Louis Barnett

When asked about how he turned his idea into a reality, Louis says, “With a lot of hard work, and a lot of passion. You have to believe in your idea and it is really important to understand to risks involved. Some days it can feel like it is inevitable that you are going to fail, but you have to let that fear go and commit to making your dream happen.”

After suffering from problems at school, Louis was diagnosed with Dyslexia and was thereafter educated at home. It was here that he discovered a book on cakes and decorations. He says, “You could say this ignited a previously dormant passion. I started experimenting making Belgian chocolate cakes and simply got more and more hooked!”

He started making limited quantities for his family and friends, but by Christmas 2005 the demand for Louis’ creations had grown so much that he soon realised he could turn his passion into a profitable business. He wanted to make his product more marketable through packaging, but with limited funds and not wanting to use packaging that would be thrown away, he was faced with a problem, which is when his unique idea struck him.

Since then Chokolit has been incredibly successful. Louis now employs six members of staff in his Staffordshire-based factory and is currently the youngest supplier of Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. He is also in talks with Tesco, Harrods and Fortnum & Mason’s about getting his chocolate creations on their shelves.

This success led to Louis being named as a finalist in the Teen category of the 2007 Enterprising Young Brits awards. He has also appeared on This Morning and is the star of a forthcoming BBC documentary about the chocolate industry.

This media exposure has given Louis the confidence to head up a campaign against the trading standards legislation on the listing of vegetable oil, which has seen him receive an invitation to meet the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to talk about the campaign.