Consultancy
Andrew Thwaite has over 25 years of experience in artisan and industrial chocolate manufacture. He offers a flexible and effective service whatever your needs, we have a vast range of resources and can help your business whether you are a long-established manufacturer or a new business just starting out. Andrew’s no nonsense, friendly and efficient approach offers you the perfect solution. From onsite training to recipe formulation, equipment sourcing and business start up we are your one stop shop for all your training needs.
We offer face-to-face onsite training, telephone/video consultancy, support packages, flexibility is one of our key strengths, whatever your requirements we can help you.
Practical training courses are delivered at The Yorkshire Academy of Chocolate & Patisserie, our state of the art facility in Scarborough, UK. Alternatively Andrew can visit you at your own premises.
Andrew also works internationally and has clients in the Middle East, Europe and China.
Please contact us to discuss your exact requirements.
“After taking a trip to Bruges, in 2001, I was inspired to make a career change to working with chocolate. I had to find the right person to train me and fortunately, after making a number of phone calls and talking to lots of people, I was put in touch with the amazing Andrew Thwaite. As I was feeling quite nervous about the possibility of starting a new chapter in my career, the passion, enthusiasm and down to earth approach that came across from Andrew, instantly made me feel completely at ease and also very excited at the prospect of having one-to-one training. It also made me realise that I had made the right decision in a future career change. What an amazing, thoroughly enjoyable and educational introduction into the world of chocolate with an incredibly talented TOP chocolatier. Andrew is now someone I can always go to for help and advice to this day – not only a great mentor, but also a valued friend.”
Amanda Torkington
Cheshire Chocolates (founder)
“My husband Andy and I had the crazy idea to become chocolatiers, making truly fresh chocolates with local ingredients wherever possible, back in the early 2000s, all driven by my love of and exposure to the world of continental chocolate when my parents had lived in Belgium. However, back then there weren’t any training courses available in the UK. We were very lucky to be told about Andrew offering one-to-one training and we spent an intense time with him learning the key skills and techniques we needed to get us started. Andrew was extremely patient with us and also gave us insights into the fine chocolate industry, with evenings spent in the pub discussing the world of chocolate. He was also brilliant at supporting us in the early days of our business when we were going through a pretty vertical learning curve, being on the end of the phone whenever we needed advice. We wouldn’t be where we are now without Andrew’s initial training and encouragement which gave us the confidence to start our business.”
Claire Burnet
"If you enjoy chocolate then Andrew Thwaite – Chocolatier is a must, and comes highly recommended. Andrew has visited The Old Garden twice in the past 6 months and has thoroughly entertained our residents with his 'History of Chocolate' presentation and Easter Egg decorating. We can't wait to welcome him again to help us make advent calendars later in the year."
Victoria Jackson
"After 30 years catering in the Weddings and Events business I decided to retrain as a chocolatier, opening Brecon Chocolates in July 2018. This was a fairly ambitious undertaking for a complete novice, not helped by the fact it was the hottest summer on record for 30 years and anyone knowing how temperamental chocolate is, will totally understand the difficulties we faced. It was at this point my saviour came to the rescue with a One-To-One Training day, and with a bit of tweaking Andrew sent us on our way to a successful summer. Andrew revisited again in October, prior to us launching our Christmas range, which need shelf life extension and off we went towards a very busy Christmas 2018. Andrew couldn’t have been more helpful, informative and willingly to offer support on the day and over the phone. Having One-to-One help, for a novice chocolatier as I was, was the best investment in my career so far and I was thrilled to have him back for another days training, teaching me Cocoa butter work, which set me up for our first and successful Easter 2019. Andrew has the uncanny ability to make you feel at ease and offers lots of praise and encouragement. Combined with his great sense of humour and story telling he is a “Must Have” for all up and coming Chocolatiers!"
Charlotte Calver
"Andrew provided me with a week’s excellent one-to-one training to refine my chocolate skills, learn new techniques and prepare to set up a chocolate business. The bespoke training covered everything I needed to know (and more!) including tempering, moulding, spraying with cocoa butter, ingredients, equipment, storage of the finished products, health & safety, shelf life testing and labelling. As well as learning a lot it was fab to work with someone with such a great sense of humour – thanks Andrew!"
Kate McKeown
Temper & Snap
“I think Andrew Thwaite is, first of all, one of the nicest people you could meet. Secondly, his professionalism is second to none, he is a brilliant educator with superb communication skills. I am so proud to work with him and have him teach at my cookery school in Tonbridge Wells. He never fails to impress me with his skills and standard of work, he always teaches me something!”
Rosemary Shrager
