We’re thrilled to be working with ethical and independent chocolate brand, Bare Bones – and we know you’ll fall in love with their delicious range, too.
We chat to co-founder, Lara Messer, to find out more about the brains behind the brand.
Tell us about yourself and your brand, Bare Bones.
I’m Lara and I’m the co-founder of Bare Bones along with my partner Cameron. We are micro-batch chocolate makers from Glasgow, handcrafting single origin chocolate and specialty hot chocolate from bean to bar.
Describe a typical day in the life for you.
At the moment I do a bit of everything – chocolate making, packaging, distribution, sales and social media – but going forward in our new space I will mostly be creating beautiful content and working with our amazing stockists and customers.
What did you do before creating Bare Bones?
I was a freelance food photographer in London, working on various cookbooks and magazines. Cameron is an engineer and we both lived and worked in the Midlands before moving back to Glasgow to start Bare Bones.
What made you decide to create your chocolate brand, and what's the inspiration behind it?
I’ve always been so inspired by craftsmanship and was in awe of the different small business and creative industries in London. Cameron and I loved coffee for years and eating bean to bar chocolate was our next food-obsession! Our mission was (and still is) to make the best possible chocolate whilst being as environmentally and socially sustainable and responsible as we can.
We love that you’re a single-origin brand, can you tell us more about this and why it was important to you?
Like wine, cacao is grown in different places around the world and each variety and origin has its own unique flavour notes due to the climate, the terroir and the processing. I find it the most exciting thing. We roast the cacao beans slowly and carefully to enhance these flavours and our bars are ‘just the bare bones’ – cacao, sugar and a little bit of cocoa butter – no additives or flavourings.
What have been the biggest achievements so far?
We are so happy and proud of the response that we have received to our chocolate. We work day and night (quite literally!) to craft our chocolate, so to be working with amazing stockists and connecting with our customers really means so much to us. Last year we won gold for brand experience and rising star at the Academy of Chocolate Awards, as well as silver for our hot chocolate flakes at the International Chocolate Awards! We couldn’t believe it.
How would you describe your chocolate in 3 words?
Flavour, craft, sustainability.
Find out more about Bare Bones here: bareboneschocolate.co.uk or follow them on social media @bareboneschocolate