Chantal Coady

Chef Chantal Coady opened up her first shop called Rococo Chocolates in Chelsea in 1983, near the famous World’s End. More than three decades, four shops and five books later (all about the joys of luxury chocolate) Chef Coady is still a real chocolate pioneer. Her passions include visiting her Grococo farm in Grenada, which she owns in partnership with the Grenada Chocolate Company, and lecturing on the ethics and sustainability of chocolate growing.

In 2014, she was accepted into the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elisabeth II during the Queen’s Birthday Honours. It was the very first time a chocolatier had been recognised for her distinguished services to the arts and sciences, public services, and work with charitable and welfare organisations.

A selection of the awards Chef Coady has to her name:

• Chocolate ‘Oscar’ for Best Chocolate Book, Eurochocolate, Perugia, 1996
• Nominated for Best Cookery Book, Guild of Food Writers, 2003
• Special Award for ‘Changing the Way People Think about Chocolate’, Academy of Chocolate, 2008
• Award for ‘Outstanding Service to the Chocolate Industry’, Fine Chocolate Industry Association, 2011
• ‘Chocolatier of the Year 2011-2012’, Academy of Chocolate Merit Award, International Chocolate Awards 2013