Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Cocoa Mountain

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Notability has been clearly established and the article was rewritten to remove the promotionalism. (non-admin closure) Bait30 ^{Talk 2 me pls?} 17:29, 26 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Cocoa Mountain

[Hide this box] New to Articles for deletion (AfD)? Read these primers!

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Article fails WP:NCORP Angryskies (talk) 12:13, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Companies-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 12:21, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Scotland-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 12:21, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy delete per WP:G11. Additionally, makes extensive use of peacock terms to promote the subject. --Puzzledvegetable^{Is it teatime already?} 15:39, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Keep well it's definitely not a G11, it has no extensive use of peacock terms unless you count small, gourmet, or exotic truffles. It also has significant coverage in Scottish reliable sources such as Daily Herald and Northern Times as well as featuring in a Channel 4 programme, passes WP:CORPDEPTH imv Atlantic306 (talk) 20:19, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I had intended to highlight the part of the article that prompted my !vote, but that ended up being all of it except for the first sentence:

Founded in 2006 by two entrepreneurs James Vincent Findlay and his civil partner Paul Maden, roughly 100 truffle recipes were tested before they decided on the final 25. Since then, Cocoa Mountain has been awarded the `Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Award` for food tourism in 2009. Cocoa Mountain uses exotic truffle flavours in its chocolates and produces its own hot chocolate served on the premises in the Cocoa Mountain Chocolate Bar. Where possible, the company uses local and ethically sourced ingredients. A large order from Prince Charles was turned down after it was requested that the company add preservatives to a truffle recipe. US Senators and Middle Eastern tycoons are also customers.

The above excerpt, and by that I mean what amounts to the entire article, should make clear what the intent of the article is. If not WP:G11, it is certainly an egregious violation of WP:SPAM. --Puzzledvegetable^{Is it teatime already?} 20:32, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you think that's promotional then I suppose you want to delete most of wikipedia's company pages except the articles that imply a product is crap Atlantic306 (talk) 22:25, 21 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In any case the article has been re-edited to be more neutral Atlantic306 (talk) 22:38, 21 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy delete per Puzzledvegetable's arguments. This comes across as spam indeed. --Micky (talk) 03:16, 20 June 2020 (UTC) Blocked sockpuppet Malcolmxl5 (talk) 03:59, 26 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Read WP:CSD Atlantic306 (talk) 22:25, 21 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.

Webb, Andrew (2011). Food Britannia. London: Random House. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-1-4090-2222-0. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
McKenzie, Steven (2018-12-08). "Dragons' Den 'humiliation' boosted chocolate firm's orders". BBC Online. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Rowe, Mark (2018-03-27). "Cocoa Mountain: Inside the UK's Most Remote Chocolatier". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Dixon, Hayley (2013-01-24). "Gay chocolatiers forced out of remote Scottish village: Pair of homosexual chocolatiers claim they have been driven out of their remote Scottish community after suffering a decade of homophobic and anti-English abuse". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Merritt, Mike (2018-11-30). "Chocolate duo ready to taste sweet success". The Northern Times. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
McKenzie, Jamie (2017-04-15). "Decades old town gift shop poised to become luxury chocolatier and cafe". The Press and Journal. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Rubinstein, Dan (2018-05-01). "7 Days On Scotland's North Coast 500". WestJet Magazine. WestJet. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
"Rich and famous flock to chocolate mountain". The Herald. 2008-09-26. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Brown, Craig (2010-10-22). "Chocs away as Caithness firm finds its truffle lovers". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Ross, David (2008-09-08). "Highland Cocoa Mountain is proving to be a sweet success; Remote chocolate company in demand". The Herald. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20 – via Gale.
Scott, David (2008-03-17). "No sweet deal for Charles". Daily Express. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Ochyra, Helen (2020). Scotland Beyond the Bagpipes. Leicestershire: The Book Guild. ISBN 978-1-913551-14-8. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
Craven, Shona (2019-04-15). "Chocolate duo ready to taste sweet success". The National. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.

Sources with quotes

Webb, Andrew (2011). Food Britannia. London: Random House. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-1-4090-2222-0. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The book notes:
Hot chocolate at Cocoa Mountain

