Five Years of Chocolate Dino: A Story in the Making

Long Read ~10 minutes

Intro

Some of you have been with us since day one. Others only just discovered us. Either way, we’re often asked: what’s the story behind Chocolate Dino?

As we celebrate five years, it felt like the right time to share the journey — the good, the bad, and the slightly chaotic — of how two people with no investors, just pocket change and community support, built an independent bakery that now roars.

A Brand Born in Lockdown

May 2020. London was at a standstill. Streets were empty, shutters were down, and no one knew what was coming next. Out of that strange silence, Chocolate Dino began.

There was no funding. No plan. Just a domestic oven, bags of flour, and a couple of recipes scribbled down on scrap paper. First rough batches of brownies and cookies were baked for friends, then neighbours, then neighbours of neighbours. Deliveries were done by bike, still warm from the oven.

It wasn’t glamorous, but it mattered. In the middle of a pandemic, a box of cookies meant a reason to smile, a break in the monotony, a reminder that connection was still possible. That’s how Chocolate Dino was born: on pocket-money budgets, with a lot of persistence and the kind of community spirit that money can’t buy.

From Brick Lane to Backers

By autumn 2020, we tested ourselves at Brick Lane. The setup was as DIY as it gets — a couple of printed banners, a tiny Argos oven, and plates borrowed from the cupboard at home. No gazebo, no fancy displays. Just brownies, cookies, a name that made people smile, and the determination to keep showing up.

To our surprise, people stopped. They tasted, came back the following week, and told friends. That stall was the first proof that Dino could stand on its own feet.

Then came the next leap: crowdfunding. At the end of 2020, we asked if people would back us to grow. We didn’t expect much. But in the middle of Covid, when times were tough for everyone, over 14,000 pounds was pledged. Not investors. Not institutions. Just ordinary people who wanted us to succeed. That money bought equipment, ingredients, and time — but more importantly, it gave us confidence.

Festivals and Events: Where We Learned to Roar

2021 was when Dino went big. We moved to small commercial kitchen and soon after we were on the road. One weekend we’d be in a muddy field at a festival, the next inside ExCeL at Comic Con, then Formula-E or Wimbledon.

Events are unforgiving. Power cuts, rainstorms, queues that never end. Ovens breaking down in the middle of service. Staff getting stuck on trains. But those weekends were our training ground. We learned to serve thousands of people a day without dropping quality, to keep our sense of fun under pressure, and to make Dino a brand people remembered in a sea of food stalls.

And it worked. Guests who tried us at a festival came looking for us again at the next one. Some even made the trip across London to track us down. Step by step, recognition spread — not because of marketing budgets, but because we kept showing up.

Recognition, One Star at a Time

From 2022 to 2024, our brownies picked up Great Taste 1★ awards three years in a row. Each one was a little spark of validation — proof that what started in a home oven could hold its own against the best artisan bakers in the country.

Then came 2025, which changed everything. Our cookie won a 2★★ Great Taste award, and our cheesecake took another 2★★ in the same year. For a tiny independent bakery with no PR machine, that double win was enormous. Dino wasn’t just fun anymore — it was award-winning.

The stars didn’t come from slick campaigns. They came from stubbornness: recipe testing at midnight, starting over when batches failed, and refusing to settle until every bake was better than the last.

The Leap to a Bakery

The plan was to open our first permanent bakery in November 2023. Lease signed, pennies counted, ovens ordered. But reality had other plans.

The flat above us flooded — not once, but three times. Water damage meant ripped-out ceilings, ruined equipment, and months of delays. Instead of a winter launch, we didn’t open until spring 2024.

By then, we were running on fumes but determined to make it work. And when the doors finally opened, it was worth every setback. Dino had a home.

The bakery quickly became more than a cookie counter. It turned into a neighbourhood hub. On weekends, brunch tables fill up. Croffles, bagels, shakshoukas — dishes that brought Dino beyond cookies and into full café life. Our Google reviews passed 500, averaging 4.9 stars. Every comment, whether from a local regular or a tourist stumbling in, reminded us why we fought so hard to open those doors.

Independent by Design

People often assume Dino must be a chain. The branding’s too polished, the service too sharp, the cookies too consistent. But the truth is simpler: we’re still independent.

Every decision — from which coffee roaster to partner with, to how much chocolate to order, to what goes on the brunch menu — is made by us. Every oven, fridge, and mixer was paid for out of sales or that first crowdfunding campaign.

Independence is messy. It means sleepless nights, weighing risks with no safety net, and learning on the fly. But it also means freedom. Freedom to say yes to a mad idea. Freedom to build a brand that feels personal and real. Freedom to grow on our own terms.

Five Years Later

Five years on, Chocolate Dino is an award-winning bakery and event operator. At festivals and major events, we’ve served thousands of people in a single weekend. At the bakery, we’ve created a space that locals call their own — and visitors make part of their London trip.

But more than awards or reviews, what we’re proudest of is how it’s been done: no investors, no corporate shortcuts, just persistence, community support, and an unshakable belief in what Dino could be.

The Next Chapter

Where does it go from here? Honestly, we don’t know. Five years ago, we didn’t expect a Brick Lane stall. We didn’t expect £14k crowdfunded in the middle of a pandemic. We didn’t expect three years of brownie awards. We didn’t expect a double 2★★ win. We didn’t expect floods that delayed our first bakery. And yet, here we are.

The next five years might bring new sites. It might bring new products. It might bring a mobile fleet of cookie trailers. Whatever happens, the DNA stays the same: independent, bold, and built on determination and community spirit.

Chocolate Dino started with pocket change and goodwill. Today, it’s a brand that roars. Tomorrow? The oven is already pre-heating.