The seeds of the business began in 2001 from the family kitchen in Aylesbury. Nigel had been a pastry chef for 20 years and was working in the kitchens of New College Oxford when a colleague asked if he would make a batch of chocolates for him to take home to his family. He enjoyed making them so much that he made a second batch for his own family too. As demand snowballed, Nigel cut down to a three-day week at New College to meet with demand. “We literally had customers travelling 30 and 40 miles to knock on our front door asking for our chocolates,” he says. “The reaction was incredible.” It was only when the chocolates began winning awards that Nigel realised this could be the full-time business he’d always dreamed of.