On 13 October, a fire in the unit next door badly damaged our chocolate factory in Tullamore, forcing us to close temporarily and start rebuilding.

I’ve wanted to work with chocolate for as long as I can remember.

Six years ago, Georgia and I started Bon Chocolatiers from essentially nothing, working in my parents’ kitchen while their café was closed, with no machines at all. I’ll never forget the day our first tempering machine arrived. It wasn’t just any machine. It was ours.

From there, we built our own chocolate factory, piece by piece. We hand-paint and handmake every chocolate, with a small team who became like family. Together, we’d created something really special: a place where we got to do what we love every day, alongside people who shared that same passion.

We’d not long returned from another brilliant weekend at Blas na hÉireann, a year after being named Supreme Champion in 2025, when the fire broke out next door. Smoke filled our factory, and overnight we had to stop production completely, right before Christmas, our busiest time of year. Walking in and seeing everything we’d built damaged and in disarray was heartbreaking.

Although we have insurance for some of the physical damage, the cost of relocating and starting again from scratch in a new premises is enormous. On top of that, we don’t have business interruption cover, so the income we’ve lost while our doors are closed isn’t covered, even though many of our costs and responsibilities remain.

The hardest thing we’ve ever had to do was let our amazing team go. These are people who helped us build Bon, who have families, mortgages and plans of their own, and who relied on us.

But we’re not giving up on them, or on our dream of Bon, that easily. We’re moving to a new premises and starting again from the ground up, and we’re working flat out to get Bon back up and running as soon as we possibly can.

Where your support goes:

- Fitting out our new unit so it’s ready for food production

- Rebuilding the equipment and setup we spent six years putting together

- Restocking ingredients and packaging so we can start making chocolate again

- Bringing our team back

Why this page exists:

Asking for help like this is not something we ever thought we’d have to do. Honestly, it was an extremely hard decision, but we’ve had to put our pride aside and accept that we can’t do this alone. Since the fire, we’ve had hundreds of messages, phone calls and emails, and so many unbelievably kind offers of love and support. It’s been completely overwhelming, and it’s what finally gave us the courage to ask for help.

This fundraiser was originally set up by Caoimhe, Georgia’s cousin, to give everyone a way to help. Georgia and I are co-organisers, and the money raised goes directly to rebuilding Bon Chocolatiers.

Every bit of support, big or small, is hugely appreciated. If you can’t give, we’d kindly ask you to share this page and help spread the word. Bon Chocolatiers has been built on the loyal support of our community, and we need that support now more than ever.

We’ll post updates here and document the whole rebuild on our social media, from the first machine going into the new unit to the first chocolates coming out of it. Follow along on Instagram and TikTok at @bonchocolatiers.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Daniel and Georgia