When Geri Martin signed up for night school, she didn't realise her hobby would be a golden ticket to her own chocolate factory...
Curtseying before Queen Camilla at a Royal garden party last Summer, I felt like I was dreaming.
Just over a decade before, I’d taken an evening chocolate skills class at a local college for some ‘me time’, while I was on maternity leave with my second baby.
Now, I was chatting to Royalty about my award-winning, handmade chocolate business, telling Camilla a special tin of my creations had been presented to King Charles during his visit to Northern Ireland the year before.
It was such a surreal, pinch-me moment which I’ll never forget, and felt like sweet success…
Back in 2012, my kids Abigail, now 14 and Josh, 11, were just three and four months old and I was on maternity leave from my job in events and marketing.
I fancied doing something that was just for myself, and after looking at the evening courses available at a local college, one caught my eye – a chocolate skills course.
I’d always had such a sweet tooth, so it definitely appealed!
It never crossed my mind as I enrolled, and paid the £100 fee, that chocolate would become my career.
I quickly fell in love with working with chocolate. It was so satisfying, and I loved the feeling of creativity it gave me as I transformed blocks of it into delicious, bite-sized treats.
Swirls, drizzles, flavourings, truffles, creams… it was so scrumptious!
And I couldn’t stop thinking how wonderful it would be to do it fulltime, but with a mortgage and bills to pay, I decided to try making it my side-hustle alongside my ‘proper’ job.
In late 2012, I spent £56 on milk and white chocolate, some cheap moulds which I bought on eBay and had my home kitchen in Northern Ireland inspected by my local council, so I could sell my chocolates.
A microwave, a bowl and a spatula was the only other equipment I needed. With that, my business – The Chocolate Manor – was born. I’d make truffles, chocolate bars and I even made a range of chocolate high heel shoes back then! Although Josh was too young to understand, Abigail was always curious about what I was making.
As I learned more about business I realised I needed to find my own unique selling point and so I then focused on personalising chocolate.
I took a stall at a few local craft fairs and to my amazement, I sold out!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned
‘This is delicious,’ people said taking samples from the plates I’d displayed. That gave me such a confidence boost, and a belief that there really was an appetite for what I made.
In March 2013, I
