Chocolate: Where Maple Began!
The Maple story first began in 2012, when our parents, Rob and Karen, saw a gap in the local market. John Street in the seaside town of Porthcawl in South Wales was missing a chocolate shop! At the time, my husband (Mark) and I (Rachel) were living in Vancouver, Canada, and had been for 3 years, but we were both lured back by the temptation and excitement of running a shop dedicated entirely to luxury, handmade chocolates. Who could resist?
Our entire family have a very sweet tooth!! I've always had a real interest in all sorts of confectionery. I went to Belgium in February this year (2025) and even though we've had a chocolate shop for 14 years now, I still couldn't resist going into every chocolate shop, because if I see something different that we don't sell I simply have to try it!
The idea that has always underpinned the Maple brand, and specifically at the start of our own-brand boxes of chocolates, is that offer of the 'ultimate selection' to our customers so that they can enjoy everything in one box, and now we've expanded into gifts, 'the ultimate selection all in one place'. We've had so many different chocolates over the years but there are some that we've done since day one and to be able to put all the best flavours and chocolates in one box is something we always wanted to do.
It was really hard decision to come up with the name Maple! We wanted something unique, that wasn't chocolate specific as we always knew we would branch out into a lot more gifts because we felt that was a market we also wanted to target. With Mark and I moving home from Canada, and the maple leaf on their flag being such an important part of Canada's identity, we knew we wanted to feel just as connected to something like the maple leaf for our own identity. After circling around a million names for days, my Mum suddenly just said 'Why don't we just call it Maple?' and that's how the Maple name was born. Also, the fact that Maple syrup is sweet and we sell chocolates helped us settle on the name.
We are so lucky in Porthcawl to have a town full of amazing, independent retailers. The growth of the Maple brand from 1 shop to 7 and an online store is one that has happened almost naturally over 14 years as other shops have closed in town and we've spotted further gaps in the market. As a family, we want to keep Porthcawl a thriving place, with more and more people visiting the town we all love so much.
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