How a game-changing chocolate maker is taking a bite out of modern slavery
Tony’s Chocolonely is “crazy about chocolate, serious about people”… and about to hit the UK.
Has doing the right thing ever tasted so good?
Chocolate has a problem. Despite the best efforts of Fairtrade and other initiatives, unequal supply chains are pushing cocoa farmers into poverty, leading to modern slavery and child labour in the West African farms which supply 60% of the world’s cocoa.
That’s why Dutch confectioner Tony’s Chocolonely is fighting to make 100% slave free chocolate the norm.
A certified B Corp founded by crusading journalists in 2005, the brand has worked tirelessly to reinvent the supply chain and raise awareness of the issue. In doing so, it’s become a brilliant example of how we can change the world for the better and be commercially successful.
By telling a radically disruptive story to customers, Tony’s Chocolonely has become the biggest chocolate brand by turnover in The Netherlands, with a global turnover of nearly 60 million euros and a presence in Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Finland and the US. And good news for UK chocolate lovers: the brand is now looking to launch on our shores in January 2019.
Purpose met with Fleur Marnette-de Vries of Tony’s Chocolonely in Amsterdam to talk about two of the sweetest things in life: chocolate and business as a force for good.
Q. How can a chocolate bar make a difference?
For us, every bar tells a story. With every product we make, we want it to tell the story in the purest way possible and with our chocolate, we address a huge social problem in the world: that the chocolate industry is unequally divided, which leads to exploitation and modern slavery in the chocolate producing countries, mainly in West Africa.
With every bite you participate, because the more chocolate bars we sell, the more cocoa farmers we reach with our way of collaboration, based on direct relations. Farmers are able to make a living income based on these principles.
That’s why, for example, our bars don’t come evenly divided. As we say, as long as the chocolate industry is unequally divided, our bar will stay that way too. That’s not just to annoy you because you can’t break off an even piece easily, it’s a conversation starter. The problem is on the table, you can’t ignore it, it’s not just another bar.
Q. You’ve created a lot of positive disruption in the chocolate industry. Do you think mission-led brands have to be prepared to break the rules?
Our mission is making 100% slave free the norm in chocolate. To achieve this we need to make new rules. We are not afraid to make our own decisions, which I think makes us special. Sometimes that’s annoying for people, but that’s got us to where we are today.
And of course, we’ve always been about learning along the way. We don’t have it all figured out. Sometimes we make mistakes and we’re very open about it. We’d rather be a little bit naïve, than be negative about things.
Q. It seems you take a very heart-led approach to running the business.
Yes. We do everything by heart, by what feels good. We have a strong vision which guides us.
For example, we don’t do marketing research, or use many external creative agencies. We prefer to have our creative team in-house. Everything is about creativity. The person who designed our first bar is still our creative guru.
Q. It’s certainly led to a much fresher and more attention-grabbing brand. It makes you wonder, when did chocolate as an industry become so dull?
We have developed an authentic tone of voice, yes. Unlike other brands, we don’t use visuals of the product on our packaging — we just use our brand. It’s fun, it’s in your face and it’s “wow”. We are inspired by brands like Innocent, Ben & Jerry’s & Patagonia.
That bar is our logo: the classic red bar, which is the milk chocolate bar it all started with. When we started, we didn’t know that milk chocolate bars are supposed to be blue! We chose red because it’s an alarming colour and we had an alarming message.
That’s just a small example of how we don’t want to hold ourselves to the existing standards and assumptions of the chocolate industry. We are setting new standards, and other players are copying our flavours and imitating our bar sizes, and so on. However, we would be even more thrilled if these companies copy us in achieving our mission: a 100% slave free chocolate industry. It would be magnificent if other companies will follow our example in taking real action and responsibility in their own value chain.
Q. How have you managed to grow what could have been a very niche ethical brand to such a strong market position?
Consumers embrace our brand not just because we have great chocolate and packaging, but because they believe in our mission and they want to support us.
That’s why we don’t use any paid media in our marketing, because we believe in a direct relationship with customers, just as we believe in direct relationships with our farmers. We connect to consumers via our packaging and get them into our mission.
Q. Wait, you don’t use any paid media at all?
We don’t think using mass media makes people really feel that they are loved by a brand, or that they will love us back. We believe that in every country we launch in, we can do this without paid media. Instead, we create intimate relationships and build up to a ripple or snowball effect.
Q. That’s remarkable. Of course, you need a great product first.
Yes, you can’t set the example if you don’t have a good-tasting product. The starting point is that we have people who are good tasters and know how to make chocolate. The challenge is making a bar that we feel really good about: the flavour, the ingredients we put in it, where they come from, how they are bought. We want the bar to be outstanding on every aspect, not just great-tasting.
Q. How exactly have you set about solving problems in your supply chain?
We always seek direct relationships, so that you know where your beans are coming from. We pay a higher price for beans — the market price, plus the Fair Trade premium, plus a Tony’s premium — because we believe that it’s the only way to lift farmers out of poverty and into the living wage they deserve for their families. We train farmers to be more efficient in the use of land, because we believe in long-term relationships. And we always seek to work with co-operatives, as we believe that together farmers stand stronger and make a difference in their communities.
Q. Initiatives like Fairtrade have been trying to tackle this for decades. Why do you feel you have to go further?
Certification is a good start, but it’s not enough on its own. A certification label, and the premium that comes with it, doesn’t allow farmers to live above the poverty line and provide a decent income for their families. We believe that chocolate makers are the ones responsible for their chocolate and their supply chain, not the certification inspector.
Q. What’s the plan for scaling your impact?
We have three pillars to our strategy. First, we make people aware of the problem and inspire a mindset and awareness for change. Second, we set the example. Not just about making chocolate slave-free, but by showing that you can be a commercial success and also do good in the world. Third, we inspire people to act, so that other companies look at their value chain and think more about where they are getting their beans, how they are making their chocolate, where their margins are.
The good news is, we are seeing large-scale producers open their eyes and start making long-term sustainable investment plans alongside farmers. And they are paying higher prices to do so.
The only way that we can achieve our mission is to get followers and become a movement that changes the industry. We believe that we can achieve a 100% slavery-free chocolate industry. But we can’t achieve it alone, we need our competitors to come with us.
Q. And that means working directly with competitors?
We’re not afraid to share — we think that by collaborating, you make everyone stronger and better.
The next step for us in the Dutch market is to get other companies to join us in making their chocolate slave-free, following our model. For example, we have serious conversations with other chocolate makers at the moment. This would be amazing, especially if other companies follow the movement and make customers aware that they are going the extra mile to give everyone in the value chain a fair piece of the pie.
To find out more about Tony Chocolonely’s mission to fight modern slavery, one bar at a time, visit tonyschocolonely.com. To talk about how you can achieve awesome success by creating game-changing commercial solutions to the world’s biggest problems, visit thehouse.co.uk or get in touch at steve@thehouse.co.uk or 01225 780000.
