To celebrate Veganuary, the team at Brown Paper Packages decided to interview the brilliant Meg Chapman, founder of Raw Halo. A key supplier for us here at Brown Paper Packages. We chatted to her about how she started her brand, their eco credentials and the feel good factor which is key to her business...

We love to showcase UK brands, why did you launch your business?

Back in 2015 I was living and working in London, and being a huge chocolate fan, would often visit my local health food stores looking for a good quality, better-for-you vegan chocolate. I was often disappointed with the quality available so decided to begin making my own chocolate at weekends. I started sharing them with friends and family, and after their glowing reviews, I soon decided to quit my job in corporate HR to focus on Raw Halo full time. After quickly gaining listings with local health food stores, my husband Jonathan joined the business.

Tell us a bit more about your brand?

At Raw Halo, we’re working to achieve positive change across everything we do – our delicious vegan chocolate is just the cherry on top. We’ve worked hard to make every point of our business ethical. We support small cacao farms in Peru, and by paying a premium we ensure their communities are supported with education and healthcare. Our chocolate is produced in collaboration with a social enterprise, which helps people back into work and to reach their full potential. And every bar we sell helps to plant trees. We’ve now planted over 30,000 trees with One Tree Planted through their $1 = 1 tree mission.

What gives your customers the feel-good factor?

Our chocolate is all about feel good vibes. From our bright and colourful paper wrappers, to the better-for-you ingredients that go into our chocolate. Most traditional chocolate contains some pretty awful ingredients, lots of emulsifiers and preservatives. We’re proud that Raw Halo chocolate is made from just a handful of natural organic ingredients. Everything is vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free too – and we only use a touch of coconut sugar to naturally sweeten our bars. The high-cacao percentage we include in our bars is the best way to lift your mood in the afternoon!

Tell us about your eco credentials?

We’ve really focused on making Raw Halo as eco friendly as possible. Our three main areas of focus have been our tree planting initiative, eliminating all plastic from our business, and only using vegan ingredients. Alongside these core areas, we’re doing other things such as having a no-flight pledge, only using electric vehicles in our business, and even powering our chocolate factory through solar energy. As business owners, we’re really passionate about the environment and want to ensure Raw Halo has a positive impact.

If you could send a brown paper package to anyone, who would it be?

That’s a difficult one – I know so many people who’d love to receive a brown paper package. I think It’d have to be my mum. She’s been a real inspiration to me, and she’s pretty much an all-round super-mum. I think we all agree that Mums definitely deserve a little treat now and then!

Finally, we love to promote doing something to give you a life lift, what’s your life-lift tip?

My life-lift tip is around balance. I think it’s really important to live in a balanced way. Whether that’s work life balance, or eating a balanced diet. I make sure I take time out every day to do things that are important to my life balance. That’s usually walking my dog Pommy, and making time for yoga. I also balance the many bars of Raw Halo I eat (hey It’s a tough life running a chocolate business!) with a plant-based diet – so lots of fruits, veg, nuts etc. 

A big thank you to Meg Chapman for taking part in this interview, click here to check out our range of Raw Halo vegan chocolate products