Tony formed the company with Kath in July 1998 having worked in the UK Food Ingredient industry for 25 years for Barry Callebaut and Tate & Lyle amongst others. At that time the larger manufacturers were becoming more inwardly focused, rationalising delivery terms and making it harder for small/medium sized customers to source ingredients at competitive prices. Having developed and grown the business from scratch through focusing on these niche customers, Carl joined the business in 2002 when the step was made to establish a warehouse facility to enable mixed consignments to be consolidated in house. Thus HB Ingredients became more of a one-stop shop for many customers. Progressively the company continued to grow and we moved into new offices and fully racked warehouse in Uckfield in the summer of 2006 and soon after Trevor joined the company.

By August 2010, we had outgrown our Uckfield Warehouse facility and we relocated to a new 18,000+sqft warehouse and office facility in nearby Lewes, giving us better access to the main road system. As at January 2014, we have a turnover in excess of £12m and have a team of 40 very professional, friendly people!

In July this year we  acquired the warehouse and office building adjacent to our existing warehouse. This has subequently increased our warehousing to over 30,000 sq ft, enabling us to continue giving our high level of customer service.

Most of the 2000 plus products are held in stock and orders received by noon are generally dispatched that day and delivered the next day throughout the UK. We pride ourselves on our service level with phones being answered within a couple of rings and always by a person who is keen to assist! If we are unable to help you ourselves we almost always can point you in the right direction to enable you to find what you are looking for.

We are now the largest Independent Chocolate Supplier in the UK, offering the most diverse choice of chocolates from cocoa grown around the world enabling our customers to select the best to meet their high standards. Naturally we also stock and supply many other Ingredients, Inclusions & Decorative Products etc, – Conventional, Organic & Fair Trade.

We are proud to work with fantastic suppliers who have some marvellous products and delighted to work with so many customers throughout the Food Manufacturing Industry.