News: Shocolat reopens in Rotherham town centre

Shocolat, the high-quality chocolatier, patisserie and coffee shop is reopening in the town centre after a burst water pipe damaged their new Rotherham premises but did not dampen the business vision of the owners.

With careers at various bakeries and qualifications in bakery and patisserie, Russell Hardy and Karen Knight dreamed of running their own business. A chance meeting with the Rotherham Enterprise Project start up coach Darren McDool led Russell and Karen to finally put the wheels in motion to make Rotherham town centre a mecca for South Yorkshire's chocolate and posh pastry lovers.

Karen, an expert in the art of producing hand-made chocolate, truffles and wedding cakes, has developed many recipes and flavours for her chocolate products and she shared a desire with Russell to own her own business one day too.

Shocolat, which also serves high teas, coffees, sandwiches, paninis, confectionery and specialist and custom wedding cakes and Christmas cakes, opened in September 2010 and is located on Corporation Street, opposite Rotherham Minster. Its style is vintage, french inspired with antique furniture, so very different from its bakery and coffee shop competitors.

Russell said: "We had a clear vision of how we wanted Shocolat to be, but lacked the business skills to make it happen. Without Darren's help and the advice we received from the Rotherham Enterprise Project we would not have been able to do this.

"We are really grateful for the way they helped us with structuring our business plan, advising us on costings and cash flow and helping us gain a bank loan and a grant from the council's Vitality Grants scheme.

"We begin our days at 3am and bake everything ourselves using locally sourced produce so we like to think we're helping other small businesses in Rotherham as well as providing high quality products for our customers in a warm and welcomingly vintage setting.

"I think the Rotherham Enterprise Project is absolutely wonderful and the work it is doing for the town is really commendable. Its operations in schools are so important, especially when you consider that at the present time it is incredibly difficult to find a job, so Rotherham's youngsters will hopefully have the ability off their own bats to create work for themselves in future years and thrive due to a deeper understanding of business and enterprise practices that people of my generation had to learn themselves."

Jackie Frost, from Rotherham Youth Enterprise, one of the delivery partners of the Rotherham Enterprise Project, added: "Russell and Karen's story is fantastic because it shows that when a passion is evident at a young age, the need to give someone the tools to develop it for themselves can be vital.

"We worked closely with Russell and Karen and they now have the business they have both wanted from an early age and people in Rotherham and the wider community in South Yorkshire have a high quality, boutique chocolatier and patisserie that brings a certain je ne sais quoi to the town centre."

The Rotherham Enterprise Project offers professional support for businesses and is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Rotherham Enterprise website

Images: Rotherham Enterprise