At Choc Affair, we don’t just make chocolate; we celebrate it! Our team of passionate chocolate lovers is dedicated to crafting a variety of delicious and guilt-free treats, all while staying committed to sustainability.
We’re also proud to be a Living Wage employer. This means every one of our team members, including third party contractors, earns a real living wage, which is an independently calculated hourly rate based on the actual cost of living. It is also higher than the government-set minimum wage. We’re one of 12,000 organisations who voluntarily choose to pay this because we firmly believe that all hard work should be rewarded with fair pay.
FOUNDER
Linda is our company vision creator; our eyes for the future, and the heart behind what we do. Always looking at how we can develop the business with new product ideas, when she’s not in the office she’s busy with another chocolate related charitable project. It’s always about chocolate, and you’ll often find her eating it for breakfast!
OPERATIONS
Julian oversees everything that’s going on in the land of Choc affair, and keeps everything on track. He’s always disappearing from his desk to go help in despatch to pack our orders up, and he tells us that working with Linda drives him crazy at times!
Richard is our Operations Manager – he makes sure that everything is planned and running smoothly in production, and takes care of all our technical details. He’s the go-to-guy if you’ve got something that needs fixing, and he’s top of the Pop Master quiz leader board!
SALES & CUSTOMER SERVICES
Name: Ian
Role: Northern Sales Executive
Favourite Chocolate Bar: Blood Orange Gin Dark Chocolate Bar
Ian is one of the partners in the business and he looks after all of our lovely retailers in the North. He’s out on the road most days, but when he’s in the office, he too is a Pop Master contender…is it an age thing we ask ourselves! He loves his live music and is always at various gigs around York.
James is probably the most cheerful person you will ever meet. James looks after our customers in the South, and every month travels up to spend a couple of days in the office, to subject the team to his wicked sense of humour and irrepressible energy.
Charlotte is the lovely lady that you will be speaking to on the phones if you ever need to get in touch. She’s a “it is what it is” kind of gal, and is subjected to Ian’s sense of humour and of course, Pop Master when he’s in the office. She really is an angel!
PRODUCTION
Samson joined us when he was just 17, and works within our production team, de moulding our chocolate bars and keeping everyone stocked with what they need. A keen footballer in his spare time, he’s the coolest of guys, with a wickedly dry sense of humour.
John joined us from a chefs background and is one of our production team making all our delicious chocolates. He’s so quiet, we’ve only just recently found out he studies Japanese in his spare time!
Dan was Head Chef of a restaurant when he joined us in production, and he’s enjoying having weekends for his family. A keen motorcyclist, he’s outgoing and always cheerful to be around.
PACKING & DISPATCH
Our lovely Pauline is well and truly the Nana of the Choc Affair team (in fact – she’s Linda’s Mum, and therefore Ian and Julian’s Mother in law!!) Her sense of humour keeps us all going each week – she says her favourite bar is currently Dark Coffee, but to be fair, she eats all of them…
Michaela is our foiling queen – and we think she may even have a world record for foiling chocolate bars; we seriously don’t need a machine, she foils 10,000 a week on her own! She’s found the joy of caravanning and is often away on a weekend exploring the UK.
Adele, our super woman in the packing team, ensures that all of our chocolate is in perfect condition before it goes out. She loves to keep the team up to date with all of her sport knowledge, and she’s an avid Man U fan, the cause of much banter at work.
Mel has been a part of our packing team for a few years now, making sure that the products are looking their very best before they get to you. Mel is very much a dog person, and we think she loves her dog more than anything or anyone!
Pam is always smiling and when Pam starts laughing, we all just have to join in; it’s infectious. She’s a keen swimmer, and always out on a weekend – we know better than to ask her to come in to work on a Monday morning!
Jake is part of our packing team and he’s responsible for making sure our lollies are perfectly packed. He’s 18 and when he’s not working, you’ll find him out on the golf course, or gaming.