Final Essay: An Analysis of Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe

By Charlie Sandor

Chocolate is a main-stay for American consumers and comes in a variety of forms. In 2016, there were 1,200 firms producing chocolate and cocoa products that were worth around $14.5 Billion (Bureau, U. S. Census, 2019). In Harvard Square, there are several stores that sell significant quantities of chocolate, ranging from mass-produced Hershey and Mars products to gourmet offerings from Godiva, Toblerone, Taza, and many others. After visiting several retailers in Harvard Square that sell chocolate, I decided to focus on Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe, which sells a variety of high-quality chocolates. Cardullo’s also has a very visible location, a targeted audience, interesting product placement, and high-quality offerings from well established brands.

Cardullo’s Prime Location

            One of the primary facets of Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe is its location. Cardullo’s has two locations with one being centrally located in Harvard Square on Brattle Street and the other being in the up and coming Seaport area of Boston. For this paper, I will be focusing on the store on Brattle Street. This location is in the center of Harvard Square, which provides the store with visibility to students, tourists, and any commuters in the surrounding area as it is across the street from the Harvard Square MBTA stop. Furthermore, the store’s primary competitor in the area, L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolates, is located a few blocks away on the outskirts of Harvard Square. Cardullo’s is further differentiated from L.A. Burdick, as they offer several complementary products to their chocolate offerings. While, CVS, another provider of chocolate in Harvard Square, is located across the street from Cardullo’s, the stores are not direct competitors as they target separate audiences and have contrasting chocolate offerings.

Cardullo’s Store Front

Intended Audience

           Cardullo’s coveted, central location in Harvard Square allows the store to effectively market its offerings of chocolate and other gourmet goods to a specific audience. The chocolate product offerings within in the store indicate the targeted audience for Cardullo’s as the average chocolate bar in the store sells between $5 and $8. This is significantly higher than the $1-2 price range of the mass-produced Hershey and Mars chocolate products that are sold in the CVS across the street (Cardullo’s, 2019). Furthermore, Cardullo’s also offers gourmet assortment boxes that sell from $15 to $60 depending on the number of chocolate pieces. These product offerings indicate that the store targets an affluent customer that has significant spending power and focuses on the quality of the product, such as a middle-class working individual or tourist.

            This assumed targeted audience based of a Cardullo’s chocolate offerings is further reinforced by the other products that are carried by Cardullo’s, such as high-quality, expensive wife and imported cheeses and deli meats. These products are symbolic of the name of the store, Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe and show the company’s commitment to high-quality products and focus on higher-income individuals.

Product Placement within the Store

            One of the unique features of Cardullo’s is the nature of its product placement and organization. The store is divided into two halves. The left half of the store contains the deli and associated gourmet grocery goods, such as imported olives, caviar, and various charcuterie products. The right half of the store is the primary half of interest as it contains Cardullo’s various gourmet chocolate offerings and its extensive collection of wines. The pairing of chocolate and wine is fitting as both are viewed as luxury goods and carry rather significant prices in this store compared with lower-quality, mass-produced chocolates and wines. The price discrepancy of chocolate offerings between Cardullo’s and CVS Is  discussed above and below the specific brands of chocolate sold in Cardullo’s will be discussed.

Brand Analysis

            Cardullo’s offers a wide variety of chocolate products from companies that range in size from global chocolate producers to independent, family-owned chocolate companies. The primary brands that occupy a significant amount of shelf-space in the store are Godiva, Neuhaus, Taza Chocolate and Lake Champlain Chocolate. In addition to these five brands, there are individual chocolate bars from a variety of small gourmet chocolate companies. Below, I will go into an analysis of each of the five main brands to provide information on their origination, sourcing, production, and any ethical concerns surrounding the companies.

Godiva:

           Godiva is a world-renowned, Belgian producer of gourmet chocolate that was founded in 1926. Godiva’s primary products are gift boxes that contain an assortment of small, bite-sized chocolates. These are the products that are displayed in Cardullo’s with the store offering Godiva truffles for $25, 16-piece assortment boxes for $35, and 32-piece assortment boxes for $60 (Cardullo’s, 2019). Cardullo’s also carries Godiva’s Gift Sets that range from 8-piece, $18, to 36-piece, $50, assortment boxes. These products are at the highest end of prices at the store, reflecting the luxury reputation and high-quality offerings of Godiva. These product offerings are reflective of the tastes of the store’s targeted audience that was previously discussed.

