Scotland might be known for its whisky and gin, but the focus is starting to shift to our growing artisan chocolate scene. Leading the pack is Bare Bones Chocolate, which has an exciting announcement to share with you, exclusively through Hood.

Born in Glasgow, Bare Bones Chocolate is a micro-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate company with sustainability at its heart. As self-confessed speciality food enthusiasts, Lara Messer and Cameron Dixon decided to take the leap and pour their combined passion into creating their own contemporary Scottish brand, which became a reality in November 2018, when they first launched Bare Bones.

They aimed to build an incredible product with impeccable detail and ethical practice through every process, and that's precisely what Bare Bones is. Each bar of chocolate is made in their south Glasgow workshop in small amounts of around 30kg at a time. They roast the cacao on a modified Giesen coffee roaster and have engineered some equipment from scratch to get the best possible quality for their batch sizes.

With big plans for their small company, Lara and Cameron decided to enter Scottish EDGE. This funding competition aims to identify and support Scotland's innovative, high-growth potential entrepreneurial talent. Funded by the Hunter Foundation, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, and private donors, the competition is delivered twice per year and has supported 395 early-stage Scottish businesses with over £15 million in award funding.

Having entered and won the Young Edge category for entrepreneurs under the age of 30 in October 2020, Lara knew the positive impact the prize could have on their venture; 'Winning last year enabled us to buy another stone grinder and increase production for the Christmas rush,' she reveals.

This time, the rewards and goals were much higher. During an intensive four-day-long semi-final, Lara and Cameron – along with 44 other shortlisted entrepreneurs – pitched their businesses to a collective panel of 16 judges. The emerging 19 multisector finalists, including our favourite vegan retailer Treen, and charcuterie company East Coast Cured, then pitched for a share in Scottish EDGE's prize pot of £1 million. And we can now reveal Bare Bones has won £50,000 of that share! So, how do they plan on utilising this game-changing cash injection?

'It has been our mission to change how single-origin chocolate and hot chocolate is created and appreciated, and as we grow, we can do this more,' continues Lara. ‘We have a powerful sustainability message and business model, which supports everyone in the chain—from the cacao farmers to the UK paper makers and local printers, ingredients suppliers, and our wonderful team. The ultimate goal is to build Bare Bones to last and do as much good as we can. With this win, we can move into a larger space this summer and buy larger machinery to increase our output.'

Congratulations to all at Bare Bones on this incredible achievement. We don't know about you, but we feel like celebrating with a bar of chocolate ourselves.

Bare Bones Chocolate bars cost £6.50, with bundles and drinking chocolate also available. Head to Bareboneschocolate.co.uk to learn more.
Thinking about applying for the next round of Scottish Edge funding? Tap here for more details.

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