Adam Handling MBE on craftsmanship, cacao and the future of fine chocolate

Michelin-starred chef Adam Handling MBE has built his career around provenance, sustainability and creative British cooking. Now, he is bringing that same philosophy to chocolate. In this interview, Handling discusses the childhood memories that inspired the Adam Handling Chocolate Shop, the craftsmanship behind its hand-painted creations and the surprising complexities of moving from restaurants into retail.

He also explores what today’s consumers expect from luxury chocolate and explains why the category deserves to be celebrated in Speciality & Fine Food Fair’s new Chocolate Lane, launching at Excel London in April 2027.

What led you to launching the Adam Handling Chocolate Shop alongside your other ventures?

Chocolate has always been a real passion of mine, going right back to when I was a kid. One of my earlier food memories is making chocolate truffles with my mum when I was about 12, so opening a chocolate shop has been a bit of a childhood dream for me.

I’ve also always been fascinated by the fact that cacao, like coffee or wine, can have completely different characteristics depending on where it is grown. We tend to think of chocolate as one generic ingredient, but every cocoa bean has its own expression. The variety, the soil and the environment in which it is grown can all influence the flavour.
That was a big part of what I wanted to explore with the Chocolate Shop. We could take the same things that are important to us across the Adam Handling Collection – provenance, sustainability, craftsmanship and flavour – and really focus on them through one ingredient.

It was also a chance to do something completely different from a restaurant. We can roast and grind cacao, create our own chocolate products and experiment with different varieties, flavours and techniques, while giving people the opportunity to experience what we do in a much more informal way.
And on a personal level, my son doesn't actually like chocolate, so I’m still hoping that opening a whole shop dedicated to it might eventually win him over. I wanted him to understand that chocolate isn't just something that comes out of a wrapper – there is a whole process behind it, from the cacao fruit through to what we create in the shop.

How do you describe the shop to someone who’s never been?

I’d describe it as a celebration of proper chocolate – from the cacao bean right through to the finished product.

For us, it is really about showcasing the quality and individuality of cacao. We work with incredible producers and focus on single-origin and single-variety chocolate, because I want people to understand that chocolate can have as much variety and complexity as wine or coffee.

We roast and grind cacao in-house, and everything is finished in London, with our team making the products from scratch. Our hand-painted chocolates are individually finished by hand, alongside truffles, chocolate spreads, brownies, cookies, florentines, dipped fruits and nuts and our hot chocolate range.

Our Head Chocolatier, Paul Stradling, and the team put a huge amount of care into the products, so there is a real craftsmanship behind everything we do, but while it is a luxury chocolate shop, I don't want it to feel intimidating or overly precious. You can come in and buy a beautiful box of hand-painted chocolates as a gift, but you can also come in for a hot chocolate and something sweet to eat straight away. It is about making exceptional chocolate something people can discover and enjoy in lots of different ways.

The Chocolate Shop is tucked away on historic Maiden Lane in the heart of Covent Garden, and it’s a really inviting space to come in, have a look around and choose exactly what you fancy. All the beautifully hand-painted bonbons, truffles, cookies dipped fruits and chocolate spreads are laid out around the shop, so you can pick your favourites and build your own box or selection, or choose one of our ready-made selections filled with some of our most-loved flavours and fillings. We have our very favourite core flavours, but every season we introduce new varieties using delicious ingredients.

During the summer months we also offer our bespoke soft serve ice creams and iced chocolate, and in the winter our hot chocolate is said to be the very best you can get – you can even choose which type of chocolate you want us to make it from.  We create special chocolates and presentations for Valentine’s, anniversaries, Christmas, Halloween and all the big chocolate eating occasions, so whenever you come in, there’s always something new to try. 

How important was finding a premises in Covent Garden?

Luckily we already owned the space as our offices are above. When we started thinking about the Chocolate Shop, it felt like the perfect opportunity to give the space a new life. 