Godiva’s Signature Truffles

           In addition to providing high-quality, expensive products, Godiva places a significant emphasis of conducting a sustainable business and focuses on doing what is right. Godiva’s website provides information on many of the sustainability initiatives that Godiva participates in. They are a member of the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), which is a leading non-profit that works to increase the productivity and profits of local cocoa farmers. Additionally, Godiva partners with Save the Children, a non-profit that focuses on improving the conditions of children across nearly 120 countries. This non-profit has over two decades of experience working in Côte d’ Ivoire. Godiva also created its own Lady Godiva Program, which focuses on empowering women. This program partners with FEED Projects, to sell exclusive FEED products with the profits funding over 300,000 school meals for children in countries of West Africa. Lastly, Godiva signed the Cocoa Forest Initiative (CFI) to signal its commit to end deforestation and forest degradation in the cocoa supply chain (Godiva Cares, 2019)

            Without a doubt, Godiva’s efforts are at the front of initiatives undertaken by global chocolate producers. However, Godiva has yet to achieve 100% sustainability and ensure that it’s supply chain is completely free of child labor. Godiva has committed to reaching these goals by the end of 2020, so within in the next two years. I believe that the company will be able to reach these goals with all of its current initiatives. Even though Godiva production lines are not entirely ethically secure, I believe the company has done a great of leading by example and committing to a sustainable production line in the future and supporting local communities in Cocoa growing regions.

Neuhaus:

           Neuhaus Chocolate is another Belgian chocolate company that traces its roots back to 1857. Arguably, the most significant contribution of Neuhaus was the creation of the Belgian ‘praline’, a chocolate with a cream ganache center. Similar to Godiva’s offerings in Cardullo’s, Neuhaus products consist of an 8-piece, 15-piece, and 17-piece assortment boxes that sell for $18, $30, and $33, respectively (Cardullo’s, 2019). These offerings span both individual purchases, with the 8-piece assortments, and gift purchases, with the 15 and 17-piece assortments, as well as larger 25-piece assortment boxes.

           Neuhaus specifically produces bite-sized chocolates from high-quality cocoa. They source their cocoa from a variety of countries, such as Peru, Ecuador, Ghana, Côte d’ Ivoire, and Madagascar (Neuhaus Belgian Chocolate). Unfortunately, the website contains very little information on the supply-chain of its chocolates and its sustainability efforts. Furthermore, there is no clear documentation of Neuhaus participating in the wide-branching initiatives, such as the WCF. This lack of transparency with regards to their supply chain leads me to be skeptical of any guarantee towards an ethically sourcing of their cocoa and to question their motivations and priorities as a company.

Taza Chocolate :

            Unlike Godiva and Neuhaus, Taza Chocolate is an American-based company that focuses on producing chocolate bars. Taza is a relatively new company that was launched by Alex Whitmore in 2005. The company’s original chocolate factory is in Somerville, MA, which is only one town over from Cardullo’s Brattle Street Location. The company is a great example of a “Bean to Bar” chocolate company that works directly with cocoa farmers to ethically source their cocoa.

           Taza is known for creating the chocolate industry’s first third-party Direct Trade sourcing program, known as Taza Direct Trade. Taza meets with all of its growers directly to guarantee fair labor practices. Additionally, the company pays their growers prices that are significantly higher than the already premium prices of Fair-Trade Chocolate. Above all of this, the company releases their Annual Cacao Sourcing Transparency Report, which details where they source their chocolate from and the prices they pay for their chocolate. Their Direct Trade claims are also independently verified by Quality Certification Services (Taza Direct Trade).

Taza Direct Trade Logo

            Taza Chocolate sets the gold standard when it comes to ensuring an ethically sound supply chain and commitment to the improvement and sustainability of their cocoa growers. However, the smaller size of Taza Chocolate provides the company with a distinct advantage over global companies, such as Godiva, in its efforts to guarantee ethical practices among its growers.

Lake Champlain Chocolate:

           Similar to Taza Chocolate, Lake Champlain Chocolate is another independent chocolate company located in Vermont. Lake Champlain was founded in 1983 and focuses on producing non -GMO and ethically sourced chocolate. They’re known for their truffles and signature Five-Star Bars. Lake Champlain Chocolate products have the most visible placement within Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe as the display of their products is right as you walk in. Their products range from peanut butter and sea salt caramel chocolates to assort truffles to assortment boxes.

