The flagship store is a first for the luxury chocolatier and cacao grower
A chocolate shake at the new Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
To any chocolate fan, a chocolate cafe with chocolate quite literally on tap is pretty much the stuff of dreams.
That’s exactly what’s arrived in Manchester with the opening of the new Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe.
It’s a flagship store for the luxury chocolatier and cacao grower, which has also recently opened smaller Velvetiser Cafes in Bury and Wilmslow.
This two-floor concept store in Cross Street, facing the Royal Exchange Theatre, offers a cafe, with seating on both floors, and also a retail space.
Molten chocolate on tap (Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
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With the success of its Velvetiser hot chocolate machine, the brand’s popularity has soared and the new store is packed with products to try in the cafe itself, but also buy to take home, or as a gift.
On the menu there’s shakes for £6.25, hot chocolates for £5.75, and more sundaes (£7.50) than anywhere else, including some exclusive to Manchester flavours.
You can buy chocolate shot (milk, caramel-milk or dark) for drizzling or dipping your treats(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
There are some focaccia breads for those wanting something a little savoury and it also sells pastries, cakes and crownies – one of its biggest sellers – with chocolate shots available by the glass (milk, dark or white), priced £2.50, for drizzling or dipping your selection of treats.
Packed with boxes of the chocolates of all shapes and sizes, you can get an exclusive ‘A Gift from Manchester’ sleeve to cover your box and there’s even a quiz on a screen to make your own ‘chocolate love match’ based on your preferences.
A unique ‘Velvetiser – create your box’ section sits at the back of the store, where shoppers can mix and match the drinking chocolate sachets to build their own personalised box.
The flagship store is a first for the luxury chocolatier and cacao grower(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
And there’s a Wall of Chocolate where you can choose from more than 100 house-crafted chocolates in packs of six. With flavours from Lemon Cheesecake and Billionaire’s Shortbread, to Treacle tart and Eton Mess, these cost £5.45 each, or three for £14.
The concept store has been launched as a ‘multi-sensory experience’ as much as a shop and cafe and has been ‘designed to bring guests closer to the roots – and joy – of chocolate’.
The Wall of Chocolate where you can choose from more than 100 house-crafted chocolates in packs of six or by the block(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
Inside a Cacao Cam offers a ‘live style’ video feed to the brand’s Saint Lucian cacao farm. Viewing through a telescope, with three immersive sound buttons featuring the island’s tree frogs, crickets, and national Saint Lucian parrot, guests are invited to ‘connect more deeply with the origin of the chocolate they love’.
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The store also showcases original artwork from Manchester Metropolitan University’s design and illustration students, interpreting the cacao journey from the sun-drenched Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia to Manchester.
The downstairs seating area(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
Behind the cafe sits an Agroforestry Wall educating guests on how cacao thrives when grown alongside nature and downstairs there’s an Exhibition Space where people can find out more about the bean-to-bar journey through displays and soundscapes.
As well as a large seating area, there’s an event space where the company will soon be hosting immersive events from cacao storytelling to hands-on chocolate tempering.
Manchester’s Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Cafe is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 6pm on Sunday.