Luxury chocolate maker Marasu’s Petit Fours has entered administration – it was London’s largest producer of premium chocolates and was founded in 1986
A UK chocolate company which produced 300 tonnes every year has entered administration.
Marasu’s Petit Fours was acquired by the Prestat Group in 2006 and has since supplied Prestat, Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges and Harrods. It was founded in 1986 by patissiers Rolf Kern and Gabi Kohler, with the aim of making premium chocolates.
The company became London’s largest producer of fancy chocolates and was pumping out more than 300 tonnes a year from its 25,000 sq ft facilities in Park Royal. However, it faced difficult market conditions in recent months.
Administrators were appointed on February 6. Alessandro Sidoli and Jessica Barker of Xeinadin Corporate Recovery Limited were named as joint administrators.
It followed Prestat also going into administration. Prestat is still operating as an online store. The luxury chocolatier, founded in 1902, shut its historic Piccadilly shop in central London in February.
In recent years, the chocolate industry has struggled with global cocoa prices surging to record highs in 2024 and cocoa crops being hit by disease and extreme weather, including flooding and droughts, in key producing countries such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which together account for about 60% of the world’s production.
The closure comes as part of a prepack administration deal that will see Prestat taken over by chocolate maker L’Artisan du Chocolat, which is owned by Polus Capital Management.
Prestat held two Royal Warrants and counted the Royal Family, including Princess Diana, among some of its most famous customers. In 2003, The Economist magazine even named it as one of the top three chocolate shops in the world.
The Piccadilly shop inspired Roald Dahl, who referenced Prestat’s truffles in his novel My Uncle Oswald.
The store, which was one of the few to continue making its own chocolates, is also said to have inspired the fantastical sweet shop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
