{"id":373308,"date":"2026-03-30T17:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/373308\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T17:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:28:16","slug":"you-do-end-up-elbow-deep-in-chocolate-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/373308\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You do end up elbow-deep in chocolate\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The idea of working in a chocolate factory conjures up images of opulent chocolate fountains, gorgeous scents wafting in the air and an endless supply of delectable sweet treats throughout the day. <\/p>\n

As with most external perceptions of workplaces of course, this isn\u2019t quite the reality. Just ask any of the country\u2019s leading chocolatiers who have just been creating thousands of decadent Easter<\/a> eggs during one of their busiest times of the year. We caught up them as they were right in the thick of it, literally.<\/p>\n

Working on a four-day week cycle in her Galway<\/a> chocolate factory, Gr\u00e1inne Mullins and her team of chocolatiers develop creations for Gr\u00e1 Chocolates, the business she founded in 2020.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s biggest seller is the classic Gr\u00e1 Chocolates box, consisting of five thick, glossy, hand-painted chocolate batons with fillings including salted caramel, honey, and hazelnut praline.<\/p>\n

Gr\u00e1 Chocolates makes around 10,000 chocolates every week. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe amazing thing about this job is that everyone has fantasies about working in a chocolate factory,\u201d says Mullins. \u201cAnd you do get that smell of chocolate when you walk through the door. There may not be rivers and fountains of chocolate like some people would imagine, but you do end up elbow or wrist-deep in chocolate, and I definitely smell like chocolate when I go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also a very technical and unglamorous side to working with chocolate, according to Daniel Linehan who founded Offaly-based Bon Chocolatiers<\/a> with his partner Georgia Quealy in 2020.<\/p>\n

Linehan is speaking at the start of the year, as he and his team of chocolatiers are in the throes of creating 50,000 truffles and about 400kg of chocolate clusters for the Simply Better range at Dunnes Stores as part of that week\u2019s production plan, before launching into creating its own Bon Chocolatiers Easter eggs the following week.<\/p>\n

\"EggsEggs ready for Easter at Gr\u00e1 Chocolates in Ballybrit, Galway. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien \"AtAt work in Gr\u00e1 Chocolates (from left) Robyn Williams, Niamh Gibbons and Juliette Simon. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people often overlook when it comes to chocolate, is that it\u2019s quite a technical ingredient,\u201d he says. \u201cIt has rules that need to be applied for things like time, temperatures, humidity and things like that \u2013 you don\u2019t see that in the Willy Wonka movie! <\/p>\n

\u201cReally what\u2019s in our hands all the time are thermometer probes, and we\u2019re always looking at the thermometers on the wall, and turning off and on the air conditioning, making sure the environment is right. That\u2019s probably the least glamorous part of being in the chocolate factory.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Three Irish artisans offering an immersive chocolate experienceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Within the wider food industry, chocolate is one of the more favourable ingredients for building a business, according to Daryl Johnson, who owns Bu\u00edoch Irish Chocolates. He works with four other chocolatiers in his factory in Kildare, and the company\u2019s biggest seller is its Dubai hex, consisting of a thick hexagon of Belgian chocolate stuffed with a pistachio kataifi mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fell into this business,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cI set the business up with my friend Ryan, who\u2019s a chef, during Covid. We did things like jams, chutneys and relishes but we realised how much of a pain making, packing and distributing things like that is so we switched to chocolate. <\/p>\n

\u201cChocolate is more fun to work with: it\u2019s shelf-stable [can be safely stored at room temperature for periods], you can play around with it, and there are lots of seasons where you sell a lot of it, like Christmas, Valentine\u2019s day and Easter. And everyone loves chocolate!<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not all Willy Wonka and rainbows. People always have a very romanticised idea of what it\u2019s like to be a chocolatier, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s a business and you\u2019ve to keep the whole machine chugging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DarylDaryl Johnson\u00a0of Bu\u00edoch\u00a0Irish Chocolates in Celbridge, Co Kildare. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien \"Johnson preparingJohnson\u00a0preparing chocolate bunnies for Easter. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien <\/p>\n

With Easter on the horizon for many months now, chocolatiers across the country have long been focused on getting chocolate eggs on shop shelves and delivered to customers\u2019 doorsteps during one of their most demanding times of the year. <\/p>\n

Eggs from Gr\u00e1 Chocolates have been distributed to high-end retailers across the country, while eggs bought directly by consumers on their website will have been made to order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start our busy season in the lead-up to Christmas and it\u2019s non-stop until after Easter,\u201d says Mullins. \u201cThe days can be longer for us leading up to Easter, but we have a very good idea of how many eggs we can make in a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChocolatesChocolates in production at Bu\u00edoch\u00a0Irish Chocolates. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien <\/p>\n

