A Wakefield based supplier of chocolate manufacturing equipment has received help from the Department for International Trade (DIT) to aid new growth plans.

Coeur de Xocolat, founded by David Greenwood-Haigh, supplies chocolatiers with the 'chocolate factory in a box', a shipping container holding all the necessary equipment needed to create a production facility.

Greenwood-Haigh recently helped establish a chocolate factory on the island state of São Tomé and Principe, off the West African coast, commonly known as 'chocolate island' because of its cocoa farming. He also travelled to Haiti to meet potential buyers and offer advice on cocoa farming.

Coeur de Xocolat has received backing from the DIT to help double export revenue, with the aim of taking the company from 40 per cent to 80 per cent by 2020.

To support international trade, the business is hiring another permanent member of staff to assist with UK activities. It has also upped its international corporate event activity, staging team building exercises around the art of chocolate making with Evian in France and the Al Ghurair Group in Dubai.

Greenwood-Haigh comments: "It's an exciting time for the chocolate industry worldwide. Consumers are becoming more interested in premium chocolate, and are increasingly conscious of where their chocolate comes from.

"We're now seeing a similar trend to the explosion of barista made coffee, or how craft beer has taken off in the UK and abroad. It's being coined as the dawn of craft chocolate! It's creating a lot of opportunities overseas for me in my consultation work, and for corporate events too.

"Previously, international clients were difficult to come by, but working with DIT to make my website more internationally accessible and utilising better SEO has resulted in a lot of inbound business enquiries from across the globe. It's an inexpensive way for firms to grow their exporting success."