Personalised Chocolate Bars launched by teenage Entrepreneurs

Like many teenagers, Sophie and Jess Coot were always knocking on the door of the bank of mum and step-dad for cash to fund their burgeoning lifestyle of new clothes, make up, entertainment and holidays.In an attempt to divert the continued demands for cash that any parent of teenagers will recognise, their step father Peter Barker, came up with an enterprising solution to this inevitable never- ending demand for cash.  The solution was setting up an innovative on-line business to provide them with a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’!He says “I really wanted to support the girls but didn’t just want to give them hand outs, so I came up with the idea of giving them a means to make money rather than just giving them money.  For me the challenge was coming up with something that would inspire and interest them but also provide a realistic opportunity for them to earn money.  Personalised Chocolate was clearly the answer!  I undertook some on-line research and identified a quality chocolate and wrapper provider who could help with this and went about setting up the business towards the end of 2012.  Whilst it initially involved a lot of time and effort to set things up, by Christmas we had a sophisticated e-commerce site up and running, marketing material produced, our first craft fair stall booked and ‘The Chocolate Wrapper’ was open for business!  Since then it’s gone from strength to strength and provided the girls with an opportunity to make some good money and given us a fun initiative that can involve all the family.  Quite simply, the more everyone puts in the more they get out!   We track the sales and the agreement is that whoever makes the sale keeps the profit.  In addition to any sales they generate themselves, the girls also earn a respectable and above average hourly rate for packing, wrapping and shipping the chocolate.   In fact, Jess earns a much better hourly rate doing this than when she's working in a retail shop in Harpenden at the weekend!  Plus they can work from home in front of the television!The business, The Chocolate Wrapper, has turned into a successful family enterprise and is fast becoming a leading on-line store for Personalised Chocolate Bars.   These are a great idea for all occasions and events: birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, special occasions, thank yous, christenings, corporate events, seasonal treats, party bags, bespoke designs, fundraising and much more.  In fact, if there’s any occasion where you might send someone a card, The Chocolate Wrapper can provide a personalised chocolate bar for pretty much the same price! Jess takes up the story “this has been a good, fun way to make money! Sophie and I are in charge of the packing, wrapping and putting together the chocolates. Our mum Kath deals with the main enquiries and our step-dad Peter sorts the web site, does the online technical stuff to help gain orders and helps with printing the wrappers.  It’s really grown into an activity for the whole family. “Younger sister Sophie is equally enthusiastic. “We like the idea that we are earning money and we get excited about the success of the business.  We can fit in our hours around our school work and we get lots of help in the business from mum and Peter. “Since it began, The Chocolate Wrapper has received orders for every occasion you can imagine. Some of the more unusual requests include:• An order from Norway for 400 chocolate Wedding Favours two weeks before the wedding. The order was completed and delivered on time.• The chocolate wrapping family made corporate chocolates for a Gay & Lesbian Travel Company exhibiting at the Gay Wedding Show.• Bespoke ‘thank you’ chocolate bars for 150 helpers of the St Albans Scout and Guide Gang Show.• Unique customised birthday chocolate bars for birthday party invitations and birthday party bags.• Just about everything else - from chocolate for Star Trek and David Bowie fans to obscure personal birthday messages and party ‘thank yous’ with hand written messages from the children whose birthday it was.Kath adds ‘I love the fact that we can all get involved in this as a family.  Peter’s background in setting up and running small businesses  has been the driving force in getting this off the ground and now it’s up and running, we all love getting involved.   We’ve exhibited at some great local craft and wedding fairs to promote the business which has also been good fun.  The business continues to grow fast and we’ve received orders from all areas of the UK and Europe as well as plenty of interest from people in the local area too.   For me, it’s great that the girls are earning money from this rather than coming to me with cap in hand!’Concludes Peter, whose full time role is as the Operations Director for a Hertfordshire based company Wildgoose Events…  “The Chocolate Wrapper’s latest initiative has been to launch a 'Fundraising Affiliates Scheme' for worthy causes, including charities, schools, Scouts etc to enable them to make money from providing personalised chocolate bars too.We set them up with their own fundraising page on the website and then donate 10% of all the sales made by their supporters and contacts to their cause.  It’s hassle free, low risk for them, costs nothing to set up and has proved a popular addition to the site.  High Beeches School in Harpenden is the latest sign up and it’s proving a great idea for children’s party bags and other family occasions.   Everyone loves chocolate so if we can provide a way for worthy causes to raise funds off the back of this it’s clearly a win-win situation for all concerned!”  Full details on The Chocolate Wrapper can be found on the website www.thechocolatewrapper.co.uk