“Everything we do must be with the understanding of how we potentially impact others. The best impact is no-impact other than fabulous taste and flavour”

Marc Demarquette

With this in mind, we'd like to share with you some important rules by which we follow. Our aim is to mitigate any negative impacts and to best manage with a view of zero impact.

Q: Why do you not have any Ethical Certification?

We do indeed source fantastic ingredients, some have been certified as Organic, Free Trade, Fair Trade, Sustainable Sourcing, Rainforest Alliance and many others. However, we as a business also source ingredients that are not but are equally ethically produced by their respective artisan maker. The alchemy of chocolate making does mean we blend our ingredients based on flavour to achieve the optimal result. Consequently, we are unable to certify our products in isolation. We will continue to source the best products we can and will continue to support the most ethical practises applied by our suppliers. Needless to say, we will not source ingredients that are evidently contaminated nor will we source ingredients evidently harvested from sites previously pure and natural areas such as rainforests. This is why we will not source any ingredients containing ANY Palm Oil.

About child and forced labour – see our section below about chocolate.

Q: What is your Environmental Policy?

We use enzyme-based products when we clean to minimise the use of chemicals. And we use a lot of elbow grease too!

All our boxes are compostable and have a multitude of uses post their chocolate lives. This also now includes the postal chips we put in the boxes to keep the products sturdy. They are made of potato starch!

No single use Plastic.

We will only use biodegradable and compostable plastic sachets (compostable within 22 days).

We compost all our green matter.

We support green transport and initiatives to reduce wasted trips. Things may take a little longer getting to us!

We support initiatives in cacao plantation that apply multicrop practices to help increase their productivity, reduce the dependence on a single crop, increase the biodiversity and encourages natural pest control.

We are a small business

Q: What is Demarquette?

Simple answer is, Marc’s name. With a French origin, from Northern France.

The business was set up by Marc who was once a Management Consultant and changed paths to follow his love for Chocolate. From the very beginning Marc was very strict that the business would be and operate purely and ethically.

Q: Is Demarquette part of a chain?

A: No. Demarquette - Fine Chocolates is a small family-run British company created in 2006 and owned by Marc Demarquette.

Q: Where can I buy Demarquette Chocolates?

A: Some of our products are available at quality food stores around the country. Products are also available to purchase online and via our online partners.

About our Chocolates

Q: Where is your chocolate from?

A: For our Staple we have 3 core chocolates we use. We also stock a large array of bean to bar, single origin, single country, single crop, and harvest chocolate from around the world. Marc carefully selects his chocolate with a view of impressing the taste buds with texture and flavour.

Dark Chocolate: between 71 and 72% depending on the bean blend from Ecuador, Madagascar and Dominican Republic. A balanced fruity and “Cacao” chocolate that is light and crisp.

This bespoke blend is out House Dark chocolate especially created by Marc in 2011. This blend won the incredible accolade the very same year at the Great Taste Awards with a Triple God Award! This Chocolate is the base for all our Classic ganache chocolates as well as all our dark mouldings and enrobing (coatings) unless we specify another.

Dark Milk: between 55 and 60% a very dark milk chocolate whose main base is from Papua New Guinea and Java and then further blended with the House Dark. This is used for most of our to fill mouldings giving added flavour and depth with touches of butter and fruit.

Milk: usually 35% a blend of our Papua New Guinea and Javanese Milk bases. This is a creamy and has buttery tones. This is a chocolate we use for all our solid seasonal chocolate mouldings.

Our core “Others” include Plantation chocolates from: Vietnam, Madagascar, Peru, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, Bolivia, Java, …

Q: What about Chocolate from the Ivory Coast or Ghana?

A: We have abstained from the Ivory Coast and Ghana in general, however we have one single supplier from the Ivory Coast with the strictest measures thanks to a unique fermentation process adapted at the plantation level making it unique. At this plantation there are several Volunteers who reside on site to permanently monitor the new fermentation processes which optimises the productivity of the cacao at plantation level. This is pioneering in that it enables the farmer to maximise the yields. Furthermore, new farming technics such as planting additional crops such as Banana, Mango and other fruit side by side with the Cacao has also reduced the pesticide need by over 50% due to the natural biodiversity on site. Demarquette is one of the first Chocolatier to support such incredible and empowering projects which also ensure that young people are given every opportunity to gain real education in the classroom. For this we are proud to say NO to Child Labour and Modern Slavery.

Q: What are your ingredients like?

We care very much about the entire journey of our products, and this starts from the source. Marc has cultivated a little black book of amazing producers with whom we have worked with all these years. Marc balances the need to real ingredients as opposed to flavourings with their provenance ensuring that their production does not harm the ecological diversity, nor will it harm the Humanity of its provenance. So, we say no to ingredients that are produced on lands recently occupied by wildlife such as rainforests or that children or slavery be the human cost of the products.

Marc also works continuously to address the needs of specific requirements to respect beliefs and practises of our customers. A small anecdote for example is that we do not use Palm oil or its derivatives in any of our products.

The vast majority of our producers are small enterprises who depend on businesses like us to maintain the extraordinary quality they are so famed for.