Lake Champlain Chocolate Display within Cardullo’s

           Lake Champlain has taken several steps to ensure and display its commitments to ethical and sustainable sourcing. Lake Champlain is a “B Corporation”, which evaluates the entire business of a company, taking into consideration the company’s impact on their environment, workers, customers, and community with the goal of leaving a positive impact on all of these facets (About B Corps, 2019). Furthermore, the company has 100% fair-trade sourcing for its chocolate with certifications from two third-party organizations, Fair for Life and Fair-Trade USA. These certifications ensure that their suppliers maintain fair labor practices (Fair Trade Chocolate, 2019).

            While Lake Champlain’s sourcing efforts fall short of the gold standard of Taza Chocolate’s Direct Trade approach, the company places a great emphasis on the Fair-Trade nature of all its chocolate. Consumers should have trust that this company’s chocolate is ethically sourced and relies on fair labor practices.

Concluding Comments:

            Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe’s prime location on Brattle Street in the midst of Harvard Square allows the company to effectively market its selection of high-quality, gourmet chocolates to their affluent consumer base. The store benefits from pairing their gourmet chocolate products with high-quality wines and charcuterie products. Furthermore, the selection of chocolates contained within Cardullo’s store, reveals a lot about the focus of the store. A brand analysis of the primary products offered at the Brattle Street store shows that the primary brands are either Direct Trade Certified (Taza Chocolate), Fair-Trade certified (Lake Champlain), or have made significant commitments to sustainable sourcing (Godiva). Neuhaus Chocolate is one exception as the company provides very little transparency with regards to their supply chain and sustainability initiatives. Overall, it can be concluded that Cardullo’s places an emphasis on gourmet chocolate that prioritize ethical sourcing practices and show a commitment to their community.

Works Cited:

About B Corps | Certified B Corporation. https://bcorporation.net/about-b-corps. Accessed 4 May 2019.

Bureau, U. S. Census. U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for June 3: Sugar Rush. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-census-bureau-daily-feature-for-june-3-sugar-rush-300276222.html. Accessed 4 May 2019.

“Cardullo’s Gift Baskets and Fine Wines.” Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe, https://cardullos.com/. Accessed 4 May 2019.

Certified B Corporation | Lake Champlain Chocolates. https://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/b-corporation. Accessed 4 May 2019.

Chocolate and Candy, America Eats, from Life in the USA: The Complete Guide for Immigrants and Americans. http://www.lifeintheusa.com/food/chocolate.htm. Accessed 4 May 2019.

Fair Trade Chocolate: What It Is & Where to Buy Fair Trade Chocolates. https://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/fair-trade-chocolate. Accessed 4 May 2019.

Godiva Cares. https://www.godiva.com/godiva_cares/godiva_cares.html. Accessed 4 May 2019.

How Large Is the Chocolate Industry? https://smallbusiness.chron.com/large-chocolate-industry-55639.html. Accessed 4 May 2019.

“Neuhaus Belgian Chocolate USA | Belgian Chocolates | Belgium Chocolate.” Neuhaus Belgian Chocolate, http://www.neuhauschocolate.com/index-en.htm. Accessed 4 May 2019.

“Taza Direct Trade.” Taza Chocolate, https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/taza-direct-trade. Accessed 4 May 2019.

An Ethnographic Analysis of the Taza Chocolate Company

Chocolate as a consumable commodity dates back all the way to 1500 B.C. when the Olmec civilization discovered the beans that would go on to become one of the most sought-after foods in the world.  The history of the cacao industry is as rich as its products taste. However, it also possesses a dark past ― one that is rooted in grave issues, such as child labor, unfair trade, and extremely harmful side effects.  As chocolate’s popularity has continued to grow in the 21st century, assisted by commercial advertisements and more widespread manufacturing, new companies are entering the market and attempting to combat the industry’s problems.  While these companies tend to be smaller and produce more expensive chocolate, they provide hope for the future of the chocolate industry.

