No Moo Cow

The No Moo Cow Blog Has Moved

2011-07-24T23:51:00.003+01:00

This blog is now part of the Moo Free Chocolates website. You will find all new posts at:

http://www.moofreechocolates.com/blog

Easter Eggs

2011-01-28T13:52:00.000Z

We are in full flow making our scrummy Easter eggs now. The first batch has just been sent out to wholesalers, so you should start seeing these in shops over the next few weeks. As usual they will be available direct from www.alotofchocolates.co.uk as from 7th February.

Full Steam Ahead

2010-10-22T17:02:00.000+01:00

It is all go at Moo Free Chocolates. We have just finished production of our Advent Calendar and are now making some more pralines. Next month we will be starting on Easters eggs, yes I know it sounds early but we have to produce them to get them in the wholesalers catalogues.

We are running out of space in our chocolate room and need to build a bigger chocolate room in the warehouse. We are getting new stockists everyday, so keep checking our stockings page for a shop near you.

Andrea

Competition Winner

2010-10-06T12:46:00.000+01:00

The winner of the Moo Free competition to win six months supply of Chocolate is Dawn Irons, congratulations to Dawn.

We also have a runner up who will also get some chocolate and that was Brita Bevis.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to let us know what the cows are up to now we have set them free. Look out for our next competition. This will be a photo and we would like you to add a caption. Check out our web site over the next couple of weeks.

Stockists of our chocolate

2010-09-30T15:00:00.000+01:00

We had a meeting with Waitrose who love our packaging. Things are looking very positive and they should be taking stock of some of our lines.

Holland and Barrett have also contacted us and samples have been sent to them.

Unfortunately we are without a Business Development person at the moment and are doing our best to contact new potential retailers and wholesalers. There is a list on the Moo Free website of current stockist. If you have any suggestions for shops where you would like to see our Moo Free Chocolates, please let us know. email info @ moofreechocolates.com.

Thank you.

Speciality Fine Food Show

2010-09-07T13:59:00.000+01:00

We have been at the Speciality Fine Food Show for three days now and have lots of interest from retailers and wholesalers. Let's hope that our chocolate becomes available uk wide soon.

I think Kitty Cakes and Peetee Pig who are manning the show are very tired now.

Discount on our Chocolate

2010-08-20T09:49:00.000+01:00

Hi

You can use discount code 081910 on www.alotofchocolates.co.uk and get 15% discount on Moo Free Chocolates.

Visit www.alotofchocolates.co.uk and enter the code using the Voucher Button on the Your Order page. If you order £40 or more, after the discount has been applied you will also get free postage.

Andrea

Don't forget our competition to win a supply of Moo Free Chocolate

2010-08-10T10:53:00.000+01:00

If you have a holiday planned before end of August you may be interested in entering the Moo Free Chocolate competition to win chocolate every month for six months.

When you are on holiday we would like you
to send a postcard to us on behalf of the cows, letting us know what they are doing.

For example:

Dear Moo Free
Thanks for setting us free. We are currently sunning ourselves on the beach in Barbados and expect to be back in the UK in another 4 to 5 weeks.
Lots of love
The cows

Moo Free will be judging the competition on the originality of your message, the picture on the postcard (remember that you are a cow) and the location that the postcard is sent from. Although if you are outside of the UK, you do not have to post the card from the actual location you can bring the postcard back to the UK to post to Moo Free.

Alternatively, if you have a funny photo of a cow or cows having fun or doing something unusual then post it to Moo Free at 55 Milford Road,
Reading, RG1 8LG or send a high quality scan in an email to competition @ moofreechocolates.com. The competition is open until 27th August and Moo Free will announce the winner on their website on 1st September. Moo Free will publish the best entries on their website.

Competition Rules:

You must be resident in the UK to enter
Closing date is midnight 27th August 2010
You agree to your entry being posted on the Moo Free website
There is no cash alternative
There is no age limit
Your details will be used by Moo Free only and not passed to any third party

Try our Dairy Free Chocolate Bars for free

2010-08-04T10:13:00.000+01:00

The first 20 people that send their name and address, providing it is in the UK, will receive a free chocolate bar to try. Please send your name and address to andrea at moofreechocolates.com.

