Blog

Mother's Day Gifts

Mother’s Day is only 30 days away! This year Mother’s Day falls on Sunday 30th of March 2014.

Treat mum to one of our Chocolate Shoes this year and make this Mother’s Day that extra bit special. We are proud to say that our chocolate shoes have recently been featured in Examiners most unusual chocolate gifts for Valentines 2014, http://www.examiner.com/list/for-valentine-s-day-the-top-ten-most-unusual-chocolate-gifts-ever/chocolate-shoes-and-purse

These are guaranteed to be the perfect gift for Mother’s Day and Easter too.

For the fashion conscious mum, let her step out in style on Mother’s Day with our Louboutin inspired collection. Chocolates, Pearls, Louboutins and Shoes combined into one edible piece of art! These will surely put a smile on any woman’s face. If they don't fit, she can always eat them! Made from delicious Belgian Chocolate.

Available as a single shoe, two shoes and shoe and purse set. Each order is handmade in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and is wrapped ready to gift to your loved one. You can have the Chocolate Shoe posted direct to her to surprise her on Mother’s Day together with a short handwritten message.

Treat the woman who has given you so much with one of Azra’s Chocolate Shoes!

This unique chocolate gift will surely put a smile on her face. *:D* 

View our full range of chocolate shoes on http://www.azrachocolates.co.uk

Valentine's Day is around the corner...

Love is in the air….

After a wonderful Christmas and New Years, Romance is now leading the way as the next gift-giving season. The generic gifts for the season are usually Flowers and Chocolates that are great, don’t get me wrong, however, not as exciting as receiving a designer handmade chocolate shoe or chocolate roses. Yes that wasn’t a typo; we have combined the flower and chocolate gift combo into one piece of edible art! These chocolate roses can be bought in a box of twelve for £19.95. Click here to go to chocolate rose lollipops page!

Why not give someone special an extra special gift this year! You never know what it could lead to. Start the journey with a special moment- a chocolate shoe or bouquet of chocolate roses will definitely be a moment to cherish.

Ladies… there is a share button on the bottom of this blog to give the men in your life a subtle hint.

Gents… if you have been directed to this website by the women in your life, it was not a mistake. Women all over the world love chocolate shoes and flowers! We have combined them all to create a truly unique gift for the unique women in your life.

On another note, we would like to extend a warm welcome to all our past customers, Twitter and Facebook followers for the amazing support and belief they have shown us in 2013!

www.azrachocolates.co.uk

” Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: Deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good."

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dragons Den Star Theo Paphitis Puts Azra's Business Skills In The Spotlight (PRESS RELEASE)

DRAGONS DEN STAR PUTS AZRA’S BUSINESS SKILLS IN THE SPOTLIGHT At THE #SBS EVENT 2013

Harrogate businesswoman and Chocolatier Azra Sadiq found herself, quite literally, in the spotlight at the #SBS Winner's business event, hosted by the entrepreneur and Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis on Thursday 28 November.

Azra was asked to stand and be applauded by a gathering of 1,200 small business owners as Mr Paphitis praised her drive and tenacity in promoting her artisan chocolates business through local, national and online media.

The annual event was held at the ICC in Birmingham and was sponsored by Ryman Stationary, RAC, DHL, iLaw and BarterCard. #SBS event is all part of Mr Paphitis’ Small Business Sunday initiative. Every Sunday small businesses can tweet Theo direct using the #SBS hashtag to describe their business to him in 140 characters or less. Theo reviews and chooses just six to re-tweet to over 400,000 followers, which can mean a massive publicity boost for the chosen few. In May 2013, Azra’s tweet caught the entrepreneur’s eye – and her business, Azra Chocolates, is booming as a result.

But, as Mr Paphitis pointed out to the audience at the SBS event, it wasn’t just the re-tweet that sent Azra’s sales and reputation soaring. Referring to Azra’s media coverage since, Theo said “This didn’t just happen because Azra won #SBS. It was about the effort and energy she put into winning, the marketing of it. You need to shout about it and start contacting people.”

Which is exactly what Azra did? Theo Paphitis was particularly impressed that not only did Azra Chocolates gain a great mention in the Daily Mail, the business was also featured on the Mail on Sunday website – “the biggest media website in the Western world”. He offered Azra “big congratulations” and used her business savvy as an inspiring example for other #SBS winners.

Speaking about being singled out for such high praise, Azra told us “Theo asked me to stand up during his presentation in a room full of 1,200 people who all clapped for me. He was using my win and media exposure as an example of what you can do by winning an #SBS award on Twitter from him. My picture was on the big screens three times during the presentation. I still can’t get over the event and being chosen like that as an inspiration for other winners.”

Harrogate-based mum-of-three Azra set up her luxury chocolates business in 2009 after a career teaching English whilst living in the Middle East. She began by training with Master Chocolatiers in the UK and Belgium and mastering her craft in her own kitchen, where she created her first chocolate shoe. She now offers a full range of designer-inspired chocolate shoes, all hand-crafted by Azra herself. Her collection also includes matching chocolate purses and miniature versions of her shoes, perfect for wedding or party favours, plus special Limited Edition designs to keep an eye out for. Azra’s incredible, edible creations are available via her website www.azrachocolates.co.uk

“Small Business Sunday is such a brilliant idea and I know many businesses get a fabulous reaction after winning a re-tweet from Theo. It’s allowed me to showcase my craft and products to a much larger audience than I could have reached without the #SBS win.”

