Easter sales to provide crucial boost for Thame chocolatier amid pressures
It's the final event of the chocolate season at Rumsey's, which also means the last big opportunity to boost sales
A chocolatier in Oxfordshire is gearing up for one of the busiest time of year - as sales are expected to peak this weekend.
Easter remains one of the most critical periods of the year for small chocolate businesses.
Kate Rumsey, owner of Rumsey’s Handmade Chocolates in Thame, said: "It's super important, it's where a bulk of our annual chocolate sales come from."
The seasonal demand for chocolate begins to build in the autumn and continues through to spring.
After Christmas comes Valentine's Day, followed by Mother's Day and finally Easter, marking the end of a so-called 'chocolate season', which means this weekend's sales are crucial for a business' cash reserves.
Ms Rumsey said: "Easter’s really kind of our second biggest, just slightly smaller sales expectations from Christmas, but it's the last one of the season so it really sets us up for how the rest of the year is going to go.
"A successful Easter is really important because as we go into the summer months where we don't have so many chocolate sales, it's really those kind of cash reserves that we we've made at these times of year that we rely on."
Rumsey’s has been trading for 21 years and also operates another shop in Wendover, Buckinghamshire.
While unable to compete with supermarkets in volume or pricing, the business relies on a loyal customer base.
"People are more appreciative of handmade, small batch production, they understand it a bit more, understand what goes into it, that you get what you pay for," Ms Rumsey said.
This weekend's sales are particularly important, as small businesses face swallow the cost of national insurance hikes, soaring prices of cocoa and minimum wage increases.