The Unsettling History of the Cacao Industry

Slavery is a historical scourge that has unfortunately played a significant role in the chocolate industry.  Institutionalized slavery was widespread all throughout the global continents, from the Spanish encomienda system, where conquerors demanded tribute and forced labor from the indigenous inhabitants, to the system of chattel slavery, in which people were treated as the personal property of an owner and were bought and sold as commodities during the transatlantic slave trade (Martin, 2019).  The slaves were forced to work under intense heat, sometimes for 18 hours a day, in conditions that were so extreme that the life expectancy for slaves brought to the Caribbean and Brazil was only seven to eight years upon arrival. A key example of post-abolition slave labor occurred in West Africa in São Tomé and Príncipe, a Portuguese colony that produces chocolate for the Cadbury Chocolate company.  In 1905, Reporter Henry Nevinson uncovered and publicly exposed the exploitation of slaves, however, it wasn’t until a decade later that major British companies formally boycotted the cocoa (Martin, 2019). Slavery in West Africa was utterly inhumane ― people were being traded for guns and other commodities and many died on the ships before making it to their future destination (Satre, 2005)

Child labor has also been at the forefront of the immoral issues that plague the chocolate industry.  Currently, 2.3 million children are working in the cocoa fields of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire (“Slave Free Chocolate,” n.d.).  Although the majority of these children are working for their family plantations, they are doing so without much choice and many without receiving an education ― in both Ghana and the Ivory Coast, 40 percent of children aged 5 to 17 cannot read or write a single sentence (Ryan, 2011).  A 2007 report revealed that 15,000 children worked in conditions of forced labor picking beans in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. These individuals were trafficked from extremely poor countries, including Mali and Burkina Faso, and worked on some of the 1.5 million small cocoa farms in West Africa (Aaronson, 2007).  In one case study, Carol Off calls attention to the trafficking that occurs from Mali to the Ivory Coast.  These children are living in brutal, harsh conditions ― working countless hours in extremely humid heat, toiling on the farms with not even the slightest understanding of the concept of chocolate (Off, 2008).  As Off notes, “Everyone looks tired and hungry” because these children are underfed and overworked (Off, 2008).  She writes that, “The farmers, or their supervisors, were working the youngest people almost to death.  The boys had little to eat, slept in bunkhouses that were locked during the night, and were frequently beaten. They had horrible sores on their backs and shoulders, some as a result of carrying the heavy bags of cocoa, but some likely effects of physical abuse” (Off, 2008).  Despite the tireless efforts of advocates like Diplomat Abdoulaye Macko, who works against the government to try to bring hundreds of children in the Ivory Coast to safety (Off, 2008), child labor is still common worldwide and must be eliminated.  

The United States has attempted to address this issue by enacting legislation that would reduce the occurrence of child labor.  Under the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the U.S. Customs Service is supposed to refuse entry to any goods manufactured using forced labor (Aaronson, 2007).  However, this government agency very rarely investigates or interdicts such products (Aaronson, 2007).  While this legislative act may appear to be beneficial on paper, if it is not enforced, then it might as well not exist.  

In 2001, cocoa producers, traders, suppliers, governments, unions, and civil-society groups agreed to a solution spearheaded by Congressmen Eliot Engel, who introduced a legislative amendment to fund the development of a “No child slavery” label for chocolate products sold in the United States.  Tom Harkin, a Senator from Iowa, later signed on to support the amendment (Harkin Engel Protocol, n.d.).  The Harkin-Engel Protocol was created to ensure that the growing and processing of cocoa beans was done in a manner that complies with the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, which pledges to abolish child labor and adult forced labor on cocoa farms in West Africa (Harkin Engel Protocol, n.d.).  The protocol was signed by the eight largest chocolate companies, two U.S. Senators, one U.S. congressman, the Ambassador to the Ivory Coast, and a few NGO and industry alliance representatives (Harkin Engel Protocol, n.d.).

Yet, five years after the protocol was passed, children were still picking cacao in unsafe and unjust conditions.  In 2006, BBC reporter Humphrey Hawksley conducted an in-depth investigation of the conditions of cacao plantations in the Ivory Coast and found little evidence that industry efforts were changing longstanding farm conditions (Aaronson, 2007).  He concluded, “No one is in charge of the efforts put in place under the Cocoa Protocol. There’s no place the buck stops. In the cocoa belt, it’s only a short drive to find children working with machetes amid some of the worst poverty anywhere in the world” (Aaronson, 2007).  This demonstrates the ineffective nature of a sector-specific strategy in addressing the broader cultural, social, and economic factors in West Africa that are responsible for child labor.