Dairy Free Organic Chocolate Bars

2010-08-03T15:06:00.000+01:00

Our chocolate bar packaging has arrived. This means our scrummy dairy free chocolate bars are now on sale. I am sure you will agree they have all the taste of milk chocolate, but without the milk. They are available from www.alotofchocolates.co.uk and I am sure you will see them at some specialists shops throughout the country very soon. We have a big list of stockist just waiting to stock these bars.

Our Organic Chocolate

2010-07-28T10:27:00.001+01:00

Our organic chocolate will carry the new EU logo. This logo has to be displayed on any certified organic product throughout the EU. I think this is an excellent idea. In the UK for instance you have two organic certifying bodies, thus 2 different logos to recognise, then throughout the EU each country may have its own certifying body with their own logo. This one logo replaces all of those and will make it easier for shoppers to recognise an organic product that originates from the EU.

New Machine

2010-07-16T12:08:00.000+01:00

We have just taken delivery of a new chocolate machine, which should help us produce products a lot quicker. Just having a new socket installed so we can actually plug it in and give it a try.

Things are moving along nicely and we are on track for releasing the bars and chocolate drops at the end of August.

Andrea

Organic Certification

2010-07-07T10:26:00.000+01:00

My, my, my, this is a busy week. We had an inspection yesterday for organic certification. Looks like we are on track. Our chocolate has always been made with an organic and fair trade base, just that we cannot label it as organic. Once the certification is finalised it means we will be able to officially say our chocolate is organic. This means the milk tasting chocolate drops and the chocolate bars will be dairy free and organic.

Things just get better every day.

Andrea

Web Site

2010-07-06T09:42:00.000+01:00

I am so excited about the packaging I forgot to mention that we have a new web site. Please take a moment to visit www.moofreechocolates.com. We still have some content to add but this will be added over the next few days. You will be able to meet our characters; Hammy Hamster, Mikey Bunny, Maisy Moo, Margery Mouse, Mungo Mouse, Petee Pig and Kitty Cakes.

I hope you like it.

Andrea

Packaging

2010-07-06T09:39:00.000+01:00

We have just received the first draft of the designs for our chocolate bars and chocolate drops. The bar moulds arrived this morning as well. We are all very excited here, at long last everything seems to be coming together. The struggles of the past two years are finally fading away as it all becomes real. I really can't wait, but wait a bit longer we must. I think we are looking at the third week of August and then we will have dairy free chocolate bars and dairy free chocolate drops. Yeah, it is happening!

I am sorry I guess you can tell how happy we all are and we really hope you will like them. Roll on August.

Andrea

Competition to win some Moo Free Chocolates

2010-06-25T13:55:00.000+01:00

Now that we have set the moo cows free, we would really love to know what they are up too.

If you have a holiday planned before end of August you may be interested in entering the Moo Free Chocolate competition to win chocolate every month for six months.

When you are on holiday we would like you
to send a postcard to us on behalf of the cows, letting us know what they are doing.

For example:

Dear Moo Free
Thanks for setting us free. We are currently sunning ourselves on the beach in Barbados and expect to be back in the UK in another 4 to 5 weeks.
Lots of love
The cows

Moo Free will be judging the competition on the originality of your message, the picture on the postcard (remember that you are a cow) and the location that the postcard is sent from. Although if you are outside of the UK, you do not have to post the card from the actual location you can bring the postcard back to the UK to post to Moo Free.

Alternatively, if you have a funny photo of a cow or cows having fun or doing something unusual then post it to Moo Free at 55 Milford Road,
Reading, RG1 8LG or send a high quality scan in an email to competition @ moofreechocolates.com. The competition is open until 27th August and Moo Free will announce the winner on their website on 1st September. Moo Free will publish the best entries on their website.

