The Chocolate Museum

What The Chocolate Museum does

The Chocolate Museum Limited is a London-based, founder-controlled independent museum and chocolate education business incorporated in England and Wales (company number 08248925). It was founded by French artisan chocolatier Isabelle Alaya, who also owns Melange Chocolate, and has operated a permanent collection of chocolate-related artefacts (some dating to 1792) since opening in Brixton in March 2013. The museum vacated its Brixton premises in February 2023 and is currently without a permanent physical location, running workshops from the Melange Chocolate shop in Peckham while it searches for new premises.

The company monetizes a portfolio of physical and virtual offerings: drop-in chocolate making workshops (£18–£25 per person, max 6 per table), adult workshops including truffle-making and chocolate-and-wine tasting at Melange Chocolate in Peckham, children's birthday parties, and National Curriculum-aligned Key Stage 2 school workshops at £6–£10 per child delivered in-school or online. The ChocoTale interactive tasting experience pairs 13 single-origin chocolates with a Gamar augmented-reality app telling the Quetzalcoatl story, and is also sold as a £12.50 tasting box for two with shipping. A 360° Matterport virtual gallery provides remote access to the collection, and Zoom-based online tasting workshops (minimum 10 participants, chocolate shipped) serve corporate and celebration groups. Distribution is primarily direct-to-consumer via the company website, Eventbrite, and Checkfront, supplemented by mobile school outreach across London and the surrounding area (up to 1.5 hours' travel).

The operating model is small and asset-light: a core team of three (Founder/Director Isabelle Alaya, Art Director/Education Liaison Alessandra Ferrini, Art & Culture lead Laura Reiman) is supplemented by variable part-time education officers hired on a casual basis. Revenue is transaction-based across consumer, education, and corporate channels, with no disclosed external funding, no enterprise anchor customers, and no patents, certifications, or AI/ML capabilities. The Melange Chocolate partnership is structural — it provides both workshop venue and ethically sourced chocolate supply — making the founder's related entity central to current operations while a new physical museum site is being sought.

Name

The Chocolate Museum

Legal name

The Chocolate Museum Limited

Website

https://thechocolatemuseum.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Chocolate Museum is a London-based independent chocolate education business founded by Isabelle Alaya, operating workshops, school programs, the ChocoTale tasting experience, and a 360° virtual gallery for families, primary schools, and corporate groups; it vacated its Brixton premises in February 2023 and is currently without a permanent venue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Museum and chocolate education services

NAICS

Museums (712110), Chocolate and Confectionery Manufacturing (31135), Retail Bakeries (311811)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Chocolatiers & Confectionery (CRAHAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Chocolate & Confectionery Patisseries (Bonbons, Truffles, Macarons) (THAFAFAL), Baking & Pastry Classes (THAJAGAJ)

Keywords

• Chocolate museum exhibits
• Chocolate education workshops
• Chocolate tasting experiences
• School curriculum workshops
• Artisan chocolate events

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Stephen

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Workshop Fees: Revenue from drop-in workshops, chocolate making workshops, and tasting sessions for families, adults, and groups. Bookings taken via email and Eventbrite.
2. School Programs: Per-child fees for school workshops covering history, tasting, and chocolate making. Priced at £6-£10 per child based on workshop type and group size.
3. ChocoTale Tasting Box Sales: Sale of tasting boxes for 2 people at £12.50 plus postage, enabling home chocolate tasting experiences with educational content.
4. Private Event Hire: Revenue from hiring space for private workshops, corporate events, and celebrations on any day or evening.
5. Corporate/Online Tasting Workshops: Zoom-based chocolate tasting workshops for groups with shipped chocolate samples. Minimum 10 participants.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Chocolate Museum is an independent London museum and workshop provider dedicated to chocolate education, history and hands-on making. It runs a free permanent exhibition on chocolate production and history, the ChocoTale interactive tasting trail (13 chocolates paired with the Gamar AR app), and a portfolio of in-person and online workshops for families, adults, children, schools and corporate groups. Educational programming is aligned with the UK National Curriculum for Key Stage 2, and products include a small shop of UK bean-to-bar chocolates and gift vouchers.

Product overview

The Chocolate Museum is a London-based independent museum and workshop venue dedicated to chocolate education and history. Its portfolio comprises physical and virtual offerings: the core museum experience includes a permanent exhibition covering beans-to-bar production, world and British chocolate history, design history, and the cocoa & slavery exhibition; ChocoTale is an interactive tasting trail using the Gamar App combined with a physical tasting box; and workshop offerings include drop-in sessions, adult workshops (truffles making, wine tasting), children's birthday parties, holiday workshops, and school educational programs. The museum also provides virtual access via a 360° Matterport gallery and offers online tasting workshops for remote groups. Products are sold including UK bean-to-bar chocolate selections and gift vouchers. The museum partners with Melange Chocolate for workshop venues in Peckham.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ChocoTale: Interactive chocolate tasting experience telling the story of Quetzalcoatl through 13 different chocolates from around the world. Available as a tasting box for 2 or online tasting workshop using the Gamar app.