The industry’s promise to reduce child labor in the Ivory Coast and Ghana by 70%, in response to the 2001 protocol, had not been met by the 2015 target date, so the deadline was simply extended to 2020 (“Behind a bittersweet industry,” 2016).  Continuously pushing back the deadline to experience a feeling of accomplishment when met is not a viable solution when millions of West African children are still doing the dangerous and physically taxing work of harvesting cocoa.  The solution lies in acting now.

Slavery and child labor are not the only issues that haunt the chocolate industry.  Fair trade is a labeling initiative aimed at improving the lives of the poor in developing countries by offering better terms to producers and helping them to organize (Dragusanu, Giovannucci, & Nunn, 2014).  This movement creates price levels that provide a livable wage for producers that and establishes a price floor which ensures a minimum price for which a Fair Trade-certified product can be sold to a Fair Trade buyer (Dragusanu, Giovannucci, & Nunn, 2014).  With Fair Trade regulations, certain harmful chemicals are prohibited for Fair Trade production, helping to eliminate the use of less-desirable agrochemicals and replacing them with natural biological methods (Dragusanu, Giovannucci, & Nunn, 2014).  This approach creates greater economic stability, as illustrated through a sample of 228 coffee farmers from Nicaragua.  Researcher Christopher Bacon examined this population and found that the Fair Trade farmers report being less concerned about losing their farms in the coming year than conventional farmers (Bacon, 2005).

It is evident that implementing Fair Trade will work towards rebuilding the chocolate industry’s ethical foundation, however this method has not been widely integrated into societies where chocolate is grown, leaving many farmers with barely enough money to get by and leaving the environment in ruins.  As of 2010, there were 62 cocoa-growing cooperatives in the U.S. Fair Trade system. That year, the number of Fair Trade- certified cocoa products in the U.S. increased by 67 percent from 2009 (De Neve, Peter, Pratt, & Wood, 2008).  However, this is still a very small percentage of the total market for cocoa product, meaning that the vast majority of companies are still not employing fair trade practices.  A similar trend is evident in the coffee industry ― Fair Trade-certified coffee exports were only 1.8 percent of global exports in 2009 (Dragusanu, Giovannucci, & Nunn, 2014).  In order to improve these sales, it is essential that companies not only enact change, but that the general population be educated on what Fair Trade policies entail so that they can be conscious of buying these products in stores.  Only 34% of Americans even understand what the concept of Fair Trade requires (De Neve, Peter, Pratt, & Wood, 2008).  Without a greater public awareness, Fair Trade policies will not be adopted by corporate chocolate companies that care more about their profits than the ethics of their product production.  A global movement advocating for the payment of higher prices to exporters and improved social and environmental standards, cannot succeed if people are completely unaware of this initiative.  

While the primary problem of Fair Trade is that it is not practiced widely enough, there are issues with the concept of Fair Trade itself.  U.S. products which have as little as 11 percent of Fair Trade-produced chocolate can be labeled as Fair Trade chocolate (Brown, 2013). This allows larger companies that meet the minimum requirement to receive the Fair Trade label with a limited investment and without necessarily supporting the moral objectives associated with producing chocolate in this manner.  Maintaining such a low minimum requirement shifts the focus towards branding and detracts from the value that comes with raising salaries for farmers and establishing more beneficial environmental regulations. One of the major upsides to the chocolate industry is that this highly-sought-after commodity is affordable to all. However, Fair Trade chocolate is more expensive to sell, thus creating a higher financial decision for consumers.  Although Fair Trade does not solve all of the problems within the chocolate industry, it is a step in the right direction.