So, for Azra, Theo’s praise isn’t quite the icing on the cake – more like the edible diamonds and pearls on her amazing chocolate shoes!

Azra Steps Into Designer Mode To Deliver The Sweetest Christmas Gifts (PRESS RELEASE)

The entrepreneur and Chocolatier Azra Sadiq has introduced a new
Designer Collection of chocolate shoes to her incredibly successful range.
Influenced by the iconic red-soled Louboutin shoes – every fashionista’s must-have - Azra’s new designs are sure to be at the top of any chocoholic’s Christmas Wish List!

Mum-of-three and ex-teacher Azra has been producing her handcrafted, life size chocolate shoes since 2009 when she founded Azra Chocolates to pursue her passion for making wow factor artisan chocolates. Now she’s taken inspiration from leading designers as well as the legends Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland to put together a truly stunning collection of chocolate shoes that really do look too good to eat!

From the bang-on-trend studded ‘Diva’ to the snakeskin effect ‘Mystique’ and Ferrari red ‘Dino’, Azra’s included that trademark Louboutin red sole in her brand new chocolate shoe designs. Then for Hollywood glamour there’s the ‘Marilyn’ with its edible diamond and pearl studded heel and the ‘Dorothy’, Azra’s tribute to the most magical shoes in cinema.

We asked Azra about the inspiration behind her latest Designer Collection: “I felt it was time to add to my range of chocolate shoes and, of course, there are no shoes more well-known than the Christian Louboutin heels with their striking red soles. And, of course, my ‘Marilyn’ and ‘Dorothy’ designs are based on two of the best-loved film actresses ever.

“I’m so pleased with the new Collection, it combines everything I know that women love – designer shoes, diamonds, pearls and, of course, chocolate! Every shoe is made to order, I don’t keep stock, so they really are a very unique gift for any occasion.”

Incredibly, Azra makes each and every shoe herself from the highest quality Belgian chocolate before packaging it beautifully to be given as a gift. “I begin work on each shoe as soon as I take the order” Azra
says, “Each one is a piece of art for me, and can take three or four days to complete – for example, just the heel of the ‘Marilyn’ shoe can take up to two hours as I apply each edible pearl with fine tweezers.”

Now Azra Chocolates is attracting more and more attention, with the millionaire businessman and star of Dragon’s Den Theo Paphitis choosing Azra’s business for one of his ‘Small Business Sunday’ re-tweets to his 350,000 Twitter followers. “When my business was chosen for the all-important re-tweet on the
Bank Holiday weekend, I couldn’t believe my luck. I’m sure Theo gets absolutely thousands of #SBS tweets every week, so I’m delighted that mine stood out and he passed it along to his followers” Azra told us.

For now, Azra’s amazing chocolate shoe collection is only available via her website www.azrachocolates.co.uk But the future is looking very sweet indeed for this talented entrepreneur – as Azra says: “My work is my passion; I’ve travelled the world to discover the most unique chocolates and will continue to develop my range to deliver the highest quality combination of fashion and taste for my customers.”

So for those of us already turning our thoughts to tracking down the perfect Christmas gift for the fashion-conscious, chocolate lover in our lives, well, Azra Chocolates will ensure you don’t put a present-buying foot wrong!

Business In Heels Luncheon - 2nd November 2013

I feel lucky and proud to being invited as a guest speaker to 'Diva Visions, Business in Heels Luncheon, a unique female business club. To celebrate the end of the year they wanted to hold a special event to highlight the business and feminine aspects of being strong businesswoman succeeding in a mostly male-dominated business world and invited me to tell my story!

This swanky event promises to be an inspirational day which will focus on highlighting and celebrating the success and achievements of women in all aspects of life.

Business in Heels will be taking place on Saturday 2nd November from 12pm until 4pm at the luxurious Strand Palace Hotel in Central London. The Luncheon will consist of two courses (a main course and a dessert)**. As many of you know, women are beautiful, vibrant, intelligent, sacrificing and above all - strong. The strength of a woman is often not physical but spiritual - it includes her fearlessness, the wisdom and knowledge which she possesses, and her innate ability to overcome and rise above life’s little struggles.

This exciting occasion will be calling on women from all backgrounds, cultures and industries; to come together on this special afternoon and celebrate the journeys and accomplishments of their fellow sisters.

This celebration will be welcoming a number of special guest speakers - including award-winning entrepreneur and founder of Diva Visions, Mavis Amankwah, Angela Harkness, founder of High Heelers and of course my self Azra Sadiq, owner and founder of Azra chocolates - where we will be sharing our fascinating stories and wisdom on business and success,This type of event will be a perfect lead up to Global Entrepreneur Week, which will be taking part from 18th - 24th November. 

BOOK NOW!
To make your booking please click the link below:

https://businessinheels.eventbrite.co.uk/

See you there in a gorgeous pair of heels!

