About 100 shareholders attended a meeting to elect a new board of directors yesterday. There were eight nominees in the running for the three leadership roles.
Former directors Dr Jim O’Malley and Scott Muir, along with fellow shareholder Isabelle Prosser, were confirmed as directors.
About 34% of shareholders voted in the election. Ocho states on its website it has more than 3700 shareholders.
At the meeting, now former Ocho board chairwoman Jo Learmonth said the number of voters was "quite astronomical" and there had been a "tight contest" in the voting.
On behalf of the outgoing board, Ms Learmonth said they encouraged the new board to "think a little bit differently" about how Ocho could become a sustainable brand.
"We, like all of you, are passionate about chocolate in Dunedin and the Ocho story, but sometimes you’ve got to change the way you do it with that in order to get the results you want.
"I think if Ocho continues to try and do the same thing, you will get the same results."
Ms Prosser, who said she had followed the "Ocho journey" since its inception, has a 20-year background in communications, marketing and events.
Contacted after the meeting, Dr O’Malley said he was working on "council stuff" and had missed the vote.
He was looking forward to getting started and it seemed like "a really good board".
"I hope for it going in the right progression to basically show that the company never really was in need of liquidation, and we’re just moving forward now."
In his nomination statement, Dr O’Malley had said that, if elected, he would request a resolution to select a permanent board within three months, in time for the company’s next annual meeting.
Mr Muir said he was pleased to be back on the board and his intention was to stay there for as long as he needed to get the company "back on track".
"We really want to get back to the grassroots of it being a community business. It’s owned by a lot of people and it’s a business where there should be some fun to be had.
"It should be profitable and our intention is to make it so."