The Solution: Taza Chocolate

Taza Chocolate was founded by Alex Whitmore after he took his first bite of stone ground chocolate while traveling in Oaxaca, Mexico (“About Taza,” n.d.).  Whitmore was so inspired by the rustic intensity of the flavor that he decided to create a chocolate factory in his hometown of Somerville, Massachusetts (“About Taza,” n.d.).  In 2005, he officially launched the Taza Chocolate company with his wife, Kathleen Fulton.  The two were the first chocolate makers to establish a third-party certified Direct Trade Cacao Certification Program (“About Taza,” n.d.), meaning that the company maintains direct relationships with their cacao farmers and pays a premium above the Fair Trade price, ensuring that these workers are treated with the utmost respect, thanked for their efforts, and receive a living wage.  Through the direct trade approach, Taza Chocolate is committed to establishing real, face-to-face relationships with growers who respect the environment and fair labor practices (“Taza Direct Trade,” n.d.).  They pledge to visit their partners in Pisa, Haiti; Oko Caribe, Dominican Republic; Finca Elvesia, Dominican Republic; Alto Beni Cacao Co., Bolivia every year (verified through E-tickets), pay a price premium of at least 500 USD per metric ton above the market price for their partners’ cacao beans, source the highest quality beans (defined by having at least a 75 percent fermentation rate and dried to 7 percent moisture or less), and work exclusively with USDA Certified Organic cacao farms (“Taza Direct Trade,” n.d.).

Taza not only pledges to carry out these actions, but it also publishes an annual transparency report to provide proof.  This pioneering company works to address all of the unethical issues plaguing the chocolate industry ― there is no child labor, the process of harvesting chocolate does not harm the environment, farmers are guaranteed livable salaries, and growing partners are visited at least once a year to establish a strong relationship.  As a result of publishing the first transparency report back in 2012, other companies, such as Dandelion Chocolate and Askinosie chocolate, decided to follow suit and implemented this same production method. Madecasse Chocolate decided to take it a step further and adopted a direct trade program in 2016 in addition to publishing annual transparency reports (“Taza Direct Trade,” n.d.).  Hopefully, in the years to come, more companies will feel pressured to release these reports and guarantee that they are using exclusively ethical practices throughout the entire chocolate manufacturing chain.  Taza’s most recent report from 2018 can be found here.  The company also released a visual summary of the current year’s progress, so visitors to their website can immediately begin to understand how Taza is transforming the chocolate industry.  This chart is last year’s summary:

     Source: https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/2018-transparency-report

As the report indicates, Taza Chocolate makes a tremendous effort to guarantee a strong relationship with their growing partners.  This company works to connect all aspects of the supply chain and eliminates all disconnect between producers and manufacturers. Gilbert Gonzales, who visited the farm in Pisa, expresses that “Our objective in getting the cocoa is to create a different dynamic in the chain. The relationship with the farmers is a direct one. We go to the farmers, we talk to them.”  Taza released a video of their sourcing in Haiti in which the employees are seen spending significant time with their growing partners and allowing them to try the finished product. The Taza visitors will spend 15 hours a day in the field meeting with their partners in an attempt to make “the northern part of Haiti smile more by seeing their success and being able to send their children to school.”

Taza Chocolate strives to ensure that the company never partakes in slavery or child labor and maintain its core value of developing a strong relationship with its farmers and operating on the most ethical grounds.

Big 5 Who? Taza Reigns Victorious

If someone were asked to name a chocolate brand, they would probably only be able to recall those that control the majority of the industry’s revenues ― Mars, Nestlé, Hersheys, Mondelez, or Ferrero.  Although these companies might be successful with their marketing and financial strategies, they lack high ethical standards. Companies, including Nestlé, Hershey, Cargill, ADM, and Barry Callebout, have admitted to buying cacao beans from fields that utilize child labor, and they vowed to remedy the solution.  Unfortunately, very little has changed in the 14 years since these companies agreed to no longer exploit children for their labor (“Slave Free Chocolate,” n.d.).

Some of the Big 5 chocolate companies have done research to determine if their products are ethically sourced and produced.  Nestlé found that more than 3,000 children are working on the cocoa farms that produce its chocolate (Wilk, 2018).  Mars has also acknowledged the practice of child labor in the harvesting of its chocolate and stated that by 2020, none of its chocolate will be produced using child labor (Wilk, 2018).  This claim feels like an empty promise and, given the history of these companies extending deadlines because they couldn’t be met, I would not be surprised if Mars pushes back the deadline to a later year.  However, one redeeming quality of this company is its effort to implement Fair Trade practices. In January of 2010, Kit Kat converted its bar to use Fair-Trade certified cocoa (Pride, 2012).  Hopefully, Mars can begin to replicate this practice across its product lines and work towards earning all of its offerings the Fair Trade label.