Crazy May!

This Month of May has set new records here at Azra Chocolates thanks to the amazing press coverage following our #SBS win with Theo Paphitis!

On the 14th of May, our #SBS win got picked up by the Times, Daily Mail, Daily Star and Yorkshire post! We were really excited, as we never imagined getting into national newspapers. This was great advertising for us and for small business start-ups all over the UK. It felt great to showcase our products with the nation! The subsequent two weeks were busy fulfilling orders from all around the country. The feedback we have had has been amazing! Some of our testimonials have been uploaded onto our ‘Testimonials’ page.

It felt great that all our hard work building up the brand and product range were worthwhile. This has given us more motivation to make our products the best in the market, working on new designs and hopefully getting into luxury retail outlets. The Louby- D Chocolate Collection has been our best seller by far and due to popular request we have launched the Louby-M Chocolate Collection which is made out of milk chocolate! We have recently opened up shipping to EU countries with the view of going global soon.

In addition, our Twitter (@Azra_Chocolates) interaction quality has improved massively with more interest in our products. We have launched a competition on Twitter to celebrate our win, once we get to 4000 Followers. Thanks to fellow #SBS winner Squashed Pixel (@squashedpixel) we will also be featured on the
radio on 106.6 BCB Radio in Bradford. We picked ‘Express Yourself’ by Labrinth to be aired as it is the perfect song for us due to our creative flair!

June will be another great month as we have an Italian Magazine featuring us which will be another amazing article to put on the wall of fame! Watch our press page for new developments and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for up to date news!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our progress as we explore the business world.

Azra

Azra's Chocolate Shoes Are The Perfect Fit For Dragons Den Star Theo Paphitis (PRESS RELEASE)

Harrogate businesswoman and Chocolatier Azra Sadiq has caught the eye of Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis. He recently chose her tweet about her business, Azra Chocolates, as one of the six he selects each Sunday to re-tweet to his followers on the social networking site Twitter.

It’s all part of his initiative called Small Business Sunday – or #SBS for people who know their way around a hashtag! Every Sunday small businesses can tweet Theo direct to describe their business to him in 140 characters or less. Theo reviews and chooses just six to re-tweet to his nearly 350,000 followers, which can mean a massive publicity boost for the chosen few.

Azra told us: “I heard about the #SBS initiative and thought it would be a fantastic chance to boost my profile and gain new business. I tried several times to get my tweets noticed by Theo, but the rules are that you can only tweet between 5pm and 7.30pm on Sundays and should only tweet once each week.

“So when my business was chosen for the all-important re-tweet on the Bank Holiday weekend, I couldn’t believe my luck! I’m sure Theo gets absolutely thousands of #SBS tweets every week, so I’m delighted that mine stood out and he passed it along to his followers.”

Azra Sadiq,Mum-of-three, set up her luxury chocolates business in 2009 after a career teaching English whilst living in the Middle East. She began by training with Master Chocolatiers in the UK and Belgium and mastering her craft in her own kitchen, where she created her first chocolate shoe.

On the family’s return to the UK and once they were settled in Harrogate, Azra set about making her business a real success. With her love of designer shoes - and with the encouragement of friends and family- Azra concentrated on putting together an inspired range of chocolate shoes any fashionista would love!

Since then she’s expanded her collection to include matching chocolate purses, plus miniature versions of her chocolates to be given as wedding or party favours. Every single item is hand-made by Azra herself, and each can take several days to be finished to perfection. Now, with the Theo Paphitis re-tweet, Azra’s hoping to gain even more business.

“Small Business Sunday is such a brilliant idea and I know that there are already businesses here in Harrogate that have had a fabulous reaction from being in the chosen six. I’m hoping it will be a real springboard to bring my artisan chocolates to more and more people’s attention and to help me achieve my aim of seeing Azra Chocolates stocked and sold by premier stores in the near future.”

So what was the tweet that caught the eye of business supremo Theo Paphitis?

‘Retweet if you LOVE Chocolate and Fashion! Handmade Chocolate Stilettos and Favours! Discover http://www.azrachocolates.co.uk @TheoPaphitis #SBS’

Azra's Twitter profile has since exploded with new followers, leads and interactions! So for her Theo Paphitis has been less of a Dragon and much more of an Angel!

Twitter Competition Winner Announced

The winner of the competition involving the Marcus Chocolate Shoe and Purse set was announced today as we hit a milestone 1500 followers on Twitter. @misskatietweet was the lucky winner!

Hope the winner enjoys this handcrafted shoe with all her friends and family. What a great way to start off the new year !

At Azra Chocolates we love making you special. Follow @Azra_Chocolates and like our Facebook to keep up to date with new news about our Exclusive Chocolate Adventures!

Love,

Azra x

Chocolate wedding favours

All you need to give your guests a perfect brew. A Yorkshire teabag with a chocolate teapot, cup and saucer favour in Organza bag colour of your choice. Available in milk, white or dark chocolate.

The teapot measures approximately 4cm x 4.5cm.
Cup and saucer measure approximately 4cm x 3cm.

visit www.azrachocolates.co.uk for more unique wedding and party gift ideas.