Frankly Delicious is a Leeds based chocolate maker that makes small batch, bean to bar chocolate using ethically sourced cocoa.
It was started in 2018 by myself, Frank Laws, originally from Sudbury, after completing my degree in classical composition from Leeds Conservatoire. I started out making baked goods for my university cafe and local establishments. I then moved onto making handmade chocolates for seasonal and corporate gifts.
Then at the end of 2019, I discovered how ugly the cocoa supply chain and chocolate industry could be. Rotten - Bitter Chocolate, a documentary on Netflix, discusses how there is extreme poverty, forced child labour and child slavery to this day. And that it’s been an issue that the household names are aware of but don’t do much to resolve the issue. Deadlines to eradicate child
labour have been in place since
2005 and just get pushed back
each year. The current deadline
is now 2025.
Learning that there is child slavery and labour involved in the production of so much chocolate really disturbed me, and I saw two choices ahead of me. Wait for the big chocolate companies to fix the issue or make the chocolate myself. I now make the chocolate myself!
Cut to now, spring 2021, Frankly Delicious is now a team of two. Myself and my partner, Karolis. And we now make a range of chocolate bars using cocoa sourced from fully traceable and sustainable sources. Meaning that we know exactly where our cocoa comes from and that the farmers who grow it. The cocoa is also grown in a sustainable manner where it is intercropped with other plants meaning better yield of cocoa and providing other sources of income for the farmers.
We also want sustainability to part of the core of Frankly Delicious which is why we try to avoid plastic as much as possible. Our chocolate bars are packaged in compostable bags, that look like plastic but are made from plant cellulose!
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Frank
What the papers say…
"The surprise hit was the 70% dark India. I tried it
out of professional duty, but goodness it was a surprise. Spicy,floral,complex
yet also really
eatable: a terrific 70%"
Frankly Delicious Chocolate is available to buy online
and in the Mill Tye Gallery gift shop.