Inside Harrogate’s hidden gem café, changing chocolate into a confidence boost
Discover Harrogate’s best kept secret – the family and dog friendly café that’s giving people with learning disabilities and/or autism a sweet taste of success.
Yorkshire has a fine history of producing some of the country’s biggest names in confectionary – Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Basset’s Liquorice Allsorts and Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles and Kit Kats to name just a few. But there’s an active Harrogate brand which is not only winning praise and plaudits for its produce, but the work it does equipping students with skills for life.
Harrogate Chocolate Factory and Harrogate Chocolate Factory Café are two social enterprises run by Skills Bridge, part of local charity, Harrogate Skills 4 Living.
Students spend time in both the manufacturing side on North Park Road, and in the café next door to the Odeon Cinema, which is open to the public six days a week. There, they learn practical skills like customer service and cash-handling/till work, plus health and safety and food hygiene.
For many of the students, who have learning disabilities and/or autism, it’s a valuable confidence boost too, and teaches them teamwork and to develop and trust their own initiative.
Sometimes young people come to work here and don’t like approaching the public, taking their orders etc. Then we watch them grow in confidence and skills and they blossom. It is fantastic to see.
Harrogate Chocolate Factory lead Trinity Horn says that by spending time in both sides of the social enterprise, the young people often have futures their family might never have dreamt of.
“Most spent between one and three years with us; some have gone on to paid employment in hotels and cafes, some are now employed here with us.”
Most students are aged 16-25 and come to the Harrogate Chocolate Factory and Café after their formal education journey finishes. They can be referred by their school, college, the council, or a family member. Others find out about the Harrogate facilities thanks to the job coaches visiting careers fairs.
The job coaches do a great job with them, helping them prepare for interviews and work. The experience they have with us here is life-changing.
For the wider Harrogate community, Harrogate Chocolate Factory Café is a little slice of heaven. From delicious cakes to a bacon buttie, you will find a warm, friendly welcome. Small children are particularly at home, with sensory toys and a sensory garden to enjoy, while the four-legged members of the family are included too.
Free hire and shop
The café has a community space that is free to hire for any community group or organisation.
It also operates as a shop, selling the factory’s own brand quality chocolate, created from bean to bar right here in Harrogate, and sold in only a few exclusive retail outlets.
Other offerings include the oat chocolate bar, which was awarded a silver award at the Free-From awards, while the café itself has previously been nominated for a customer service award at the Harrogate Food and Drink Awards.
Opening times
The café is open Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm and Saturdays, 9am to 2pm. If you or a loved one would be a good fit to join the next student cohort, speak to Katie Arrowsmith [email protected] or visit the café. Or click here.