Cocoa Mountain can probably lay claim to being the most northerly chocolate producer in Britain, situated, as it is, in the top west corner of Scotland, half a mile on from the village of Durness. It was started by James Findley and Paul Maden in 2006 on a 1955 RAF Cold War early-warning base that was never used. ...
You might think them both mad for situating their business right at the top of the country, but James and Paul have a great relationship with their local postmaster, who during busy periods like Christmas and Easter comes three or four times a day. They reckon they can get a box of their chocs anywhere in the UK in twenty-four hours.
Their handiwork comes in a great many wonderful flavours, with their white chocolate with chilli and lemon grass being my favourite combination, just pipping the strawberry and black pepper.
However, it was their mug of hot chocolate that really impressed me. ...
Cocoa Mountain's hot chocolate, on the other hand, is almost a meal in itself, and comes topped with liquid chocolate deliberately running over the edge and down the sides. Served in a handless cup handmade by the potter next door, which means it needs cupping with both hands like soup, it's the sort of drink you have to get stuck into. No wonder it proves popular with walkers and day-trippers looking for an energy hit and something to warm their bones after a bracing walk along the coast.
McKenzie, Steven (2018-12-08). "Dragons' Den 'humiliation' boosted chocolate firm's orders". BBC Online. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
Paul Maden and James Findlay run Cocoa Mountain, a small luxury chocolate-making business near Balnakeil on the Sutherland coast, 105 miles (169km) north of Inverness.
...
Paul and James decided the best way to rectify this situation was to have a separate production line for the hot chocolate.
But they needed finance and Dragons' Den offered an opportunity to secure some crucial investment.
...
But the Dragons refused to green light their hoped-for £80,000, 15%, stake in the business.
The chocolatiers were told by the Dragons that they should have set up their business somewhere closer to markets in the south, and that the far north west coast was a "diabolical" place to try to run an operation such as theirs.
...
Since then, Paul and James have opened a shop in Dornoch and secured the investment they need for a new facility in Perth dedicated to making their hot chocolate.
Rowe, Mark (2018-03-27). "Cocoa Mountain: Inside the UK's Most Remote Chocolatier". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
I arrive at the village of Durness – 90 miles from John O’Groats – and pull up outside Cocoa Mountain, the most incongruously placed luxury chocolatier and café imaginable. While the scenery beyond the village is stunning, the immediate surroundings are less promising: Cocoa Mountain is housed in a squat building in Balnakeil Craft Village, where former army buildings linked to an early warning system of nuclear attack have been converted into a collection of artist studios and small-scale industries.
Unwrap the outer layer, step inside and it’s a different story. Cocoa Mountain’s shelves are stocked with exotic-flavoured truffles: chilli and lemongrass, peanut butter and cranberry, ginger and cinnamon. Pieces of stem ginger are entombed in dark chocolate; shards of white chocolate with pecan dangle temptingly on a ledge. The show-stopper is the hot chocolate, frothing to the brim and oozing with melted white and dark chocolate, a combination so gloriously gloopy you suspect it might retain its shape were you to remove it from the mug. For those in need of a buzz rather than a chocolate-induced coma, the fair-trade Mountain Mocha coffee is a winner.
The café is run by Paul Maden and partner James Findlay who opened for business in 2006. The obvious question when I meet Paul is, why here? “Why not here?” he replies. “Chocolate has to come 4,000 miles or so to get to the UK. Getting it the last 400 miles isn’t such a big deal.”
Dixon, Hayley (2013-01-24). "Gay chocolatiers forced out of remote Scottish village: Pair of homosexual chocolatiers claim they have been driven out of their remote Scottish community after suffering a decade of homophobic and anti-English abuse". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
Paul Maden, 45, and James Findlay, 40, whose luxury chocolate company Cocoa Mountain has attracted fans from Prince Charles to Yoko Ono, claim their lifestyle offended locals.
...
The chocolatiers live in the Balnakeil Craft Village, a former Cold War camp, and count among their neighbours a German porn star.
Cocoa Mountain, which uses milk from Highland cows in its exotic chocolates, some of which are allegedly 'natural aphrodisiacs', and the couple have not made the final decision to leave as they rely on locally sourced produce.
Prince Charles once asked the chocolatiers to blend his Barrogill whisky into a truffle, but they turned him down because they did not want to use preservatives.
Merritt, Mike (2018-11-30). "Chocolate duo ready to taste sweet success". The Northern Times. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
THEY were savaged in Dragons' Den and ridiculed for trying to run a business from the remotest north westerly village on mainland Britain – branded by the tycoons as a place for "hippies".
But now Paul Maden and James Findlay of Cocoa Mountain are making the dragons eat their words – or rather drink them.
The entrepreneurs are on course to become millionaires by launching a hot chocolate drink the Dragons rejected.
They already have landed major export orders from Japan, Portugal, Singapore and Norway, and are in "encouraging" talks with supermarkets and coffee shop chains.
The pair expect to be turning over £5 million in less than five years after they launched Cocoa Mountain The Best Hot Chocolate in January from a brand new purpose built factory.
Mr Findlay and Mr Maden did not manage to secure the £80,000 investment for a 15 per cent stake on Dragons' Den when they appeared on the show in August 2015.
McKenzie, Jamie (2017-04-15). "Decades old town gift shop poised to become luxury chocolatier and cafe". The Press and Journal. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
Cocoa Mountain owners Paul Maden and James Findlay, who started up their business in Durness nearly 11 years ago, hope to expand into the Dornoch premises in early June.
...