Linehan from Bon Chocolatiers considers creating Easter eggs a high point of his work as a chocolatier, as he enjoys the creativity that can be used to design the eggs. His January plans saw him making between 3,000 to 4,000 eggs this Easter with his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love making Easter eggs,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re very satisfying to make, because the egg has such a large surface so you can do really nice hand painting and brushstrokes. You\u2019re not confined by the small size of the chocolate so you can have a little bit more creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Easter eggs are not yet a part of Bu\u00edoch\u2019s range due to space constraints in its premises. Johnson is already looking for a larger facility so the company can continue to grow. \u201cThe next big step is to get a fully fledged chocolate factory that can manufacture 10 times\u2019 what we currently manufacture in a week,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t do Easter eggs, because I don\u2019t have enough space for the moulds and the eggs. I do chocolate bunnies and egg-shaped bars instead. We\u2019re making around 1,000 egg bars and 500 chocolate bunnies this Easter, but Easter eggs are in the pipeline for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Linehan of Bon Chocolatiers in Tullamore, Co Offaly. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien <\/p>\n

All of the chocolatiers enjoy the craft of creating their products and the hours they spend trialling and developing their chocolates. However, a strong supply chain is an essential component of the success of their businesses and their ability to create and develop their products. The rising cost of ingredients, particularly cocoa, has been a challenge that the chocolatiers have had to navigate.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Rising ingredient costs] have definitely stopped products coming to market,\u201d says Linehan. \u201cAs in, maybe ideas that we would\u2019ve previously had, we would\u2019ve trialled them but because of the cocoa crisis, we would\u2019ve said, \u2018Let\u2019s put a pause on that new product\u2019, because maybe that new product is very heavy on chocolate and doesn\u2019t have cream or caramel or anything else, so we do think, \u2018Maybe we\u2019ll wait on this\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullins adds: \u201cChocolate prices have gone through the roof, but our chocolate supplier is great \u2013 we try to forecast price rises together and stockpile the chocolate we need if we know there\u2019s a price hike coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also times when owning and running a chocolate factory and family life can collide, which Linehan learned when Bon won the coveted Supreme Champion title at the Blas na h\u00c9ireann Irish food awards last October.<\/p>\n

Linehan and his partner, and Bon co-founder, Quealy didn\u2019t attend the awards as Quealy had just given birth to their daughter, F\u00eda. In fact, the couple were driving home from the hospital with their newborn daughter when they got the call telling them they\u2019d won.<\/p>\n

\"LinehanLinehan shows the fruits of his labour at\u00a0Bon Chocolatiers. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say I never cried as much in my whole life as I did that week,\u201d recalls Linehan. \u201cI\u2019m looking at Georgia and crying, because she\u2019s a mother now, then I\u2019m looking at F\u00eda and I\u2019m like, \u2018Jesus, I\u2019m a dad\u2019, then I\u2019m looking at our social media and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my God, we\u2019ve just won this award. What\u2019s going on?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bon Chocolatiers, Gr\u00e1 Chocolates and Bu\u00edoch are all part of a rich tapestry of artisan chocolate-making in Ireland, and they take enormous pride in their products being a part of celebrations year-round, not just at Easter.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rising chocolate prices: \u2018There\u2019s only so much you can charge for a cookie\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Johnson, from Bu\u00edoch, says: \u201cI think some of the big chocolate manufacturers have shot themselves in the foot \u2013 yes, they can sell their products en masse, but the flavour of chocolate just doesn\u2019t seem to be there any more. I find that a lot more consumers are willing to support local chocolate businesses as they know they\u2019re getting pure chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullins from Gr\u00e1 finds it particularly rewarding when customers lodge repeat orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing repeat customers is so special, and people who love what we do and how we do it,\u201d she says. \u201cEven the name of our chocolate, Gr\u00e1, lets people know that there\u2019s a lot of love that goes into what we do. It\u2019s very fulfilling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all of the amazing artisan chocolatiers around Ireland are collectively showing and educating our customers about what chocolate is, so it\u2019s a really exciting time in the Irish chocolate world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linehan is also more than positive about the overall Irish chocolate trade. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not one good Michelin star restaurant in Ireland, there\u2019s loads of them and that makes that industry better,\u201d he says. \u201cIf there\u2019s more of us respecting the craft [of making chocolate], giving out a good product that is at a slightly higher price point, but the customer is educated enough [about chocolate quality] to realise, \u2018Oh this is what we\u2019re paying for\u2019, I think that\u2019s great. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love to see other chocolatiers doing well, and I love to see other people stepping into this industry and trying to give it a go and putting their own spin on it. I think it only drives the industry more, which is what I care about. I care about my business, of course, but I also care about the industry as a whole, because without the industry my business can\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The idea of working in a chocolate factory conjures up images of opulent chocolate fountains, gorgeous scents wafting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,160,28995,109388,13355,4500,61,60,3770,709,46885,1481],"class_list":{"0":"post-373308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-dunnes-stores","11":"tag-easter","12":"tag-food-production","13":"tag-galway","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-kildare","17":"tag-magazine","18":"tag-michelin","19":"tag-valentines-day"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}