Exports soar from chocolate maker Shane switching to digital subscribers

The rapid growth in their business, he says, includes significant increases in export sales to the US, the Republic of Ireland, Spain and Germany, nations all grappling with the deadly virus.

Shane and Dorothy are the founders and owners of the NearyNógs Stoneground Chocolate, Northern Ireland’s first bean to bar chocolate makers and the only the second in Ireland moulding luxury chocolate from single estate cacao beans ethically sourced from small growers in the Dominican Republic, Sao Tome and Ecuador. The outstanding growth in exports now being experienced owes everything to a decision to invest in an e-commerce site and the recent introduction of a monthly subscription service for lovers of fine chocolate.

“We’ve just seen online sales soar to over 70 percent of our business. A few weeks ago our online sales were just 10 percent due to our focus on markets, delis and smaller retailers. Everything now has changed… and changed utterly,” he continues. “We’ve had to adapt our whole business model and focus more on e-commerce because Covid-19 virtually closed all our usual retail channels and also halted the tours and chocolate making sessions we recently started hosting at our small factory in the Mournes. The tours were generating good business at the factory from visitors and when they had returned home.

“Our cash flow virtually stopped with the lockdown here. We had to act fast to protect the business we had built up for the family by hard work over almost a decade. We are really glad that we had decided to develop our website ahead of what is a fight for survival.”

The opening of the workshop and visitor centre represented a significant investment for the small business.

“While this facility will be important again when the battle against the virus has been won and tourism returns, our decisions to focus on e-commerce and to develop the subscription service are proving to be wise investments,” Shane continues.

The subscription service, he says, is starting to generate worthwhile cash again: “Subscribers sign up for a well-stocked box of cacao nibs, our award winning

drinking chocolate, a bar of the month, a chocolate sale of the month, sea salted caramel cups and a mystery item. Packaging and postage is free to subscribers.”

The small company has also pledged its support for frontline NHS staff by offering subscribers the opportunity to nominate a key worker to receive a special chocolate donation. Shane explains: “Every time we sign up a new subscriber we will post out some free chocolate to any NHS staff member they nominate or anyone they feel deserves some love. At the checkout on our website, all the subscriber has to do is enter an address and name for the free chocolate to go to and we will do the rest! We decided to develop this service for nominated healthcare staff because we’ve received support from the NHS over many years and we appreciate the expertise our family has experienced from doctors and nurses here and in Britain,” Shane adds. “Healthcare professionals are currently working in the most extreme conditions in the efforts to defeat the virus. They deserve support from everyone. We’ve also seen a heart warming trend of chocolates being ordered by people for delivery to family and friends with notes of kindness and encouragement.”

Originally a graphic designer Shane and Dorothy, a qualified nurse from Seattle, formed the enterprise in 2011 to help daughter Erin fund volunteer work in India. They decided to use a chocolate recipe from Dorothy’s grandmother in the US to craft confectionery for a sale. It proved popular at the event. The enterprise has won a series of awards for the outstanding quality and wide range of chocolates including drinking chocolate powder from the UK Great Taste Awards.

It’s always been a flexible business prepared to strike out in new directions that help to set it apart in the luxury chocolate marketplace. The switch to bean to bar production is an example of this enterprise.

“We hand sort every cacao bean from our growers, roast, stone grind, age and then temper the beans into beautiful chocolate bars,” Shane says. “We aim to showcase the origin flavours and tasting notes in every cacao bean. We do this without additives, emulsifiers or artificial flavouring. All of our packaging is made from recycled sources and is either recyclable or compostable after use. Our postal boxes and paper tape are also made from recycled materials.”

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