![\"Luxury](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1_Box-of-Chocolates.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLuxury chocolate maker Marasu\u2019s Petit Fours has entered administration – it was London’s largest producer of premium chocolates from its huge factory in London<\/p>\n
20:16, 24 Mar 2026Updated 12:15, 25 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
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Chocolate makers have been facing difficult market conditions (stock)(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A major UK chocolate maker which produced 300 tonnes every year form its factory in London has entered administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marasu’s Petit Fours was bought by the Prestat Group in 2006 and has since supplied big brands like Prestat, Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges and Harrods<\/a>. It was founded in 1986 by patissiers Rolf Kern and Gabi Kohler, with the aim of making premium chocolates<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company<\/a> became the capital’s largest producer of fancy chocolates and was pumping out more than 300 tonnes a year from its 25,000 sq ft facilities in Park Royal. However, it has faced difficult market conditions in recent months.<\/p>\n The chocolate industry has struggled with global cocoa prices surging to record highs in 2024 as cocoa crops were hit by disease and extreme weather.<\/p>\n Administrators<\/a> were appointed to Marasu’s on February 6 with Alessandro Sidoli and Jessica Barker of Xeinadin Corporate Recovery Limited named as joint administrators.<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n It followed Prestat also going into administration. Prestat is still operating as an online store. The luxury chocolatier, founded in 1902, shut its historic Piccadilly shop in central London in February.<\/p>\n In recent years, the chocolate industry has struggled with global cocoa prices surging to record highs in 2024 and cocoa crops being hit by disease and extreme weather<\/a>, including flooding and droughts, in key producing countries such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which together account for about 60% of the world’s production.<\/p>\n The closure comes as part of a prepack administration deal that will see Prestat taken over by chocolate maker L\u2019Artisan du Chocolat, which is owned by Polus Capital Management.<\/p>\n The chocolate industry has struggled in recent years (stock)(Image: Katsumi Murouchi via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Prestat held two Royal Warrants and counted the Royal Family<\/a>, including Princess Diana<\/a>, among some of its most famous customers. In 2003, The Economist magazine even named it as one of the top three chocolate shops in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Piccadilly shop inspired Roald Dahl, who referenced Prestat\u2019s truffles in his novel My Uncle Oswald.<\/p>\n The store, which was one of the few to continue making its own chocolates, is also said to have inspired the fantastical sweet shop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luxury chocolate maker Marasu\u2019s Petit Fours has entered administration – it was London’s largest producer of premium chocolates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,2760,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-494705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-chocolate","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Background](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2_Broken-dark-chocolate-background.jpg\")
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