26/08/2026
Myself (Gabriel) and Fraser would like to warmly welcome Martina Brodie to the Ruxstons team. Martina will be taking over the day-to-day running of our café and shop, so you will likely be seeing a lot more of her going forward.
Martina may be a familiar face as she ran The Chocolate Box, the chocolate-themed café, in Wellington a few years ago, which of course made her a particularly good fit for Ruxstons. She has also worked in journalism and previously ran her own magazine based in Monaco. She brings a wealth of experience and will no doubt help take the shop and café forward.
Fraser and I wish Martina, and the whole team, the absolute best as we move into this next chapter.
We are certainly not leaving. Both of us will remain a constant fixture in Ruxstons' future, but our roles are evolving as the business grows.
Fraser will continue in his current role on developement of our websites, while I will be moving into trade sales and taking responsibility for our chocolate factory upstairs. Our chocolate orders have grown dramatically over the past three months, and the factory has now reached the point where it needs dedicated daily production.
I will still be in the shop and café from time to time, but after four years, and despite gradually stepping back over the last nine months, I didn't feel it was right to simply disappear from behind the counter without some explanation.
I have enjoyed those four years since we moved Ruxstons to Wellington. I've shared so much of my life with our customers; from my engagement to my wedding and recently the birth of my child. The best wishes, kind words and warm conversations will stay with me for a very long time.
I love to challenge and scare myself, and I feel I am ready to pursue something slightly different. I love travelling and I love sales, and there are shops across both the UK and abroad, along with some exciting trade fairs, that I am desperate to visit as we work to grow the Ruxstons chocolate brand. Our ambition is to build something that gives people another reason to come and discover this wonderful town.
I am 100% convinced I can do this over the next 18 months. Those of you who know me know that I love targets, I love pushing myself, and this challenge genuinely excites me.
So this isn't goodbye. It's simply the beginning of the next chapter for Ruxstons, for Martina and the team on the shop floor, and for Fraser and myself as we focus on where we can take the business next.
This Saturday will be my final regular shift in the café, which feels slightly strange to say after four years! I will still be around helping out from time to time, but it does mark the end of a chapter for me personally.
One final note: Martina doesn't officially join us until 1st September and is still working in her current role until then, so we would really appreciate everyone respecting that. We look forward to properly welcoming her to Ruxstons when she starts!
