The Brief

The Chief Operating Officer of Hotel Chocolat instructed Stanley Royce Jones to appoint the newly created role of Director of Manufacturing Operations, to lead the development of the manufacturing operation in order to meet exceptional demand. Hotel Chocolat’s premium proposition, large number of SKU’s and the technical complexity of its operation has very few direct competitors, so they were keen to bring in expertise from complementary sectors.

The Solution

The search focussed on identifying large scale manufacturing environments where there were multiple inputs in the creation of a diverse range of complex products. Our shortlist included candidates from a broad range of food manufacturing backgrounds, including fresh fruit and vegetables, natural yogurt and ethically sourced meat. All of the candidates were on the upward trajectory of their career and were a good cultural fit for the ‘casually professional’ environment at Hotel Chocolat.

The successful candidate Richard Isaac was previously Head of Operations at Bakkavor, where his remit was to focus on their specialist salad and fruit range. He led a complex manufacturing process that was not only high volume but required multiple inputs into the creation of the final products.

Richard has proven to be an excellent appointment from both a cultural and technical perspective and has played a significant role in expediting Hotel Chocolat’s impressive growth over the last five years.

Ongoing Partnership

The success of our first search for Hotel Chocolat has resulted in us being instructed on a number of other projects where we have supported them across multiple functional areas.
Successes include;

• Global Procurement Director
• Director of E-Commerce
• Director of Trading
• Director of Fulfilment
• Head of Technical
• Site Manufacturing Manager - Packing
• Site Manufacturing Manager - Process
• Omni Channel Director
• Executive Assistant