'Dubai chocolate trend has given my business a boost'

A young chocolatier who abandoned his ambitions to work as a pastry chef in high-end restaurants and instead spent the Covid lockdown learning his craft says a viral social media craze for "Dubai chocolate" has given him fresh inspiration.

Ollie Morris, from Farsley, in Leeds, began making artisan chocolates in 2020 and now runs his own business from a unit just down the road in Stanningley.

"I fell in love with the creativity of it. The possibilities seemed limitless," he says.

The 25-year-old was already studying a course in patisserie and confectionery at Leeds City College when the Covid lockdown was announced, and it was then that he decided to try making chocolates at home.

"That was the foundation of how this business started," he explains.

He says that "being able to pack so much flavour into a small, bite-sized chocolate" while also experimenting with different designs is what appealed to him.

Just 21 at the time, he had already decided university was not for him and says he had always been entrepreneurial.

"I was never one for academics, growing up. I was also one for doing things in a more practical way," he says.

"Getting out and getting hammered didn't appeal to me - waiting in queues to get into clubs and bars.

"I've always been one to make money rather than spend money."

Ollie's chocolates come in flavours such as whiskey ginger, carrot cake and tiramisu, and his recent inspiration has been the TikTok and Instagram craze for pistachio-flavoured "Dubai chocolate".

"I saw how everyone was going completely mad over it and I though it would be good to get in on this," he says.

His creation, a Knafeh egg, is based on the Arab dessert Knafeh, which combines chocolate, pistachio, tahini and filo pastry.

Ollie says the reaction to his latest creation has been "insanely positive".

"When I first brought it out a few weeks ago at a local farmers' market as a guest flavour, I sold out.

"That said to me, I have to make this a part of my collection.

"It's one of those flavours customers just can't seem to get enough of."

Perhaps surprisingly, Ollie says he was never creative or artistic at school, and he only developed his passions as an adult.

"My creativity grew with the more chocolates I made," he says.

However, as the owner of one of the 800,000 new companies registered in the first year of the Covid pandemic, Ollie says he has experienced challenging times.

Running a small business on his own has been tough, he admits, with factors out of his control forcing him to make some hard decisions.

"It has been difficult, I won't lie," he says.

"Due to drought and various difficulties in Africa, where professional chocolate is usually sourced from, there's been a dramatic increase in cocoa prices in the last couple of years or so.

"I've even had to switch to a cheaper brand from the one I was using initially."

But Ollie says he believes things are getting better: "It's still difficult, but it's not as difficult as it was when I started out."

The 25-year-old says he now wants to move his business to the next level.

Despite being from Farsley, a town with a thriving hub of small businesses, Ollie thinks somewhere like Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, could be a good spot to set up a cafe in the future.

"I'd love this business to become its own shop or cafe," he says.

"I think this company would be great as a shop where people can come in and sit down and have tea or coffee along with a tray of chocolates."

Until then, Ollie says he will stick to making his name around Yorkshire's farmers' markets and experimenting with more and more flavours of chocolate.

Meanwhile, in challenging economic times, he says his message is simple.

"Keep supporting small businesses so we stay alive," he urges.

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