The Hershey Chocolate Company is the leading chocolate manufacturer in North America, controlling 42 percent of the U.S. chocolate market and generating more than $6 billion in revenues.  Despite the undeniable success of this company, Hershey’s falls into the trap of needlessly exploiting children for its benefits. In 2011, nearly two million children, including an estimated 819,921 in the Ivory Coast and 997,357 in Ghana, worked illegally on cocoa farms (Manza, 2014).  Only five to ten percent of these children actually worked for any pay and the rest were forced to assist with their families’ farms (Manza, 2014).  Similar to Mars, Hershey’s pledged in 2012 to use only 100 percent Fair Trade-certified cocoa by 2020 (Nieburg, 2012), but its current and previous practices provide little indication that this will transform into a reality.  Hershey’s was one of the companies that refused to participate in the São Tomé and Príncipe boycott and continues to take advantage of child labor.  However, reducing child labor and implementing serious reforms in West Africa is more complicated than it appears on the surface. Farmers describe the efforts of these larger companies to improve the ethics of the chocolate industry as more akin to intimidation than to education.  The farmers don’t understand that the exploitation of their labor is wrong and “People are worried that America will not buy our cocoa anymore,” says Julien Kra Yau, the director of a farmers’ cooperative in Thoui (Parenti, 2008).  Getting the larger companies on board and enabling them to turn to smaller companies, such as Taza Chocolate, for guidance is crucial in bringing about a full reformation of the chocolate industry within the next few decades.

Getting up Close and Personal with Taza:

While researching the strengths of Taza in contrast to the flaws of the chocolate industry as a whole is effective in formulating a complete ethnographic analysis of this company, I decided to take it a step further and experience Taza first hand.  My roommate’s parents had shipped a selection of Taza chocolate as a consolation for not being able to fit this class into her schedule, and I tried it myself. As someone who typically prefers milk chocolate that is high in sugar, I actually enjoyed the richness of the Mexican dark chocolate.  Its smooth texture enhanced my experience and the chocolate left a pleasant aftertaste in my mouth. After spotting Taza Chocolate at a bagel shop in Ithaca a few weeks ago, I also started to recognize that Taza Chocolate is extremely accessible and gathered a brief collection of photos of Taza in various locations.   

Source: Collegetown Bagels, Ithaca, NY

Source: http://www.tazachocolate.com
Mailed to my roommate from her parents in Seattle, WA

Source: Fairway Market, New York, NY; Photo taken by my mother

I reached out to the company via email and had a brief exchange with Jesse Last, the Director of Cacao Sourcing & Strategic Initiatives for the company.  I initially asked him what he thought were the biggest problems in the cocoa industry, and how Taza works to address them. This was his response:

“The cocoa industry is notoriously opaque, and this lack of transparency translates into a lack of accountability on issues ranging from deforestation to child labor to poverty. Rather than ignore these issues or hide behind a certification that may or may not make a difference, Taza welcomes transparency and shares our Direct Trade approach to sourcing cacao in a way that’s seriously good and fair for all. Some of our specific sourcing strategies include paying higher prices for higher quality cacao beans, building honest and open relationships by visiting our Direct Trade partners and having them visit us, and agreeing on clear environmental and social standards for growing and trading cacao beans. It’s not that at Taza we have all the answers, but we have an outsized impact because we openly share our questions and our learnings with the rest of the industry.”

I also wanted to know more about how Taza can work to inspire other companies, such as the Big 5, to follow suit in being more transparent and utilizing direct trade practices.  This is what Mr. Last had to say:

“High level though, we work to inspire others by publishing our Annual Transparency Report, sharing our Direct Trade Standard Operating Procedure (basically, our sourcing playbook) with other companies including chocolate makers that wish to become Direct Trade certified, and collaborating with other chocolate companies that share our values and vision for a more sustainable cacao industry.”

And finally, I was interested to know what his experience was like visiting the growing partners, to which Jesse Last responded:

“I have been, and the experiences were different from one another in many ways but similarly important to building a personal relationship with the farmers and the cacao processors with whom we partner. Here are a few blog posts that give an idea:  Haiti, Bolivia, DR, and Ghana.”

Combining extensive research and personal insights provides a complete analysis of how Taza Chocolate succeeds as a leading force in working towards remedying the issues troubling the chocolate industry.  Although these issues are extremely complicated and will not be resolved overnight, Taza provides hope that future companies will adopt its practices and help create a fair, ethical, and affordable chocolate industry.  

