Wickedly Welsh Chocolate is a chocolate factory and visitor centre located in

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

, Wales. The business makes its own chocolate at the premises. Visitors can also experience hands-on chocolate demonstrations, have a drink in the cafe and buy chocolates at the shop. The company's product is available at 25 stores in the local area including

Oakwood Theme Park Oakwood Theme Park (formerly Oakwood Leisure Park, Oakwood Coaster Country & Oakwood Park) is a theme park in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Oakwood opened in the late 1980s as a very small family park with BMXs, a wooden fort, a 3D-style cinema exper ...

History

The factory was started by Mark Owen in April 2014, who suffers from

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...

. Consequently, the company's product range is diabetic-friendly. The business creates a range of chocolates, amongst which is a chocolate high in

flavanols Flavan-3-ols (sometimes referred to as flavanols) are a subgroup of flavonoids. They are derivatives of flavans that possess a 2-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2''H''-chromen-3-ol skeleton. Flavan-3-ols are structurally diverse and include a range of compo ...

. Owen's wife Karen had previously worked on the nearby Pemberton's Chocolate Farm in

Llanboidy Llanboidy is a village and community in the principal area and historic county of Carmarthenshire, West Wales. The community includes the village of Llanglydwen. Location According to the 2001 United Kingdom Census, the community had a populat ...

and knew the appropriate machinery to purchase. The couple tried to take over running of the farm, which was on the market, but failed to do so, setting up their current premises instead. In the eight months since opening, the factory catered for 20,000 visitors. The company runs a regular newsletter via email to around 15,000 subscribers with ideas for chocolate-based recipes. Local MP

Stephen Crabb Stephen Crabb (born 20 January 1973) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Preseli Pembrokeshire since 2005 and Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee since 2020. A member of the Welsh Conservative ...

has praised the factory and business, calling it "a fantastic addition to Pembrokeshire's tourism offer". The company runs regular promotions for

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the ...

and

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

. The company have produced a

Willy Wonka Willy Wonka is a fictional character appearing in British author Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and its 1972 sequel ''Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator''. He is the eccentric founder and proprietor ...

-themed "Golden Ticket" campaign, with winners receiving tickets for both the factory and

. For Easter 2015, the factory collaborated with ''

Wales Online Media Wales Ltd. is a publishing company based in Cardiff, Wales. As of 2009 it was owned by Reach plc (formerly known as the Trinity Mirror Group). It was previously known as the Western Mail & Echo Ltd. History The ''Western Mail'' was fo ...

'' to provide a VIP tour of the factory as a competition prize. In November 2016, it was criticised on Twitter for welcoming then

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

(UKIP) MS Neil Hamilton and his wife.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Official Website
British chocolate companies Welsh brands Privately held companies of Wales Chocolate factories