Products and services

• The Chocolate Museum (London) Independent museum in London dedicated to chocolate education and history, with a permanent exhibition on chocolate production, world and British history, and cocoa & slavery, plus free admission.
• ChocoTale Interactive Tasting Experience
• Drop-in Chocolate Making Workshops
• Adult Chocolate Workshops (Truffle Making and Wine Pairing) Adult-focused chocolate workshops at Melange Chocolate in Peckham, including a 2.5-hour professional truffle making session (tempering, flavouring, shaping, enrobing, decorating) and a Thursday evening chocolate and wine pairing workshop.
• Children's Birthday Party and Holiday Workshops Chocolate making birthday parties and school-holiday workshops for children, where children experiment with different ingredients and decorations to create their own chocolates (truffles, bars, lollipops).
• School Workshops (National Curriculum Aligned) In-school and online chocolate workshops for Key Stage 2 primary school children, covering general chocolate history, geography, production and trade, Maya and Aztec cocoa history, and biodiversity in cocoa farming. Offered as a History & Tasting Workshop (£6–£8.50 per child) and a Tasting & Making Workshop (£7.50–£10 per child).
• Online Tasting Workshop (Zoom) Zoom-based chocolate tasting workshops for groups (birthdays, hen-dos, corporate events), with UK single-origin and flavoured chocolate bars shipped to each guest. Minimum 10 participants, 1–2 hours, custom pricing.
• Corporate and Team Building Workshops Corporate team building and private events combining chocolate tasting and making, delivered on-site at the client's location or online at times to suit the organisation.
• Virtual Exhibition (360° Gallery) Free 360° virtual tour of the museum's exhibition space using Matterport technology, allowing remote visitors to explore the collection online until a new physical location is secured.
• Gift Vouchers Non-refundable gift vouchers for The Chocolate Museum experiences, redeemable against workshops, tastings and related offerings.
• UK Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Shop Curated retail selection of single-origin and ethically sourced chocolates from UK bean-to-bar makers, available through the museum's online shop.

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Melange ChocolatecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMelange Chocolate is owned by founder Isabelle Alaya and hosts The Chocolate Museum workshops at their Peckham location. They provide the venue for adult workshops, birthday parties, and family workshops. Melange also supplies ethically sourced chocolate for museum activities and workshops.
• Laura ReimanminorOthersConceptual artist who creates chocolate paintings and portraits of cocoa farmers. Her exhibitions are featured at the museum, particularly during Black History Month. She uses chocolate as paint medium and explores crossmodal correspondances (taste and colour matching).
• Hatzidakis EmmanouilminorOthersPastry chef and chocolate sculptor who organizes charity chocolate exhibitions. His 'Chocolate feelings' sculpture exhibition was featured at the museum.
• Kristiane Wolf (KRIWO)minorOthersVisual artist who creates chocolate jewelry using dripping techniques. Her edible chocolate earrings are exhibited and sold at the museum.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Rococo Chocolates: Rococo Chocolates is a London-based luxury chocolate brand with retail shops and chocolate masterclasses/workshops - comparable to The Chocolate Museum's artisan chocolate positioning and its adult chocolate-making workshop product line.
• Hotel Chocolat: Hotel Chocolat operates UK chocolate shops, the Rabot Estate experience, and educational school programmes alongside a broad retail range - comparable to The Chocolate Museum on both the chocolate-retail and chocolate-experience sides, though as a much larger commercial operator.
• Artisan du Chocolat: Artisan du Chocolat is a London-based artisan chocolatier with a Soho shop offering chocolates and workshop experiences - overlapping with The Chocolate Museum's premium artisan positioning and hands-on chocolate-making workshop offering in London.
• Cocoa Runners: Cocoa Runners is a UK bean-to-bar chocolate curation and education business offering subscriptions, tastings, and learning content - directly comparable to The Chocolate Museum's ChocoTale tasting concept and its emphasis on UK bean-to-bar storytelling.
• Cadbury World: Cadbury World (Bournville, Birmingham) is a chocolate-themed attraction offering self-guided tours and educational experiences about cocoa and chocolate production - the largest direct analogue to The Chocolate Museum's experiential chocolate-education model, though at materially larger scale.
• York's Chocolate Story: York's Chocolate Story is a chocolate-themed museum in York offering guided tours, tastings, and chocolate-making workshops - the closest UK mid-scale analogue to The Chocolate Museum's combination of chocolate history, tastings, and hands-on workshop experiences.
• York Cocoa Works: York Cocoa Works is a working chocolate factory and school in York combining bean-to-bar manufacturing, public workshops, and chocolate-making courses - directly comparable to The Chocolate Museum's chocolate-making workshops and educational programming.

Others

• Cartoon Museum: The Cartoon Museum is a small, free-admission London specialist museum operating a permanent collection and educational visits - comparable to The Chocolate Museum's small-scale, free-entry, education-led specialist London museum model rather than its chocolate-specific subject matter.

Broad incumbents

• Museum of Brands: The Museum of Brands is a small, free-admission London museum offering permanent exhibitions and educational programmes - the closest size and model benchmark for The Chocolate Museum as a small specialist London museum with free entry and education-led programming.
• Green & Black's: Green & Black's is a mainstream UK premium chocolate brand (owned by Mondelez) with ethical-sourcing positioning and educational marketing content - a broader incumbent analogue on the ethical/premium chocolate positioning that The Chocolate Museum curates around.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/chocmuseumuk
• Facebookfacebook.com/ChocolateMuseumUK
• Instagraminstagram.com/chocolatemuseumuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-chocolate-museum-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Chocolate Museum