Consequently, we do not use essential oils that are pre-bottled. We use the natural oils found in the products directly. We zest our citrus from fruit in season and we use the crisp young leaves of herbs to extract the rich aroma they harbour. Our spices are so fragrant that they shine way above commercial products with a much wider spectrum of flavour compounds to entice your taste buds.

All our dairy is at minimum UK Red Tractor certified, all our sugar is UK Beet which is better for our planet (no shipping from the tropics) better for our economy (keeping jobs in the UK) and is not treated with beef bone char (better for Vegans)

This is why you can taste the world through chocolate!

Q: What is your position on Microplastics in Sea salt?

We will no longer use Sea Salt of any form in our products.

We have 2 reasons to change from Sea to Mineral / Rock, the first is the abundance of research that every sea and ocean now has a high level of Microplastics through the food chain and sadly also prominent as free flowing matter. This means that every harvested sea salt will now contain microplastics as the particles are small enough to slip through the high-tech filtering nets (literally).

Harvesting of Sea salt will also induce some harm to living organisms from sterilisation (boiling) to crushing through the filters. With all good consciousness we cannot use this salt especially in our plant-based recipes.

Q: Are Demarquette chocolates imported?

A: No. Chocolatier Marc Demarquette produces his chocolates our very own Chocolaterie using traditional techniques and only the best ingredients.

Q: Are all of Demarquette products preservative-free?

A: Yes. The health benefits of preservative-free products are well documented and Marc sets out to offer the freshest chocolates with the purest taste. This is why we use real fruit and use natural ingredients to carefuly balance flavour and shelf life.

Q: Do Demarquette products contain gluten?

A: only a couple of products will contain gluten and they are all labelled as containing gluten in the description.

Q: How should the fresh chocolates be packed when travelling abroad?

A: Remember that we do not use any preservatives in our fresh ganache chocolates. We will advise you of the Consume by' date which we recommend to be 2 weeks from the date of purchase. When travelling it is also advisable to either vacuum-pack or cling film your box to protect the chocolates from condensation and taking on odours. High temperatures and humidity will affect the quality of the product.

Q: Tips on storing the chocolates

A: Please take note of the recommended 'use by' date. Chocolate is best kept between 16-18° C, in dry conditions, out of direct sunlight, and away from any other foods or substances with strong odours that could be absorbed by the chocolate. If keeping the chocolate in the fridge, we highly recommend to cling film the box to protect them from condensation and odours. When chocolate is exposed to hot or cold temperatures the cocoa butter can separate from the cocoa solids causing a white film to appear on the chocolate. The chocolates are not suitable for freezing.

Q: Why don’t we see Demarquette on supermarket shelves?

A: Being an artisan business, we focus on small quantities of qualitative products. By increasing production to supermarket quantities and expectations, one has to rely on serious manufacturing machinery. This takes all of the artisan craftsmanship out of the chocolate making. It is for this reason – quality - that Demarquette can only be found at very select partner boutique outlets.

Q: Why does Demarquette apply only artisan craftsmanship and not produce with new machinery?

A: It is simply about quality. Machines cannot replace the extraordinary natural senses Man has including smell, touch, sight and taste. The most critical times are when seasonal produce change. A punnet of raspberries will taste differently in the summer as it would the winter, more importantly the water and natural fructose content will also significantly vary, consequently at Demarquette we adapt our approach and recipes to accommodate seasonal fluctuations. We work with our ingredients.

Deliveries

Couriers have been our Achilles heel and the source of 99% of issues raised by our customers. Consequently, we now offer 2 courier options. This empowers our customers to select the courier company who may be a better performer in their respective area than others.

Q: I want to send chocolates to arrive on a specific date, what should I do?

Please select the Next Day Delivery with your date option, if you do not, we will try but it may not arrive the date you select. Please also note that Weekend deliveries are at the discretion of the Courier company and NOT an expectation.

Q: Where is my delivery???

We often receive very angry emails from customers asking for an update. Sadly, we are not glued to the courier sites tracking very delivery, but you do get a link and the order references so you can track and trace live. If there is a clear issue we will of course intervene, but we must let the couriers do their job first before calling in the firing squad please!

You can also make amendments to the delivery instructions too.

However, we also get the odd cheeky order with a request for next day when the 3 – 5 day service has been chosen!! Your order will be processed in accordance with the service you have paid for. If the courier has not delivered or attempted to, we will investigate to rectify the issue the best way we can.

Q: I live in the Channel Islands, will you deliver to me?

Not anymore. Sadly we have had more issues with Royal Mail so sadly we will not be able to accept orders to the following Post Codes

BT, IM, TR, JE, GY, KW, ZE

Q: Do we send chocolates to addresses outside of the UK & the EU?

A: This is a tough question as this will have to pass through the Royal Mail system to ensure proper customs clearances and may take a few more days that advertised. We are very reluctant at present until things settle a bit more.

With every order you will receive a confirmation with a link to the courier and the Reference code, please use this facility to track your order.

Please remember we are a very small team of very dedicated passionate people, at times we multitask and at times we get a little confused, all we can promise is that we will try our very best. Regrettably in some circumstances this may not be enough for you. Please do not take it out on our people.

“My head is smaller than a football, please do not expect me to retain enough information to fill a jumbo jet!” Marc Demarquette