As well as truffles and bars, the company’s hot chocolate has fans said to include former England cricketer Ian Botham, former Rangers’ boss Ally McCoist and actress Juliet Stevenson.
Cocoa Mountain use milk from Highland cows in its exotic chocolates, some of which are allegedly ‘natural aphrodisiacs’.
The business is also known for its ethical sourcing of quality cocoa in South America.
Rubinstein, Dan (2018-05-01). "7 Days On Scotland's North Coast 500". WestJet Magazine. WestJet. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
Our morning drive to the Balnakeil Craft Village, in the northwest corner of Scotland, involves long stretches of single-lane highway lined by barren, rocky ridges that disappear into the clouds. The mood is edge-of-the-world ethereal, which is appropriate—we’re headed to Cocoa Mountain, perhaps the most remote artisanal chocolate producer in Europe.
Twelve years ago, James Findlay and Paul Maden left white-collar careers to set up a chocolate factory and café in this village of artists and crafters, which sprang up in the 1960s at an abandoned Cold War early warning station. Cocoa Mountain’s hot chocolate is probably the best I’ve ever had.
"Rich and famous flock to chocolate mountain". The Herald. 2008-09-26. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
Cocoa Mountain, a luxury chocolate company in Durness in Sutherland can list the royal family, US senators, actors, Arab tycoons, super-rich Russians and Yoko Ono among its fans.
Only last week retired US Senator Daniel Boatwright came to the company's HQ personally to taste handmade truffles and order 50 boxes to be shipped over to California.
Wealthy Russian oligarchs are placing their orders by telephone, as are American bankers. Rich Middle Eastern tycoons from Dubai are emailing in their requirements. And Prince Charles is something of fan too, although he was snubbed by the firm for daring to suggest they tweak their recipes.
Brown, Craig (2010-10-22). "Chocs away as Caithness firm finds its truffle lovers". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
Cocoa Mountain, based in Durness in Sutherland, claims the GBP200,000 venture will create 11 new jobs, more than doubling its workforce. The majority will be in the new premises.
The company, which produces 500,000 truffles per year, hopes to become Scotland's biggest producer of the confection.
Set up just four years ago in an abandoned sergeant's mess in part of an old RAF Cold War camp by two friends, James Findlay and Paul Maden, Cocoa Mountain now receives orders from all over the globe.
Its customers have included Truly, Madly, Deeply actress Juliet Stephenson, members of a Middle Eastern royal family, a top investment banker in New York and retired US Senator Daniel Boatwright - who beat a path to Cocoa Mountain to personally order 50 boxes of truffles to be shipped over to California for a political shindig.
Ross, David (2008-09-08). "Highland Cocoa Mountain is proving to be a sweet success; Remote chocolate company in demand". The Herald. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20 – via Gale.
The article notes:
However, tucked away in a former military camp about as far north as you can travel on the British mainland, Paul Maden and James Findlay are finding that demand for exotic chocolates has not slowed along with the rest of the economy.
Two years after starting up Cocoa Mountain, they are dispatching orders worldwide and have seen a growing demand for their product to be supplied for weddings and corporate functions.
...
Before setting up the business, Mr Findlay, 35, from Rutherglen, was an IT specialist with IBM, while Mr Maden, 40, from Blackburn, worked at Paisley University as part-time lecturer and parttime adviser to students on how to set up a business. Both were enthusiastic hill walkers and travelled north for trips to the Sutherland hills.
Scott, David (2008-03-17). "No sweet deal for Charles". Daily Express. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The article notes:
A TINY chocolate company has turned down an offer from Prince Charles to create luxury truffles using his whisky - because it was asked to add preservatives.
The Prince wanted to blend his whisky Barrogill with a truffle produced by Britain's remotest chocolate factory.
But the owners of Cocoa Mountains turned down the Prince's Mey Selections because the Scots firm insists on using only natural ingredients.
...
Cocoa Mountain was started by Mr Madden and James Findlay in June 2006.
Ochyra, Helen (2020). Scotland Beyond the Bagpipes. Leicestershire: The Book Guild. ISBN 978-1-913551-14-8. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
The book notes:
One of the best rewards in life, though, is, of course, chocolate. And above all else he recommended, David had impressed on me that I must, must must visit the chocolate producer Cocoa Mountain. Well, now it is my turn to impress the same thing upon you. Because if you are anywhere within even the vainest hope's distance of fitting in a stop here, then you absolutely have to call in.
That Cocoa Mountain is here seems so unlikely at first. You are in Durness, for a start, the most north-westerly village in mainland Britain and by most measures the most remote to boot. But then you come across a craft village. There are art galleries here, as well as ceramicists and woodworkers, and in the midst of it all, just about the best chocolatier in Scotland.
Cocoa Mountain is primarily a café and so I take a seat at a table with a cracker of a view of the mountains and start to narrow down the choices in front of me. There are dozens of chocolates sitting in neat, cubed rows behind glass at the counter, and a hot chocolate comes with two on the side. There are champagne truffles, strawberry with black pepper, and peppermint fondants, not to mention whisky chocolates and a Turkish delight. Two was never going to be enough.
Craven, Shona (2019-04-15). "Chocolate duo ready to taste sweet success". The National. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
This is an interview of the founders.

There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow Cocoa Mountain to pass Wikipedia:Notability#General notability guideline, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject".

Cunard (talk) 09:43, 20 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia article contains positive material about Cocoa Mountain. I do not consider this positive material to make the article overly promotional. The article does not qualify for WP:G11. Cunard (talk) 09:43, 20 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.