The chocolatier is placing curated ranges in new channels to capture everything from the weekly shop to last-minute gifting, without diluting its premium positioning.

Hotel Chocolat sees the potential in carefully chosen partnerships. In September, it launched on Deliveroo with a curated selection of boxed chocolates and smaller treats. While, its nearly year-long relationship with Tesco gives shoppers the chance to pick up hot chocolate refills during their regular grocery shop.

Such collaborations can put its products in front of more shoppers, while providing a “richness of data” that helps it understand the gifting journey.

Jonny Henshaw, head of sales at Hotel Chocolat, explains that these channels serve different moments rather than simply extending distribution. Deliveroo is aimed at urgent gifts and evening indulgence, while Tesco brings the brand into a more routine purchasing occasion.

Meeting the last-minute gifting moment

Hotel Chocolat’s Deliveroo partnership emerged from a shared view that consumers now expect purchases to arrive at pace. While the platform is increasingly associated with grocer and beauty, Henshaw saw an opportunity in gifting.

He explains: “A lot of gifting is happening at the last minute, and it’s almost the instant gratification of gifting. The birthday you’ve forgotten, or something to take round someone’s house for an evening meal.

“There was no one really doing that from a premium gifting proposition on those platforms, or specifically on Deliveroo. So we saw the opportunity to be the first premium chocolate gifting brand to go in.”

The range was built around two broad occasions: a “gift for you” and a “gift for me”. Boxed signature collections cater for shoppers sending or bringing a present, while smaller selector packs are designed for self-treating.

Henshaw notes: “We start with the occasion, and then work back on the range from there.”

Additionally, Deliveroo’s “rich” search and sales data allows the chocolatier to keep refining its offer as the partnership develops.

Adapting for the weekly shop

The Tesco partnership, launched with Hotel Chocolat’s hot chocolate range, required a different approach. Rather than transplanting its existing offer into grocery, the chocolatier adapted pack formats for the weekly shop.

Henshaw shares: “The biggest learning was essentially around the formats. We’ve built packs that ultimately exist around the weekly shop, and the Velvetiser refills specifically.”

A smaller unit count supports a more accessible price point and lets shoppers try several flavours, while making replenishment less of a planned purchase. Henshaw notes that customers can top up on drinking chocolate alongside their “Saturday big shop” instead of making a separate trip.

Although Tesco and Deliveroo accommodate very different purchasing missions, both rely on a tightly edited range. For Hotel Chocolat, reach is not about making every product available everywhere, but selecting the right products for each setting.

Protecting the premium proposition

Expansion through third-party channels can create both opportunities and challenges for premium brands. Henshaw argues that Hotel Chocolat’s credentials do much of the work. The company grows its own cacao, created the Velvetiser recipe and puts cacao first in its recipes.

He stresses: “Our job is just to keep the range curated, but also hold the standard of execution. It’s not about being choosy. It’s just being very deliberate with who we work with and also how we show up.”

Hotel Chocolat is also expanding its physical retail portfolio in the US, adding further locations beyond Chicago. But the immediate lesson from its UK partnerships is less about geographic scale than being present at distinct points in the customer journey.

From a considered store visit to a grocery top-up or a gift delivered within minutes, Henshaw believes the combined approach can “reach more consumers more often”. The challenge will be maintaining the curation and execution that make each of those encounters feel recognisably Hotel Chocolat.

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