How expanding its vegan range is helping Hotel Chocolat grow – with a little help from robots

Additional technology - and potential extension to factory - could help raise production to up to 1bn chocolates a year

Shiny tanks of molten chocolate stand guard over a factory floor where three production lines squirt, chill and fill festive treats into existence.

Production of Hotel Chocolat's Christmas selection starts in June at its factory in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and finishes several weeks before Christmas, when it switches to making Valentine's Day and Easter delicacies.