OUR STORY

From CFO to Cocoa

A summary of Julie Handford’s (founder of House of Treats) journey from financial beginnings to a life immersed in chocolate, in her own words:

I have always been completely obsessed with chocolate, probably starting in early childhood when the deliciously sweet, sticky smoothness of it felt both comforting and naughty! It was always rationed (rightly so, in my opinion) but I obviously have a defective “chocolate rebellion” gene that I have failed miserably to quash. The rest is history….

In my early twenties I trained as an accountant and, once qualified, was fortunate enough to gain lots of experience working for many interesting companies and individuals. In late 2000 John (my long-suffering and supremely wonderful husband!) and I moved to Prague to live and work, a truly amazing experience. I was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Czech and Slovak Republics, a very demanding role, and come Friday I would look forward to some “down-time”. One Christmas John bought me a chocolate tempering machine and I used to try this out at the weekends in our apartment. I set up a little production line on the table-tennis table (a permanent feature of our kitchen/dining room and used as a thrashing ground for our weekly stresses). My early efforts were tried out on the office staff and I became more and more interested in learning the skills of the artisan chocolatier.

In mid-2002 we learned that I was expecting our first baby and so we moved back to England in early 2003. Jack was born on 1st of April (much fun to be had with this in future years!) and I decided to take some time off work. Many months and several training courses later I felt ready to start up my handmade chocolate business and began trading in April 2004. Our second son Oliver was born at the end of November 2005 and being the manic Christmas season I was making truffles the morning he was born and finishing them off 36 hours later! Life continues to be hectic but hugely rewarding, I’m thrilled to be at home with my beautiful boys and the heaven on earth which is my chocolate workshop!

Thanks for reading and happy chocolating…  Julie