It is also just around the corner from Frog, so it naturally became part of the world we had already created in Covent Garden. I love that you can experience different sides of the Adam Handling Collection within a very small area – from Michelin-starred Frog and Eve Bar to the Chocolate Shop.
Covent Garden also felt like the right home for the shop because it is such an established part of London, and we already had a relationship with the area and the people who live, work and visit here.

What is your approach to sourcing suppliers for your chocolate products? 

For me, it always comes back to provenance and shared values. I want to know where our cacao comes from, how it has been grown and who is behind it. We work with producers who share our commitment to sustainability, regenerative farming, biodiversity and supporting farming communities, including specialist producers such as Original Beans and XOCO Gourmet.

I’m particularly interested in the idea that cacao can express a sense of place. A cocoa bean grown in one part of the world can taste completely different from one grown somewhere else, and I want our customers to experience those differences rather than treating chocolate as one generic ingredient. That is why single-origin and single-variety cacao is so interesting to us. The flavour is representative of where it comes from and the people who have nurtured it. Sustainability isn't just a tick-box exercise. It is about considering the whole journey of the ingredient – the land, the people who grow it, the way it is produced and, ultimately, the quality of what we put in front of our customers.
 
Each chocolate is individually hand-painted and finished in London. Can you talk us through the craftsmanship involved?

There is an incredible amount of work that goes into each chocolate. It is easy to look at a box of bonbons and think they are small, simple things, but there are a lot of individual stages involved before one reaches the customer.

Our Head Chocolatier, Paul Stradling, leads the team and there is a huge amount of precision involved in the process. Chocolate is incredibly technical, so temperature, texture and timing all matter, but there is also a real creative element to the way the chocolates are finished. Each bonbon is individually hand-painted in London, using different colours and techniques to create the final finish. The chocolates are then filled with their individual flavours before being sealed and prepared for the customer. We have a mixture of classic flavours and more unusual combinations, from Cornish brown butter, Piedmont hazelnut and lemon tart to rum caramel and woodruff caramel. We also create seasonal and signature chocolates throughout the year, so there is always something new to discover.

Our new Foraged Collection is a great example of how we combine that craftsmanship with a sense of place. Created using foraged local ingredients, each chocolate tells a story about one of the places that is important to us. The collection includes Woodruff & Hazelnut, inspired by Frog; Raspberry, Rose & Pistachio from Ugly Butterfly; Wild Chamomile & Peanut from The Tartan Fox; and Cherry, Meadowsweet & Almond from The Loch & The Tyne. Each one takes ingredients and flavours associated with those different landscapes and translates them into a chocolate.

The craftsmanship isn't just in how the chocolates look – it is about getting the balance of flavour and texture right in every single one. I think that hand-finished element is really important. We are taking an incredible raw ingredient and putting a lot of care into turning it into something that is both beautiful and delicious.

How does running a retail-forward business compare to running restaurants? 

It has been a really interesting learning curve because, although there are obvious similarities, retail is a very different business from running a restaurant. We had never operated a retail business on this scale before, so there were lots of new things to learn, from packaging, nutritional information and labelling to shelf life, stock and logistics.

The customer relationship is different. In a restaurant or bar, you have a guest for two or three hours and can control almost every element of their experience – welcome, atmosphere, service, food, drink and departure. With chocolate, the interaction in the shop may only last a few minutes, and often the product is taken away, gifted or eaten later. The product has to deliver the experience on its own.

Consistency becomes even more important. A restaurant dish is made and served almost immediately. Chocolate may be produced, packaged and sold days later, so you have to think about shelf life, storage, temperature, packaging and how the product travels, while making sure it tastes exactly as intended.

You are managing stock in a very different way. Restaurants are constantly forecasting covers and ordering fresh produce accordingly. A chocolate business involves forecasting retail demand, production runs, packaging and finished stock – and dealing with huge seasonal peaks around Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter and gifting occasions.

Packaging becomes part of the hospitality. In a restaurant, the plate, room and service help tell the story. With a chocolate brand, the box has to do some of that work. How it looks, feels and opens is part of the experience, particularly when you're operating at the luxury end of the market.

