Goupie - SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE
Kent’s own chocolate champions Goupie tell us about bringing a sweet dream to life
You’d be hard-pushed to find a more authentic story than that of Goupie (@goupiegroupies), whose humble beginnings started in the kitchen of a grandma making chocolate treats for her family.
Fast-forward a few decades and that confectionery can now be found on the shelves of Liberty in London and Booths, as well as National Trust sites, Macknade in Faversham and Leeds Castle.
It probably wasn’t what grandma Shirley Noble had in mind when she was simply making what she called ‘goupie’ for her family.
But her original handwritten recipe is now secreted away at Goupie HQ in Goudhurst and forms the basis of a hugely successful confectionery business.
Her granddaughter Grace Simpson explains: “It’s a mix between a rice-crispy cake, brownie and tiffin, covered in chocolate. She used to make it as a treat.
“When my mum sold her last business in 2009 she said ‘What shall I do next?’ and we said ‘It has to be goupie’.
“So she and my dad took it to a local shop, they placed some orders and it snowballed from there.”
That was 12 years ago and they haven’t looked back.
In 2019, they also launched Goupie’s chocolate house in Tunbridge Wells, a cafe-cum-retail space.
Grace says their range, which is vegan-friendly, has grown significantly and they now have 19 flavours, a range of hot chocolates and mouth-watering ‘dips and dabs’.
She admits everything has happened organically, with nothing formally planned.
A bit like their tagline, ‘devilishly moreish chewy chocolate confection with a hint of crunch’, which was quickly whipped up for their packaging and is still used today.
See more at goupiechocolate.com
