Former travel agent starts chocolate business from kitchen in Hockley

Aimee Surgeon worked as a freelance travel agent for Tropical Sky up until the beginning of 2020.

Having lost her job due to the Covid pandemic, she moved back to her parents’ home in Woodpond Avenue, Hockley and after money became tight in December, she started making the treat boxes.

The business, “CocoAmore” has since gained huge traction.

Aimee creating her latest box in her kitchen

Ms Surgeon, 28, said: ““At the moment I haven’t even got a huge number of followers, when that grows, I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“This lockdown has been the easy one, I’ve now got focus. But it really has changed my life, I have a much more positive attitude.

“When I was in college I studied art, it was the only thing I was really good at and interested in, but in the last ten years I’ve not picked up a brush.”

Ms Surgeon decided to make personalised chocolate treat boxes as gifts for friends and family members.

Thanks to friends and family sharing her works on social media, the business gained a lot of attention.

Filming - Aimee being filmed by TV network RT

Ms Surgeon is now creating four to five different boxes a day to have them collected or shipped out to customers.

Each box is unique to the customer, and she has been designing huge volumes of treats for birthdays, congratulations, and Valentine’s Day, which she has now had to stop due to how many she received.

Ms Surgeon’s success on Facebook and Instagram means she has not yet had to build a website. She plans to help others try to start their own business in the future.

Treats - one of Aimee’s personalised chocolate boxes

She added: “I really don’t like chocolate myself. I hate desserts and any sweets.

“If you had told me just 4 weeks ago, that I would now have a thriving business of my own and a growing bank account, I would have laughed you out of my kitchen.”

Visit facebook.com/cocoamore__-106975484699663.

Businesswoman - Aimee Surgeon has had huge success