There is a different commercial model. Restaurants and bars are constrained by the number of seats, opening hours and how many services they can physically deliver. A chocolate brand potentially has much greater reach, through the shop, online sales, gifting, corporate business, wholesale and collaborations. That brings opportunities to scale, but also requires a completely different infrastructure.

The shop itself still needs to feel like hospitality. Particularly for a chef-led chocolate business, you don't want it to feel like someone simply walking in, picking up a box and paying. There is an opportunity for the team to talk about the chocolates, origins and flavours, help customers build their own selection and make the experience personal.

What are the connections between the shop and your hospitality businesses?

The Chocolate Shop is very much part of the Adam Handling Collection. It comes from the same philosophy that runs through all of our businesses – provenance, seasonality, luxury, quality of produce and craftsmanship.

There is also a very direct connection between the Chocolate Shop and our restaurants. Chocolates made in the shop are used as part of the menus across the Collection and are also sold at our restaurants, so the Chocolate Shop isn't operating in isolation, and a substantial proportion of our sales are through our Adam Handling Collection online shop too, where you can also buy our books, Ahrelia caviar and our own-label English sparkling wines.  We’re also developing sales to other restaurant operators, giving them an opportunity to carry bespoke chocolates made to a level that reflects their own standards and styles. 

It gives us another way to develop ideas and flavours that can then be experienced across the wider Collection. Our Foraged Collection is a great example of that connection, with chocolates inspired by Frog, Ugly Butterfly, The Tartan Fox and The Loch & The Tyne. Each flavour reflects something about those different places and the way we cook.

The Chocolate Shop is also just around the corner from Frog and Eve in Covent Garden, so it has naturally become another part of our presence in the area.
Ultimately, the restaurant and the Chocolate Shop are different expressions of the same philosophy. In our restaurants, we might tell a story through a dish; in the Chocolate Shop, we can tell that story through cacao, flavour and craftsmanship.

What do you think today’s consumers are looking for from luxury and speciality chocolate?

I think people are becoming much more interested in the story behind what they eat. They don't just want something that looks beautiful; they want to understand where it came from, who made it and why it tastes the way it does. For me, luxury isn't necessarily about making something more expensive or more elaborate. It is about quality, craftsmanship, provenance and giving people an experience they couldn't easily have somewhere else.

Chocolate is particularly exciting because there is so much to discover. Once you start looking at where the cacao was grown, the variety and the way it has been produced, you realise that chocolate can have an incredible amount of complexity.

I think consumers are also increasingly interested in authenticity. They want to know that there is a genuine story behind a product and that the people making it actually care about the ingredients and the way they are produced.

That is what we are trying to create with the Chocolate Shop – products that are beautiful and feel special, but where the flavour and the quality of the cacao are always the starting point.
 
Speciality & Fine Food Fair will be launching a new ‘Chocolate Lane’ section for 2027, why do you think chocolate is a category we should be celebrating within the speciality food market?

Chocolate absolutely deserves its own place within the speciality food market because there is so much more to it than the finished product we see on a shelf.
It starts with the cacao itself – where it has been grown, the variety, the soil and the environment – and then there is everything that happens afterwards, from fermentation and processing through to roasting, grinding and finally the skill of the chocolatier.

I often think of cacao in a similar way to wine because of that sense of place. A grape variety grown in two different parts of the world can produce completely different wines, and cacao can be the same. The flavour can tell you something about where it came from. Once you understand that, chocolate becomes a really fascinating speciality ingredient rather than simply a sweet treat.  It also sits at the intersection of so many things that are important to the speciality food market – agriculture, sustainability, provenance, craftsmanship, creativity and, increasingly, education. 

There are producers doing incredible work at origin, and then there are chocolatiers, pastry chefs and chefs finding new ways to showcase those ingredients. 
I think Chocolate Lane is a great opportunity to help people understand just how much there is to discover. Chocolate has this incredible ability to be both familiar and completely surprising, and I think that makes it a really exciting category for the speciality food market.