Who owns Hotel Chocolat?

Mars does. Mars, Incorporated, the private, family-owned American company behind Mars bars, M&M's, Maltesers and Galaxy, bought Hotel Chocolat in January 2024 for about £534 million.

Before that Hotel Chocolat was a British company listed on the London stock market, and its two founders owned most of it. The sale ended both. It is still run from Royston in Hertfordshire, and it still trades under its own name, but it is now part of one of the world's largest food companies.

How did Mars buy it?

Mars announced its offer on 16 November 2023. It offered 375p a share in cash, almost three times the previous day's closing price of 139p, which valued the company at about £534 million. The buyer was Hive Bidco, Inc., a company set up for the deal and owned indirectly by Mars.

The founders, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, backed the deal, and they and their family trusts had between them agreed to sell shares covering about 54% of the company. The takeover went through a court-approved scheme and became effective on 25 January 2024. The shares came off the AIM market the next morning, and in August 2024 the company re-registered as a private company.

What does the register show?

The holding company is Hotel Chocolat Group Limited, company number 08612206, incorporated on 16 July 2013 and registered at Mint House, Newark Close, Royston. The business that makes and sells the chocolate is Hotel Chocolat Limited, company 02805730, which is owned by the group company. It was incorporated in April 1993 as ChocExpress Limited and took the Hotel Chocolat name in May 2003.

The shareholder list filed with the group's July 2024 confirmation statement shows Hive Bidco holding all 141,152,739 shares, and no change to the shareholders has been filed since. The group's latest accounts, for the 52 weeks to 27 December 2025, name Hive Bidco as the immediate parent and Mars, Inc. as the ultimate controlling party, and say the group's results are consolidated into Mars's.

The persons-with-significant-control register tells the same story in a different way. Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris were each listed as holding between a quarter and a half of the shares until 25 January 2024, the day the takeover completed. From that day John Franklyn Mars, a member of the Mars family, was listed instead, until June 2025. Since then the register has carried a statement that the company has no registrable person, which is an unusual entry for a company owned by a private family business, and one we could not explain from the public filings.

Who owns Mars?

The Mars family. Mars, Incorporated is a private company based in McLean, Virginia, and describes itself as family-owned, five generations on from the business Frank C. Mars started in 1911. Its shares are not listed anywhere, so there are no outside shareholders.

Mars is also Hotel Chocolat's lender. The accounts show a credit facility from Food Manufacturers (G.B.) Company, which they describe as an indirectly owned majority subsidiary of Mars: £60 million from June 2025, replaced in January 2026 by a £75 million facility.

Who runs it now?

Angus Thirlwell stayed on after the sale. In September 2024 he moved from chief executive to president, and Lysa Hardy was appointed chief executive. She stepped down a year later, and in October 2025 Carrie Martin, who had run the Mars-owned snack brand Kind, became UK general manager. Peter Harris retired from the business when the takeover completed.

Neither founder is now a director of the Hotel Chocolat companies. The group's directors are Mars appointees.

How is it doing?

The first full year under Mars was a loss. In the 52 weeks to 27 December 2025 the group made revenue of £225.2 million, an operating loss of £9.5 million and a loss for the year of £11.9 million, with an average of 2,684 staff. The comparison is with a 78-week period, after the year end was moved to match Mars's, so it is not like for like: over those 78 weeks the group made an operating profit of £16.3 million. The accounts put the loss down to investment in products, brands and processes, and to exceptional costs of £5.5 million.

The shops have kept growing. When Mars made its offer Hotel Chocolat had 131 shops in the UK, and by August 2026 it was reported to have more than 160. It opened its first two American shops, both in Chicago, in April 2025.

Is Hotel Chocolat British?

It was founded in Britain and is still run from Britain, and the companies are registered in England. The owner is American. Since January 2024 the profits have gone to Mars, which is based in the United States.

Some of the cocoa comes from further afield. Hotel Chocolat owns the Rabot Estate, a cocoa plantation in Saint Lucia that it bought in 2006 and where it also runs a hotel, and the group reports revenue there as well as in the UK and the US.

Is Hotel Chocolat independent?

Not by our verified independent badge, which marks a locally and privately owned business rather than a chain, franchise or private-equity estate. Hotel Chocolat is a national chain of more than 160 shops, owned by one of the largest food companies in the world, so an individual Hotel Chocolat is a branch of that business, not a proprietor-owned local.

It is not a franchise in the UK, and there is no private equity fund behind it. The useful label is national chain, owned by Mars. The other big name in British chocolate went the same way long before: Cadbury has belonged to an American company since 2010, though not to Mars.

Questions people ask

Is Hotel Chocolat owned by Cadbury?

No. Cadbury belongs to Mondelez International. Hotel Chocolat belongs to Mars, a different American company, and there is no ownership link between the two.

Who founded Hotel Chocolat?

Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, who started the business in 1993 as ChocExpress, a mail-order chocolate company, and renamed it Hotel Chocolat in 2003.

Did the founders sell Hotel Chocolat?

Yes. They agreed to sell their shares to Mars as part of the takeover, which completed on 25 January 2024. Angus Thirlwell stayed on to help run it.

Last checked 28 September 2026. This article uses the Companies House records and persons-with-significant-control registers for Hotel Chocolat Group Limited (company 08612206) and Hotel Chocolat Limited (02805730); the shareholder list filed with the group's confirmation statement of 16 July 2024; the group's annual report for the 52 weeks to 27 December 2025, including its parent-company and borrowings notes; the offer announcement of 16 November 2023 and the announcement that the scheme had become effective on 25 January 2024; Mars's own statements on the completed acquisition and on its family ownership; Hotel Chocolat's own account of the Rabot Estate; and trade press reporting of the leadership changes, the shop count and the Chicago openings. What is not claimed: why the control register has shown no registrable person since June 2025; the exact route by which Mars owns Hive Bidco; Angus Thirlwell's title today; and an exact shop count. The latest accounts also describe Hive Bidco as owning 70% of the shares, which does not match the shareholder list filed at Companies House; we have gone by the register, and Mars is the ultimate controlling party on either reading. If you spot something that needs correcting, email Highstreett and we will review it.