Why we have had to increase our box prices today
We thought you might like to hear it from us as to why our box prices have gone up today. This is the first price increase we have made in over 2 years on our boxed chocolates which are our core lines and to be honest, we wish we weren't having to do this at all but in that time, a lot of things have changed for us as a small artisan food business!
Firstly, we have had to absorb a lot of ingredients price increases. Our chocolate costs have increased significantly, driven primarily by the worsening of the exchange rate since the Brexit vote. We are directly affected by this as we buy our chocolate in Euros. We operate in a very Euro-centric industry, and even the chocolate we buy from Madagascar that has got nothing to do with the EU, is priced in Euros as it is an old French colony. Our Colombian chocolate is similarly priced as it is delivered to a European warehouse first.
Other ingredients costs have also increased significantly - for example, you may have all noticed how much butter has gone up in the supermarkets in the past few months. We use butter to make our range of caramels & bakery and it hurts at the moment! Cream and milk have also increased as our local suppliers are impacted by increased costs in their business too.
We have also had to absorb big increases in staff costs from a combination of the introduction of the living wage & also the auto-enrollment pension scheme. Given that we make and pack all our chocolates by hand, these increases in staff costs have a significant impact on our business.
All this has combined to make life quite tricky for a small business such as ours and we have held off for as long as possible, trying to absorb all these increased costs, but cannot continue to do so.
We hope that you understand why we have had to do this & that you will continue to support us by buying our fine, fresh chocolates handmade with much love & care for you all here in Dorset.
Best regards,
Claire Burnet
co-founder