• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Friday March 18 2022
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Packaging firm GWP supports chocolate business in handling Dragons Den success

Wiltshire-based GWP Packaging is helping fresh chilled chocolate business, Russell & Atwell, with a surge in orders after a successful appearance on BBC’s Dragons’ Den.

The Birmingham-based business – a partnership between chocolate experts Steve Russell and Giles Atwell – initially received offers of investment from all five of the Dragons on the popular show.

However, the duo eventually secured £90,000 in funding from Peter Jones and Steven Bartlett, for 20 per cent of their business.

Having been founded late in 2019, the company offers five varieties of hand prepared, fresh chocolates that must be kept chilled. This unique selling point provides a taste far superior to what they call “long-life chocolate”, that you would find in a typical supermarket or retailer. They also use no palm oil or preservatives in their chocolates.

Giles Atwell, who has a 100-year family history in chocolate, commented: “Since the show we have been blown away with the number of orders we have received through our website. The response has been truly exceptional!”

Since the launch of their e-commerce site in 2020, GWP have supplied branded e-commerce packaging used for shipping online orders to customers.

Steve Russell, who himself has vast experience within the chocolate industry, including at both Mars and Cadbury, added: “GWP have been excellent in supporting us since our launch, and we would like to say a huge thank you to them and the handful of partners that have helped us over the past 18 months. We are both incredibly grateful and excited that more people will be able to discover what chocolate should really taste like!”

Jay Daggar, sales manager at GWP Packaging, commented: “We have been involved with Russell and Atwell since they launched their online shop, and they have been a great business to work with. We are pleased to be supporting them with the surge in demand after their impressive pitch, as well as a number of new projects they have in the pipeline.”

“We are obviously delighted that these unique and high-quality products get the packaging they deserve. And I can confirm that the chocolates are every bit as delicious as the Dragons said they are, too!”