The Chocolate Garden of Ireland

The Chocolate Garden of Ireland

The Chocolate Garden of Ireland, owned by sheep farmers turned award-winning chocolatiers, Jim and Mary Healy will, this November, be the third ‘Your Business On TV’ competition winner to feature on Shopping from Home, the home shopping series on RTE One.

The Chocolate Garden of Ireland has made premium chocolates, biscuits and ice-creams since 2001, creating a wide range of handmade confectionary. Jim and Mary Healy’s passion for chocolate extends to their home in Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow, where visitors to the Chocolate Garden of Ireland can indulge at the chocolate-themed café, try a scoop in the ice-cream parlour or learn to smell the cocoa beans at their regular chocolate workshops.

The company is now taking to the TV screen as one of six winners of the ‘Your Business on TV’ competition, chosen from a shortlist of twenty award-winning companies, and nominated by Wicklow County Enterprise Board.  The Chocolate Garden of Ireland will be offering a seasonal confectionary gift basket every day for one month on the show, beginning on Thursday, November 1st 2012.

The gift basket will include handmade chocolates, including a pouch of Salted Caramel Chocolates, which have just won the Gold Medal in the Blas na hEireann Awards, as well as the company’s first ever product, Caramel Waffles.  The basket also contains Butterscotch spread – which is great as a spread as well as being fabulous when melted over dessert as a sauce.

A joint initiative by Shopping from Home, the home shopping series aired on RTÉ and the County and City Enterprise Boards, the ‘Your Business on TV’ competition prize is valued at €10,000 for each of the six winners.  As well as a 1.5 minute daily presentation on air, which has been produced and filmed by Screentime ShinaWil, the production company behind The Apprentice and MasterChef Ireland, The Chocolate Garden of Ireland also receives support in marketing, PR and social media. In addition, the company is provided with a broadcast quality website link to upload their footage onto their website and a DVD to allow them showcase their products at exhibitions or trade fairs in the future.

Ahead of The Chocolate Garden of Ireland’s television debut, Kathy Hoffman, Producer and Presenter of Shopping from Home said: “The high quality products produced by The Chocolate Garden of Ireland made their selection as one of the six winners of the ‘Your Business in TV’ an easy one. We always encourage our viewers to Buy Irish and are delighted that this month we are able to offer viewers this delicious and uniquely Irish range of chocolates treats.”

Sheelagh Daly, of the County and City Enterprise Boards said: “Jim and Mary Healy are a fantastic example of how innovation, hard work and determination can lead to success.  Having grown a business from a small start in just over ten years, they are now looking at the next phase, targeting new markets and opportunities through the medium of television. They have consistently pushed themselves and their company to greater things and Wicklow County Enterprise Board look forward to continuing their support of The Chocolate Garden of Ireland in their future plans.”

The Chocolate Garden of Ireland will feature on Shopping from Home from Thursday, 1st November to Friday, 30th November. Each month, from September 2012 until February 2013, a presentation from a different winning company will be broadcast on the series, which is screened on RTE One television every morning at 7.30am- 8.00am, Monday to Sunday. In October, SureStep by WeSolve Ltd. of Galway featured while in December it will be the turn of Rynhart Fine-Art Bronze Gifts from West Cork.