Competition Rules:

You must be resident in the UK to enter
Closing date is midnight 27th August 2010
You agree to your entry being posted on the Moo Free website
There is no cash alternative
There is no age limit
Your details will be used by Moo Free only and not passed to any third party

New Stockists

2010-06-25T10:50:00.000+01:00

You will be please to hear that we have a few more stockists where you can purchased our scrummy pralines from. These are:

Green Valley Trading Company - www.gvtc.co.uk
Animal Aid Shop - www.animalaid.org.uk
Face of Flower - www.face-of-flowers.co.uk
GFF Direct - www.gffdirect.co.uk
Gluten Free Shop - www.gluten-freeshop.co.uk
Viva - www.viva.org.uk

Moo Free Chocolates Stockist

2010-05-12T09:05:00.000+01:00

We are now if full production of our lovely dairy free milk alternative caramalised pralines. These are now available as a box of 8 or 12 on www.alotofchocolates.co.uk. We are looking at getting the box of 12 into shops and are actively contacting approporate potential stockist. If you shop in a particular shop that you think would be ideal for our pralines, please contact me and let me know. My direct email is andrea at moofreechocolates.com.

If anyone is interested in investing in a growing company we are looking for investment so that we can make bars and other exciting products. We can do this without investment over a longer time scale, but we would really love to get more products on to the market, now. Please email me or call me on 0845 094 6498. Thank you.

Andrea

Looking forward

2010-04-26T14:50:00.000+01:00

We are about to invest in some more equipment to move forward with our milk alternative dairy free chocolate. We are trying are best to make this chocolate as cheaply as possible fo you, our customers, without compromising on taste and our ethics. All the base chocolate that we are using at the moment is organic and fair trade. This means that no-one has been exposed to chemicals, the growers have received a fair price and child labour is not an issue.

We are looking at making milk alternative chocolate calendars this year and are just starting to search for designs and box manufacturers.

We will also look into making chocolate bars of various flavours and will be experimenting with those shortly.

The chocolate hearts and squares are still selling well and these can be purchased from alotofchocolates.co.uk.

Post Easter

2010-04-26T14:39:00.000+01:00

We have been recovering from the Easter rush. We made over 600 eggs this year and were very pleased with ourselves. We are improving every year. Next year we hope to be able to get the eggs in shops, so they will be easier for you to find and purchase.

Thank you for your support this year.

Easter Eggs

2010-03-23T09:45:00.000Z

We are offering 3 different versions of our dairy free/lactose free Easter egg. One is in a box decorated with a hamster and bunny, so perfect for kids. One is in a lovely mellow yellow box inscribed with Moo Free and the other comes in a golden organza bag sitting on top of four delicious caramalised pralines.

As of today these are all available at www.alotofchocolates.co.uk. Get them whilst you can, it is not too late.

Dairy Free Easter Eggs

2010-02-25T11:49:00.002Z

I should have mentioned we have invested in some new equipment which means we can make the dairy free Easter eggs a lot quicker than in previous years. This means the eggs are a lot cheaper this year. I hope you agree and enjoy a milk chocolate alternative Easter egg, rather than having to just have dark. I think we are still the only company that makes these, so get them whilst you can.

Update

2010-02-22T22:55:00.004Z

It has been a very long time since a blog was last posted due to all sorts of reasons that I won't bore you with. I am the new blogger, my name is Andrea and I am chief chocolatier at Moo Free Chocolates. Mike has moved into a new area and is very busy!

After months of trials we now have a new milk alternative chocolate. I have made lots of Easter eggs using this new chocolate, which have been made using equipment that is only used for dairy free chocolate and in a room which is free from any dairy. In fact, we only make dairy free chocolate! I have also made some delicious pralines, which we are hoping to wholesale, and work is on the way to do that. In the mean time you can buy these from alotofchocolates.co.uk.

Hopefully I will now be able to keep you updated with news.

