Thornton's confidential selection book

THEY say life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you're going to get. Yet as a youth, Peter Thornton imagined he knew exactly the path his career would take, when he entered his family's popular confectionery business.

Later this month, however, memoirs chronicling his career – and ultimate deposition from the company's board of directors – will reveal a bittersweet account of the history of Thorntons.

Filial duty and sibling rivalries, says Mr Thornton, were as much a part of the business as "chaotic-creativity" and the sweet-smelling toffee recipe upon which Thornton's established its niche within the high street.

Still actively involved in business as a consultant, Mr Thornton has lived in Exeter since 2003 when he began to write his memoirs.

"There was never a question of me joining the business," he said. "It was a very traditional family firm and I was groomed to go into it early – by the age of 10, I was going on business trips around the shops with my father and working in the factory."

Thorntons was established in Sheffield by Joseph Thornton in 1911, who handed the business over to his sons, Stanley and Norman. Determined that their own sons would follow into the firm – "I've never been entirely sure whether this was for the sake of the business, or to provide a future for us" adds Peter Thornton – the brothers would not relinquish their ultimate control of the business, until their deaths, in their mid-eighties.

As school leavers, Peter's older brother, Tony, first went into the business, followed by Peter in 1953. Younger brother John would join in the late 1960s. Their uncle Stanley's son, Michael, also joined the firm.

The Second World War had seen seven of 35 stores blitzed, but despite rationing, the business began to grow apace in the 1950s. Thorntons established its empire on its unique toffee – which for decades, accounted for 60 per cent of its sales and generated a high gross margin.

Made fresh for dispatch to Thornton's chain of stores, no confectioner without high street outlets could compete with the product. Unwrapped and broken up for sale by assistants, with a toffee hammer, its short shelf life when exposed to air necessitated a rapid turnaround from factory to shop.

"We could get it into the shop in two or three days and it was a model almost impossible for other business to copy," said Mr Thornton. Coupled with the enticing smells wafting from the shop counters, the brand became established as a treat for consumers from every walk of life. "The whole thing was extremely mouthwatering," said Mr Thornton, "and it was a wonderful business model. It was also a very pleasant example of 'retail theatre'."

Behind the scenes, however, personal differences were beginning to create tensions between the younger Thorntons as they sought to carve out a career niche. With Norman and Stanley still holding the reins and no clear demarcation in the boardroom, says Mr Thornton, individual egos and ambition caused the family to clash.

"One of the fundamental problems of a family business is the emotional relationships within it, yet you have to be objective," he says, looking back. "Yet, in spite of it all, the business was exceedingly successful."

By 1997, Thorntons was a £100million business, with 169 shops.

His calls, he said, to bring in an "outsider" to advise a more formal boardroom structure, were fruitless. "These days, organisations exist to help family businesses and the issues are better understood," he adds. "I'm a great believer in family businesses– they have specific strengths."

The sibling rivalries which had generated such innovation – including the introduction of the Continental chocolates – escalated and Peter Thornton, by then 54, was ousted from the board. "I couldn't bear to go into the shops, after that," he said. The company was floated on the Stock Exchange the following year and he has since sold his own shares.

Plunging head-long into a new venture – in retrospect, too soon – Mr Thornton moved to Devon to pursue it, but ultimately it failed. Today, he is still active as a respected retail marketing consultant. His siblings, he says, have not yet read his account of their turbulent family history, but may well receive it as a stocking filler – along with traditional chocolate coins – this Christmas.

Thorntons My Life in The Family Business is published by Tomahawk Press on 27 October at £14.99