Major UK chocolate maker plunges into administration – in business for 40 years | UK | News
The leading British chocolate manufacturer, which produces 300 tons annually in its factory in London, went bankrupt.
Marasu’s Petit Fours was acquired by the Prestat Group in 2006 and has since supplied prestigious brands such as Prestat, Fortnum and Mason, Selfridges and Harrods. It was founded in 1986 by confectioners Rolf Kern and Gabi Kohler with a passion for producing world-class chocolates.
The firm has become the capital’s leading luxury chocolate manufacturer, mass producing more than 300 tonnes a year from its 25,000 square meter facility in Park Royal. However, it has faced increasingly difficult market conditions in recent months.
Prestat held two Royal Warrants and counted the Royal Family, including Princess Diana, among his most famous clients. In fact, in 2003, The Economist magazine listed it as one of the three best chocolate shops in the world.
On 6 February Marasu was appointed administrators and Alessandro Sidoli and Jessica Barker of Xeinadin Corporate Recovery Limited were appointed joint administrators. This comes after Prestat also went into administration, although the brand continues to trade as an online store. The luxury chocolate maker, founded in 1902, closed its historic Piccadilly store in central London in February.
The chocolate industry has been hit as global cocoa prices are set to hit record levels in 2024 as cocoa crops in key producing countries such as Ghana and Ivory Coast are ravaged by diseases and extreme weather conditions such as floods and drought.
These two countries together account for approximately 60% of the world’s cocoa production, making the impact of such conditions particularly severe for producers in the sector.
The closure forms part of a prepackage management deal that will result in Prestat being acquired by chocolate maker L’Artisan du Chocolat, which is owned by Polus Capital Management. For Roald Dahl, piracy was a reference to Prestat’s truffles in his novel My Uncle Oswald.
The store, which is among the few that still produces its own chocolates, is also believed to have inspired the fantastic dessert shop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
