former Twelve Bar Blues cocktail lounge came up for sale at the same time as a break clause matured on their tenancy at the end of 2019.
Mr Walker said: “We did the sums, got the finances together and made an offer.
“It was quite a project. It wasn’t a shop set-up, so there was a lot of things to change.”
The couple appointed contractor Richard Green and his team to refurbish the building, which took eight months.
“We opened the next generation of Chocolate Fayre on Friday, September 13, 2019.
“We were a bit concerned because it is a vastly bigger shop: could we retain that local feel and small shop service? I think we have managed that, and hopefully we have enhanced the high street experience as well.”
They had barely been in the new premises for six months when the Covid 19 lockdown arrived.
“That was the next challenge to get through, which we did luckily because we had a huge amount of local support on our website,” Mr Walker said.
“We got through that and came out the other end into a cost-of-living crisis.”
The cost of raw materials went up by about 15 per cent, and the cost of sugar in some products forced them up by as much as 60 per cent.
Kenny said: “You have to balance that off without putting too much financial pressure on your customers. It has been quite a journey, but we are still very much here.”
Now, ten years on and the growth of the business is again putting strain on the space. Indoor seating has had to be abandoned to ensure customers enjoy a comfortable browsing experience.
Mr Walker said: “The seating thing is something we have been asked about repeatedly and I have been reticent to return to it because of the space issues.
“When Dave Wilson retired from Wilson’s next door, we thought there is an opportunity – could we take that on, renovate it, make it operate as an expansion of the shop and a seating area as well?
“We ultimately did manage to buy it and the current project is to restore the building.”
Richard Green and his team have again been appointed by the couple to carry out the work.
The shopkeeper said: “We don’t have a deadline to work towards, so we can do it properly in the time it requires, but sometime in 2024 that will open and people will have a bigger, better retail experience. It also gives us bigger space to operate the website.”
Mr Walker attributed the success of the shop to the excellence of the staff and the many loyal, local customers.
