I Just Learned Why It’s Called Hotel Chocolat, Even Though It’s Spelled ‘Chocolate’ And They’re Not A Hotel

Did you know the founder of Hotel Chocolat’s dad was the inventor of Mr Whippy? 

Yep ― Angus Thirlwell, who launched the brand in 2004, is the son of the iconic soft-serve inventor. 

Speaking to the BBC, he explained that the name of his own brand was a little less directly related to the product than his father’s most famous offering. 

What does Hotel Chocolat mean?

The name doesn’t technically mean anything, the founder said. 

“It was aspirational,” he told the BBC in 2014. “I was trying to come up with something that expressed the power that chocolate has to lift you out of your current mood and take you to a better place.”

The branding, therefore, was more vibes-based than technically accurate.

“Everyone agreed ‘chocolat’ sounded better than chocolate. It’s almost onomatopoeia, and suggests how the chocolate melts in your mouth,” Thirlwell said.

He didn’t explain what the “hotel” part has to do with anything, though ― we reckon it just sounded a bit posh, and maybe reminded people of those little chocolates you sometimes get on pillows. 

However, the company does now own a hotel in St Lucia, which was admittedly bought years after the company named itself.

Hotel Chocolat describes the destination as a “luxury eco-hotel on our working cacao farm in the Caribbean”.

Anything else?

Yep ― the company brought the Rabot restaurant, based on the St Lucian destination, to London in 2013. 

The brand actually started as an e-company back in 1993, later becoming The Chocolate Tasting Club in ’98. 

By 2003, however, the brand’s new identity had been born.