Chocolate making to return to Terry's site with new £1.3m factory

York Chocolate Works is the brainchild of entrepreneur Sophie Jewett, founder of the York Cocoa House cafe and chocolate shop in Blake Street.

Ms Jewett's plans, exclusively revealed at The Press Business Awards tonight, will see the original Terry's Factory Roasting Room, later known as the Liquor Store, being transformed into a chocolate processing facility, with a visitor centre, educational and workshop facilities, and a cafe and shop.

The plans, which will see the creation of 20 new jobs, will mark the return of chocolate production to the site, which has been derelict since the iconic and historic Terry's factory closed in 2005 under the ownership of Kraft, with the loss of 300 jobs.

Entrepreneur Sophie Jewett

Ms Jewett said: "It's always been an ambition to create our own chocolate production facility.

"We appreciate the enormity of the chocolate industry in York. We have been overwhelmed by the stories and experts that have come to us at the Cocoa House over the years to share their knowledge.

"We are bringing back and revisiting this position that Terry's had as a chocolate manufacturer that allows us to work with the raw ingredients, roasting our own cocoa beans from scratch, rather than working with chocolate that has already been processed in the continent.

"We will harnesses the skills and knowledge that was developed here in York and bringing it back into use, making us one of a very limited number of chocolate producers in the UK."

Ms Jewett has been in talks with site owners Henry Boot Developments, which is putting together plans to redevelop the old factory buildings, while David Wilson Homes is building 329 homes in the form of apartments and houses on the surrounding land on the South Bank side of the site.

Terry's closed in 2005 - but chocolate making could now return to the site

In the next stage of her plans Sophie is looking to talk to local stakeholders to try and raise investment to take the project forward.

She said: "We are carving out a business structure that will allow us to share the value generated by the business across stakeholders involved in the process.

"We are looking for engagement and interaction with people that want to be part of the process and welcome their contribution."

Ms Jewett hopes to have the new factory up and running by the end of 2015, with its first chocolate product fully produced in York, from cocoa bean to wrapper, on the shelves by Christmas next year.

As well as producing finished chocolate products the York Chocolate Works will also be selling its raw chocolate to the wider chocolate industry.

The Terry's site was famed around the world for chocolate production

York's chocolate heritage dates back to the mid 1700s when Quaker spinster Mary Tuke set up a grocery business selling drinking chocolate, which was later bought out by Henry Rowntree.

When Henry's brother Joseph II joined the operation in 1869 a chocolate dynasty was born. Meanwhile Joseph Terry had married a confectioner's daughter in 1823 and Terry & Berry was formed, later to become Terry's.

Ms Jewett hopes to bring to life the history of chocolate making in York through the educational aspect of the York Chocolate Works project.

Last year Ms Jewett won the national Local Business Accelerators competition beating competition from businesses across the UK by being identified as the enterprise with most potential for growth. She won mentoring support from Dragons Den star Deborah Meaden.