Our History

The expertise referred to at Vantage House can be traced back to the early part of this century. The Mot family in Belgium had a traditional bakery, patisserie and chocolaterie in Brussels in the early 1900’s. More than 20 people worked together as highly skilled artisans producing hand-made ice-creams, pastries and chocolates. The youngest daughter, Julia, married Tom Avison (an English soldier, stationed in Belgium during the occupation) and they were to come to England in 1953 and open the first Belgian Chocolate Shop in this country. With exceptions to the continental style of dark, fresh cream pralines – such as traditional English Rose & Violet Fondant creams – their range was soon to expand to a second shop.

This site in Brighton saw early morning queues at Easter and Christmas time, stretching down the road and around the corner. Julia exquisitely finished Tom’s hand-made chocolate figures and animals and a plain chocolate rabbit would be transformed with taffeta ribbons and a basket full of colourful foil Easter eggs on its back. Their shop was a treasure trove of truly original novelties and chocolates, as in those days they made only for their own shops and spent much time finding a good range that was delicious, humorous and original, to suit the English taste, despite the Belgian origins of most of the recipes.

In the mid-seventies, Tom and Julia’s son, Malcolm joined the business and opened a factory to supply beyond their own shops. Malcolm spent much of his childhood watching his parents and uncles work at the marble tables, both in England and Belgium. Although he became a mechanical engineer, it was with chocolate making that he combined his skills – automating the chocolate production gradually over the next ten years. By the time his company La Roche, was sold to Barker & Dobson in 1986, they supplied over 100 shops, department stores and supermarkets nation-wide.

Belgian Chocolates were no longer new to the market, as they were in 1953. Many manufacturers were producing them or expanding their ranges to include the continental style. It was a natural transition that inspired Malcolm to form Vantage House and begin to represent machinery manufacturers from his mother’s country.

He was asked by Barker & Dobson to manage the chocolate production side in setting up a confectionery factory in Oman and from there he progressed naturally to work with chocolate manufacturers in the UK & Ireland, from an entirely sympathetic point of view. Malcolm understood the machines as an engineer and as a production manager – as well as knowing the products as a chocolatier of many years’ experience. Having grown his own operation from a small shop to a large factory he also has a broad and thorough experience of the commercial demands of the industry – from both the factory and the buyers' viewpoint.

Vantage House combines this expertise with regular visits to its suppliers to fully understand the machinery and processes and properly represent its agencies. For its customers a number of added benefits include trial machines wherever possible, a second-hand list, a good after-sale back up and spares supply – along with immediate help over the phone from experienced staff. Spreadsheets and graphs are supplied with machinery information so that real decisions can be made directly reflecting the customer’s production possibilities and requirements.

As Malcolm always says:

"Customers want real information to make informed decisions and as few mistakes as possible. We are here to help them avoid pitfalls and make sure information is thorough, useful and real!"