When Knoops arrived on Hilders Cliff in Rye in 2013 little did we all know what a success story would follow. Knoops now has stores in Bath, Brighton, Cambridge, Chelsea, Chester, Covent Garden, Edinburgh New Town, Edinburgh Old Town, Guildford, Kensington, Knightsbridge,, Manchester, Notting Hill, Oxford, Richmond, and St Albans. There are more stores soon to open in Leeds and Nottingham and if you pop into Selfridges, Harrods and Wholefoods you can pick up Knoops’s chocolate flake tubes too.
This however is just the tip of the iceburg as Knoops feels it has no competitors in the world that does what Knoops does. It seems many are in agreement as Knoops has recently secured £12m in funding for its expansion plans.
In its most recent investment round in November 2023, the company secured an investment of £8.3m The round was led by London’s retail and property group Morleys Stores with a contribution of £5.5m. The funds are earmarked for doubling the chain’s UK footprint this year.
Knoops said that the investment will also bolster its multi-channel offering, which includes “Knoopology,” a concept that allows customers to create their own chocolate drinks at home using Knoops’ signature chocolate flakes.
Knoops has revised its earlier expansion plans and now aims to launch 40 new outlets by March 2025, as part of a broader strategy to establish 300 UK stores by 2028 and with stores also planned for the Middle East and is in talks to extend it’s presence to the United States and China.
The company’s CEO William Gordon-Harris has expressed ambitions “to build a billion-dollar brand” with a target of 3,000 stores worldwide by 2030 marking a significant step in the company’s global expansion plans.
I wonder what the panel of entrepreneurs on the BBC’s Dragons Den might have decided to do if they had been offered the opportunity to invest in Knoops in the early days. Would they have made an investment or would the fact that when Jens Knoops opened in Rye he was told the premises was at the wrong end of the high street have made them think twice?
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Nick Forman .