Investment Progress

2008-07-28T10:04:00.007+01:00

As many of you may have guessed, progress on the final production is proving to be very slow. We are currently in talks with a local investor who may be able to provide us with the additional funds that are required to launch the new chocolates. This is a very time consuming process and requires us to generate a lot of figures and paper work (hence the lack of entries on the blog over the past few weeks).

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on the question of organic or non-organic dairy free chocolate. If anyone else has any feedback on this subject please do let me know using the contact information on our web site www.moofreechocolates.com.

As soon as I have any further news on the dairy free investment you will be the first to know.

Organic or Non Organic Dairy Free Chocolate?

2008-06-19T14:56:00.004+01:00

We have a bit of a dilemma this week. Should we manufacture using organically certified ingredients or non organic ingredients? Up until now we have been following the organic root, however, this will increase the end product prices by at least 15-18% due to the cost of the organic ingredients. The question is, what would intolerance and allergy sufferers prefer? A purer and more strictly controlled organic chocolate, or a less expensive non-organics chocolate?

If anyone is reading this and has any feedback please let me know via the moofreechocolates.com website.

The launch is getting painfully closer

2008-05-29T14:09:00.009+01:00

I discovered today that too much chocolate can trigger my migraines. However, I am not letting this get in the way of my chocolate testing. Hopefully one day someone will appreciate the suffering that I am going through to develop this dairy free chocolate.

So, where are we? Well, the dairy free milk chocolate should go in to mass production sometime next month. Although we have determined the best mix of ingredients, this will still need tweaking for very large quantities. Financially, I don’t think that we will initially be able to produce the white dairy free chocolate at the same time. But, if anyone would like to consider investing in a new ethical product produced by an ethical company please let me know using the feedback link at the end of this entry or by using the contact information on www.moofreechocolates.com.

The next step is for us to produce some packaging and branding for our first line of dairy free milk chocolates. The packaging side of things is relatively easy and will be produced using recycled paper and eco-friendly vegetable inks. Branding on the other hand is a time consuming and very expensive process. I will let you have a sneak preview of the designs once we have them.

Dairy free white chocolate success

2008-05-12T10:18:00.005+01:00

Today I'm very tired (credit should be given to my grandson who I looked after last night - and too early this morning), so I will keep this short. The white chocolate tests last Saturday went well but unfortunately due to come technical problems we had to carry out more tests this weekend. These test went much better and faster than last weekend and we know have a white chocolate that everybody here really likes. This mix is so good that we have decided to also modify our dairy free milk chocolate mix.

This week we will begin working out the technical details of mass producing this mixture. We've also got to look at packaging and labelling. I'll keep you posted.

Dairy free white chocolate tests

2008-05-01T17:10:00.009+01:00

We will be testing different mixes for the dairy free white chocolate on Saturday, so I may be suffering from a chocolate overdose next week. My colleague will be comparing the flavours to dairy white chocolate bars that I can't eat (due to my lactose intolerance) - so she may be feeling even worse than me. It's a terrible life working in a chocolate factory.

Exciting dairy free milk chocolate news

2008-05-01T14:39:00.004+01:00

Things are very exciting at the moment. Having tested our chocolate via A Lot Of Chocolate the response has been fantastic. We are now in the process of developing a complete range of dairy free chocolates. The first of this range should be ready very shortly - we are just finalising flavours and packaging.

In addition, we have also been taking steps to ensure that the environment our chocolate is made in is entirely dairy free at all stages of production. This will guarantee that there is never any chance of cross contamination from any other milk-based products.

To begin with, we will be producing a dairy free milk chocolate bar, a dairy free milk chocolate bar with mint and one with orange. If you have any feedback on our initial choice of dairy free milk chocolate bar flavours please let us know.

Some of you may also be pleased to learn that we have now developed a dairy free white chocolate. It is a very difficult mixture to work with and there are still a few tweaks needed with the ingredients but we hope to produce a dairy free white chocolate bar shortly. We are also looking at combining this with strawberry or raspberry.

If you have any other feedback please let me know.