WALES’ WILLY WONKA ON ROAD TO SWEET SUCCESS
You could say that Liam Burgess was always destined to be make chocolate. The 23-year-old founder of craft chocolate specialist NomNom Chocolate grew up next to the giant Cadbury factory at Bournville. Later, when the family moved to Wales they lived opposite Pemberton’s Chocolate Farm at Llanboidy in Carmarthenshire.
Now the company he founded five years ago with a £3,000 loan from the Prince’s Trust has taken over the Pemberton’s site following the closure of the popular tourist attraction.
“Chocolate has always been in my life. I made chocolates in the restaurants where I worked after leaving school,” he said. “Then when the Prince’s Trust gave me the £3,000, I started making chocolate in a caravan in my mum’s back garden.”
But his creations have never been ordinary run-of-the-mill chocolate bars. He drew inspiration from the time he spent working with a French chef in his restaurant days.
“I got really inspired with all the people making stuff in random corners of Wales,” he said. “I used different sources from around Wales, things like fresh rhubarb and lemon curd.”
He used the £3,000 to buy essential equipment and ingredients. When he had made a batch of chocolate, he loaded it all in a van and drove around local independent shops to sell it.
“I didn’t come back till it was all sold,” he said.
The company grew in this way, gradually increasing its production as outlets multiplied. Bit by bit Burgess was able to take on staff. Two of the earliest, Seren and Lili, were, like him, graduates of the local school who didn’t want to leave the area. They joined NomNom without any particular training or experience, but now Seren is production manager in charge of making the chocolate, while Lili looks after customers.
NomNom soon outgrew the caravan and the company moved into a kitchen, then a converted cowshed. Now Burgess plans to move into the former Pemberton’s factory, provided they can raise the money needed to buy it.
The company is now making around £500,000 a year in sales. It’s been profitable from the start – although it could be even more so if it weren’t for Burgess’ approach to chocolate-making, which combines a taste for adventurous new fla- vours with a concern for the social impact of the business.
He’s particularly proud of the fact that the cocoa beans are processed in Madagascar within 48 hours of being picked. Not only does this guarantee freshness, it means more of the value is retained in the country of origin.
“It seems bizarre the idea of buying cocoa beans in Madagascar in making the chocolate in Wales,” he said.
“With our model of processing in the country of origin, the cocoa is processed within 48 hours. No other chocolate is processed fresh in the country of origin. Our costs are significantly higher, but it seems to be the right thing to do.”
So important is the relationship with cocoa-growers and processers in Madagascar that Burgess took the whole team to the island country to meet them and see how they work.
NomNom is known for its unusual flavours, from hot cross bun to Welsh cakes and Halen Mon Anglesey sea salt. Burgess is currently working on what he calls a “mermaid’s cocktail bar”, flavoured with Pembrokeshire seaweed rum, and an organic milk chocolate made with Calon Wen milk.
You won’t find NomNom in any supermarket anytime soon. The 2,000 bars made daily are mostly sold through independent shops, though you can get them online and some are sold internationally.
The firm now employs 18 people and hopes to grow further when it moves into the former Pemberton’s factory. It continues to be a remarkable story for the young man with a taste for unusual chocolate.