About Us

Niko B. Organic Chocolates by Anthony Ferguson, Master Chocolatier

Background and Inspiration.

I’ve been making handcrafted, artisan chocolates since 2003 when I started my first chocolate business in San Francisco. That was a major career change for me as I transitioned out of the intense Silicon Valley tech world into the artisan food world on the heels of 9/11, another ‘once in a lifetime’ global moment that mirrors in some ways what we've experienced with C19.

Back then, when I met a new audience, I’d spend a lot of time talking about how I went from an aerospace engineer with master’s degrees in electrical engineering and business administration to small batch chocolate making.  That was a couple of lifetimes ago. The summary: burn out in the corporate tech world and a dearth of opportunities post 9-11 led to a strong desire to reignite my creative spirit and that came in the form of chocolate.

I trained at a chocolate research institute on the University of California at Davis campus. It was led by famed British confectioner and member of the Candy Hall of Fame (yes there is such a thing), Terry Richardson, who was assisted by Thalia Hohenthal (now also a member of the Hall of Fame). Out of that course, I was fortunate to gain mentoring from Thalia who at the time was a Senior Scientist with Guittard Chocolates. 

But in 2008, five years later, my world was moved by a force greater than any I’d experienced to that point and that was the birth of my son, Nikolas Bahari. My first true love and the inspiration of pretty much everything since including Niko B. Organic Chocolates. We moved to London (Dalston) before his first birthday to be closer to my ex-partners parents, his grandparents.

Whilst San Francisco exposed me, an industrial midwestern (near Detroit – aka Motown) born black American, to so many creative and interesting ways to prepare food and approach life in general it was the birth of my son that really opened me up. The world, in my eyes, became a very different place. The future mattered in ways I had only narrowly considered. My role in the future of our planet and its environment took on new meaning. So as I looked to restart in East London, I re-envisioned my approach to business: it had to be done in a way that would be as positive as possible for the future of my son and his contemporaries. That meant clean, organic ingredients, fair trade chocolate, thoughtful packaging and fair wages. All of this coincidentally aligned perfectly with the values of the first market I approached to launch here in East London – Growing Communities Stoke-Newington.

The Stoke-Newington Farmer’s Market has been our base market for more than 10 years running but we now also trade at Brockley Market and Victoria Park market.

We also sell online (nikobchocolates.co.uk) and in cafes, shops and restaurants across London and the UK.

Product Philosophy:

While we are renown for our range of salted caramels, nougats and fresh truffles – both ganaches and giandujas the one, true, over arching message that is carried across our product line is the tantalisingly clean, clear and fresh flavours and textures that work so wonderfully well with our base organic and fairtrade chocolate.

In addition to our chocolates, we offer a delightful range of chocolate desserts including our browned butter brownies, blondies, cookies and ginger biscuits.

All told, our aim is to excite you so much so that you cannot wait to share the excitement, spread the word and come back for more.

With Love,

Anthony

For more information or to schedule a tasting please contact us at 

love@nikobchocolates.co.uk or 07505 783 275