Devonport Chocolates celebrates 30 years of business

Devonport Chocolates, a locally owned and operated handcrafted chocolate producer based in Devonport , has launched a special Anniversary Selection pack to celebrate 30 years of business.

The selection, which comes in two different sizes, is made up of customers’ favourites and award-winning chocolates to mark the occasion and includes the ever-popular Hauraki Salted Caramel, as well as Mango & Passionfruit, Feijoa & Honey and Summer Gin and Raspberry. 

First established in 1991, Devonport Chocolates was one of New Zealand’s first artisanal chocolate producers. Current owners the Everitt family bought the business in 1999, identified a potential retail and factory site in Devonport’s Wynyard Street and moved the Glenfield-based business ‘back home’.  

Former publishing executive Stephanie Everitt trained in chocolate making at the William Angliss Institute in Melbourne, and installed a variety of chocolatiers at the Wynyard Street base to help augment the team’s skills and build out their product range.

Over her two decades of owning and running the business, Stephanie says chocolate consumption has evolved, due to changing palates and habits. She says people are eating more dark chocolate now, driven by the health benefits associated with it.  

Although Easter and Christmas remain their two key sales peaks of the year, Stephanie says people are consuming more chocolate and treating themselves a bit more. Sales have increased steadily year on year since the Everitts bought the business, and they’ve added more than 60 new product lines during that time. 

Daughter Caroline Everitt (pictured above), who is Devonport Chocolates’ marketing and retail director, applauds the nationwide #buylocal campaign launched last year to aid retail recovery after COVID-19, and says they couldn’t have survived without their local community. “Our locals have been amazing,” she says.

She says they’ve always been strong proponents of supporting local producers and suppliers. The salt for their Salted Caramel comes from a producer in the Hauraki Gulf, hazelnuts from Marlborough, Limoncello from Kerikeri, wine from the Man o’ War vineyard, and olive oil from the Rangihoua Estate, both on Waiheke Island. 

Devonport Chocolates is currently developing a vegan range, as well as marshmallow which will be used in Rocky Road. It has also launched its first dedicated brand video campaign, available to view here on YouTube.