Haigh’s Chocolates

Established in 1915, Haigh’s is Australia’s oldest chocolate manufacturing retailer. The fourth generation, family owned company is one of very few manufacturing retailers in the world still making chocolates from raw cocoa beans. The company retains many of the traditional methods and artisan skills of chocolate manufacturing and has been awarded numerous gold medal and champion awards in industry shows.

HISTORY
Business was booming and it was time to expand. In 1919 Alfred bought land behind the family home at Parkside South Australia where he built a small factory, now the Visitors Centre. In 1922, he moved shops to the Beehive Corner – still our Adelaide flagship store. Sadly, in 1933, Alfred passed away suddenly. His son Claude took over the running of the business, which had by then grown to six stores.

Alfred’s grandson, John Haigh, joined the business in 1946 with a vision to take Haigh’s chocolate making to new heights. He trained in Switzerland with Lindt and Sprungli and visited the US to look at production, shop styles and marketing. John revolutionised the way we manufactured our chocolate and in 1959 became Managing Director.

Business continued to grow and John looked for other opportunities to expand. In 1965 Haigh’s opened the first store outside South Australia, in Collins Street Melbourne, where Haigh’s chocolates proved to be just as popular.

At Haigh’s we’re very proud to be the oldest family-owned chocolate retailer in Australia. Today the company is run by fourth generation Haighs, Alister and Simon, who started in the 1970s and had to work their way through all areas of the company. They’ve been joint Managing Directors since 1990 and John Haigh is now Chairman of the Board.
HAIGH’S TODAY
Some things have changed, yet many remain the same. We still use only the very best and freshest ingredients. And we’re one of the very few chocolate retailers in the world who still source and manufacture chocolate from the cocoa bean.

At Haigh’s, our cooking processes are unique with our factory teams using their meticulous artisan skills to create our products. Many of our chocolates continue to be hand-made and are still hand-wrapped.

The customer experience

Our aim is to make sure that the Haigh’s customer experience is one of quality. Visit any one of our stores, and you’ll find that chocolate tasting, gift wrapping and personalised attention is part of the service.

Today we have 14 stores. Six stores in Adelaide including the historic Beehive Corner, six in Melbourne including a store within the beautiful heritage listed Block Arcade and two in Sydney including our newest store in the Queen Victoria Building.

We have recently completed the expansion and renovation of our retail stores and the upgrade and refurbishment of our factories at Mile End and Parkside in South Australia.

Parkside, just outside the city centre of Adelaide, is where you’ll also find our Visitor Centre. Here we conduct free factory viewing tours where you can take a short first-hand look at how we make our chocolates. Our tours are very popular with tourists, clubs and groups, and the locals as well. Come and join a tour and you’ll also enjoy complimentary tea or coffee and, of course, a taste of delicious Haigh’s chocolate.