Highlights
- Marasu's Petit Fours, founded in 1987, has appointed joint administrators after four decades in business.
- The luxury brand supplies prestigious retailers including Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Pret a Manger..
- Chocolate prices in Britain rose 18.4 per cent year-on-year in November due to poor harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast caused by climate change.
Marasu's Petit Fours, a major UK luxury chocolate manufacturer, has collapsed into administration after 40 years of trading.
The London-based company filed a notice to appoint administrators earlier this month, with Alessandro Sidoli and Jessica Barker of Xeinadin Corporate Recovery Limited named as joint administrators.
Founded in 1987 by patissiers Rolf Kern and Gabi Kohler, the brand was acquired by the Prestat Group in 2006 and supplies some of Britain's most prestigious retailers, including Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Pret a Manger.
Parent company Prestat will be sold to L'Artisan du Chocolat, which is owned by Polus Capital Management.
On its social media pages, the chocolate maker describes itself as "manufacturing luxury petits fours and chocolates in London since 1987".
Climate crisis blamed
The collapse comes amid a sharp rise in chocolate prices across Britain, with costs increasing 18.4 per cent year-on-year in November, according to market research firm Worldpanel.
Cocoa prices have soared following poor harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the world's key growing regions, over the past three years.
Christian Aid attributes the crisis to extreme temperatures and unusual rainfall patterns driven by climate change, with extreme rainfall spoiling crops during the 2023 dry season and drought striking in 2024.
Osai Ojigho, director of Christian Aid's policy and public campaigns told Birmingham Live "Growing cocoa is a vital livelihood for many of the poorest people around the world and human-caused climate change is putting that under serious threat,".
Narcisa Pricope, a professor at Mississippi State University, warned the crop faced an "existential threat" from increasingly dry conditions, adding "Collective action against aridity isn't just about saving chocolate. It's about preserving the planet's capacity to sustain life."
Last year, Swiss chocolate maker, Lindt & Sprüngli, announced it would raise prices again this year to offset rising cocoa costs, highlighting the industry wide challenge facing chocolate manufacturers globally.
