From Military Chef to Expert Chocolatier: The Chocolate Soldier Story
When Phill Jones traded in his uniform for a chocolatier’s apron earlier this year, no one could have anticipated that opening week would fall during a heatwave, or that he’d end up live on Radio Two chatting to Jeremy Vine about his new chocolate business.
It’s been a roller coaster of a few years for Phill, but with two business award nominations under his belt, and a growing customer base that have fallen for his unique flavour combinations and quality products, we don’t think it’s too soon to call The Chocolate Soldier a success story.
We sat down with Phill to get the full scoop…
by Lyndsey Hall
24 November 2023
How it All Began
Phill’s chocolate story began in the kitchen of his military quarter back in 2020, but by September 2023 he’d left the army, moved house and built a dedicated chocolate room in his own home. It was in this bespoke chocolate kitchen that Phill stood on that Monday morning in September, ready to launch The Chocolate Soldier.
But the unpredictable British weather had other ideas.
The UK was struck by a heatwave and the room was too warm for chocolate making, bringing Phill’s plans grinding to a halt. Frustrated by the heat and unable to get to work, he turned on the radio to hear Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio Two asking for listeners to get in touch whose work or business had been affected by the weather.
On a whim, Phill decided to send the email that would, unbeknownst to him, turn his launch around and make it a roaring success.
“So I sent the email in, I just said ‘Hi, I’m Phill, chocolatier. Just finished my time in the army. Opened my new business this week, and this has happened’.”
He didn’t expect to hear anything back. But four minutes later, he got a phone call from the radio station asking if he’d be willing to chat to Jeremy live on air.
“And actually, over 500 people went on my website that afternoon, and I got some good orders from it. There was a guy who only bought because he heard us on the radio, ordered again for some Halloween stuff, and from that has now said he wants to order corporate stuff for their company.”
From Pot Washer to Paratrooper
Phill’s experience in the kitchen began at a young age, he started working at his local pub when he was still at secondary school and worked his way up from pot washer to chef. He was managing the entire kitchen by age seventeen.
When the time came to leave school, his mum encouraged him to join the army, so he went down to his nearest Armed Forces Careers Office. Part of the assessment involved being given a list of possible job roles that matched your profile and test results. Chef was on the list, and the rest, as they say, is history.
But it could have gone very differently.
Not long after starting basic training, Phill considered ditching the catering regiment for the Commandos or the Parachute Regiment. He informed his commanding officer that he was leaving, but a few minutes later a Corporal told him to stay. The Corporal advised him that training as a chef would give him good prospects when he came to leave the army, and that he could still do everything he wanted to do by being attached to the other regiments as a chef.
It turned out to be the best piece of career advice he would receive.
“I owe that man to this day, because I stayed, became a chef, then ended up having a really good trade, really enjoyed my career, and was a Commando and Para.”
You could say, he got to have his (chocolate) cake, and eat it.
Catching the Chocolate Bug
He’d always had an interest in chocolate, but in 2020 Phill decided to put his name forward for a specialist chocolate course at the army’s school of catering. The course was already full, but a couple of days before it was due to start, a friend called Phill and told him someone could no longer make it so the space was his.
On day one of the course, just as they were getting ready to start, Boris Johnson announced the first lockdown and they were all sent home.
But that didn’t stop Phill from exploring his passion for chocolate. Phill said to himself, “Well, I’ve got a handout here from the course. I picked it up and I had a look and I started making some chocolate plastique. So, I made some of that, and I made some roses out of it, and I had these little chocolate roses, and I thought, what now? So, I went in the kitchen and baked a cake, and I thought I could make a chocolate collar to go around the cake.”
Over the next eight months, Phill watched tutorials and practiced the various techniques every day, and by November 2020, he was ready to launch his Facebook page and start selling chocolates. That first Christmas went amazingly well, and Phill’s dream of owning his own chocolate business began to grow.
He’d always planned to leave the army in 2022, and as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic that decision was delayed slightly. But there was no denying he’d caught the bug for chocolate.
The Chocolate Soldier is Born
Having taught himself as much as he possibly could, Phill decided to take his chocolatiering to the next level. That’s when he came across Andrew Thwaite. He spent 5 days working with Andrew, learning the business side, getting some tips on techniques, and discovering how to increase production.
“The Chocolate Soldier name was born from Andrew. We were sat there chatting and he said, ‘You should be the Chocolate Soldier’.”
Phill took some of his products with him to Andrew’s school, The Yorkshire Academy of Chocolate & Patisserie, and halfway through the first day Andrew tasted one. Then another. Then he looked up and said, “Phill. These are really good. You’ve got good chocolates here, your tempering’s good, your fillings are nice. You don’t need to be taught how to do chocolate, you need to learn how to up your production.”
And up his production they did. “Between the two of us, we made 7,000 chocolates that week.”
That five-day intensive course was one of the things that cemented the idea to Phill that the business had legs. “This is something I could take further, with the right equipment and the right tools.”
“I loved that week, it was amazing. I went to Andrew, one on one, and now I’ve got a really good friend. You can’t help but love the guy.”
What's Next for The Chocolate Soldier?
Having collaborated with another veteran-owned business, Pull the Pin Spirits, on an upcoming, bespoke range of boozy bonbons, as well as being shortlisted for two business startup awards at the 2023 Soldiering On Awards and the 2023 Heropreneurs Awards, it’s clear The Chocolate Soldier is thriving. But what does the future hold?
“If you were to ask me, or Des, my business partner, Des is up here—” Phill gestures up in the air with a laugh. “For now, it’s perfect with just me doing everything. In the future, it might be nice to have a few staff and a unit, maybe someone who does the packaging, someone to help with the chocolatiering. I don’t want to be a massive chocolate empire. I’d like it to be a nice, close community business.”
Alongside running his chocolate business, Phill has also taken on the role of assistant instructor at the army school of catering where he learned his trade. He’s maintained his connection with the military by becoming a reservist and someday soon will be taking over as the instructor on the specialist chocolate course at the school.
Before letting Phill get back to his chocolate making, we had to ask him ‘what’s your favourite chocolate?’
“Honestly, no clue. I think for me I’ve always been very varied in life and I like lots of different things. One day, I might really like my Talisker whisky chocolate, another day I might like my raspberry and vanilla. So many of my chocolates, I love them, I make them because I like them. One day, I like my pink gin and grapefruit. I think it depends on my mood.
“I learned very quickly in the army to tailor what I made to what other people might like. In my dessert collection, I have various different chocolates, and there’s one to me that doesn’t really fit in the box. The trifle chocolate. It’s almost a bit ‘kiddish’, it’s got hundreds and thousands.
“But do you know how many comments I get about that chocolate? If there’s any comments about my chocolates, it’s often about the trifle one. People really, really enjoy that chocolate.”
Lyndsey is a marketing executive, writer and lover of books and chocolate from Sheffield.
Her favourite chocolate is Cacao Barry Lactee Superieure.