The UK’s only chocolate-making social enterprise has closed down due to ongoing losses.
Stornoway-based Hebridean Chocolates employed people with additional-support needs.
The eight or so staff at its production unit and shop in the town’s Westview Terrace were said to be upset on hearing they are to be made redundant.
The company is carrying out a formal consultation with them. Since it launched in 2009, Hebridean Chocolates – run under the wing of Third Sector Hebrides – helped the employees learn new skills.
Before joining the workforce, some staff faced low expectations of working or living independently but, through the factory, employees could undertake Scottish Vocational Qualifications, become chocolatiers and get paid jobs.
The confectionery was sold locally and through an internet shop, as well as at stalls and local retail fairs. The project won the Start Up of the Year Award at the Social Enterprise Scotland Awards 2011, and it is the only chocolate-making social enterprise in the country and possibly in Europe. The enterprise got off the ground with a £40,000 Scottish Government investment.
An online message, believed to be written by an employee, reads: “It is with a heavy heart that I’ve decided to delete this page today. Hebridean Chocolates has sadly ceased trading.
“From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank everyone for their support over the last five years – it’s been great.
One online commentator wrote: “My son was a worker there, he loved it and left the meeting in tears when he was told he was being made redundant.”
Third Sector Hebrides said in a statement: “Staff have been consulted with, and will now enter a formal redundancy consultation process in order to achieve the best possible employment alternatives available.
“Every possible alternative to closure has been explored, but the unfortunate fact of the matter is that the trading model is not sustainable and the company cannot continue to accrue the level of losses it has been.
“At this point in the process, our main priority is to support and assist the employees through this difficult time.”