CHOXI Chocolate Rush – 2500% Increase In Visitors
When we set up Arena, we wanted to ensure that we had a great range of add on gifts to make the perfect complement(s) to the perfect flower arrangement (that’s my personal favourite). Because we buy direct from the flower auctions in Holland, our flowers are incredibly fresh and, because we cut out the middlemen, they’re great value. We wanted to do exactly the same with add ons – ie make our extras extra special.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to look very far when it came to getting a chocolate supplier that met these exacting standards, as a stone’s throw from Flowers HQ you can find the UK’s finest maker of hand-made, luxury chocolates, Prestat. Prestat was set up in London in 1902 by chocolatier extraordinaire, Antoine Dufour. Dufour’s family is credited with inventing the chocolate truffle – that’s no mean feat and is the chocolate equivalent to a flower grower developing a blue rose variety.
From these promising roots, Prestat went from strength to strength, building a keen following for its hand-made chocolates, culminating in Prestat being awarded a Royal Warrant. That means that Prestat makes the Queen’s chocolates. Not bad! Being privately held and run by chocolate-loving brothers Bill and Nick, Prestat does not concern itself with churning out as much chocolate as people can eat, but prefers to focus on quality and delivering an experience in chocolate second to none. Head here for more of Prestat’s fascinating story.
Recognising kindred spirits, we quickly joined up with Prestat and have been selling their chocolates for over a year (the two most popular by some margin being the Champagne Truffles and the Heart of Chocolates, stats fans). Since then, we’ve also been helping Prestat with some of their webby type things whilst Bill and Nick work on a top secret project. But what?
CHOXI+, a new chocolate bar released this Monday, was the project that had been shrouded in secrecy until its recent unveiling. Through various clever techniques, CHOXI+, is not only truly delicious chocolate (we know, we’ve tried it), but also very healthy chocolate. Here’s some of what Prestat’s CHOXI+ info page says:
“Antioxidants are essential for good health. One of the most interesting types of antioxidants are flavanols which can help to ward off some cancers, stroke and heart disease. Two squares of Choxi+ provides your body with enough flavanol antioxidants for a whole day.”
CHOXI+ has more antioxidants than a pound of apples but has nothing added to it! We thinks that’s magic but Bill and Nick tell us it’s the application of expert chocolate making techniques. The response has been incredible, with a huge amount of media coverage. Even Radio 4′s famously tough Today programme presenter John Humphries showed he’s got a soft centre, mentioning the magical healthy chocolate on the programme. The number of visitors to Prestat’s online chocolate shop this Monday was 2500% the previous Monday’s and all four types of CHOXI+ sold out by early afternoon. Bill ordered in two tonnes of extra chocolate so his chocolatiers could work wonders and make more of the magical snack available for health-conscious chocolate lovers.
And the good news for Arena customers? We’ll be putting CHOXI+ into the Arena Flowers chocolate section very soon so that our flower lovers can send some healthy chocolatey goodness to go with the beautiful flowers!
Filed under: Ethics & Environment, General, Marketing, Mega Days on November 7th, 2007
Did you like this post? Why not subscribe?
via your newsreader Flowers…uncut RSS Feed
Update from Bill…it’s now four tonnes of chocolate coming in. That is a lot of chocolate and more antioxidants than you can shake a stick at!