Works Cited

Aaronson, S. A. (2007). Globalization and child labor: the cause can also be a cure. YaleGlobal Online, Yale Centre for the Study of Globalization, available at: http://yaleglobal.yale. edu/display.

About Taza. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/about-taza

Bacon, Christopher. 2005. “Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffee Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua?” World Development 33(3): 497–511

Behind a bittersweet industry. Fortune. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2018.

Brown, K. R. (2013). Buying into fair trade: Culture, morality, and consumption. NYU Press.

De Neve, G., Peter, L., Pratt, J., & Wood, D. C. (Eds.). (2008). Hidden hands in the market: Ethnographies of fair trade, ethical consumption, and corporate social responsibility. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Dragusanu, R., Giovannucci, D., & Nunn, N. (2014). The economics of fair trade. Journal of economic perspectives, 28(3), 217-36.

Harkin Engel Protocol. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.slavefreechocolate.org/harkin-engel-protocol

Manza, K. (2014). Making chocolate sweeter: How to encourage Hershey Company to clean up its supply chain and eliminate child labor. BC Int’l & Comp. L. Rev., 37, 389

Martin, Carla. (2019). AFRAMER119X: Slavery, Abolition, and Forced Labor, week 5, [Course Presentation]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-tCZfTFSi7EuZqb1dxrJatPuv–33tERRDYM0y_PZBg/edit?usp=sharing

Nieburg, O. (2012). Hershey stuns critics with commitment to source 100% certified cocoa by 2020. Confectionery News.

Off, Carol. 2008. Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet. pp. 1-8, 119-161

Parenti, C. (2008). Chocolate’s bittersweet economy Seven years after the industry agreed to abolish child labor, little progress has been made. Fortune Magazine, 15.

Pride, W. (2012). Marketing 2012. Cengage Learning.

Ryan, Orla. 2011. Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa. pp. 43- 62

Satre, Lowell. 2005. Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business. pp. 1-32, 73-99

Slave Free Chocolate. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.slavefreechocolate.org/

Taza Direct Trade. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/taza-direct-trade

2018 Transparency Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/2018-transparency-report

Wilk, A. (2018). 5 Major Chocolate Companies That Use Child Labor. Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/5-major-chocolate-companies-child-labor

The Impact of Cacao Purchasing Practices: Cadbury vs. Taza

The definition of chocolate in the Oxford dictionary is, “a food in the form of a paste or solid block made from roasted and ground cacao seeds, typically sweetened and eaten as confectionary,” (Oxford 2019). This definition is very broad and it includes many different varieties and flavors of chocolate. The taste of a chocolate bar may be attributed to many factors, including the type of cacao used, the processing of the cacao, and the ingredients in the chocolate bar. We will explore the production process of Cadbury and Taza chocolate. While both Taza and Cadbury products fall under the definition of chocolate, they are made from very different cacao under distinct production processes. We can examine these elements to explain their differences in taste. Additionally, by analyzing the growing and purchasing practices of these two companies, we can look at their impact on the farmers and farming communities.

The Cadbury company, founded in 1824, receives the majority of its cacao from Ghana in West Africa (“Our Story” 2019). The cacao beans come from many small cacao farms in Ghana (“Cocoa Growing Countries” 2019). Each farm ferments and dries the beans and then they bring the cacao beans to large drying stations where workers combine the beans from many farms, weigh them and pack them into sacks. Merchants then send the cacao sacks to the Ghana Cocoa Board. From here, the Ghana Cocoa Board takes the sacks to a port where the Cadbury company selects and purchases their beans and then ships the beans to processing factories (one in Singapore and another in Chirk, North Wales (“Chocolate Making” 2019; “Fact Sheet: Chocolate Manufacturing,” n.d.). At these factories, workers separate the cacao into cocoa powder and cocoa butter using a hydraulic press. Other workers then send the cocoa powder and the cocoa butter to Cadbury factories in Australia and New Zealand for chocolate production (“Chocolate Making” 2019). Here, workers add condensed cream and sugar to the cocoa to create a “cocoa crumb” that they mix with chocolate liquor and cocoa butter and a “special chocolate flavoring,” the composition of which the company does not disclose. The mixture then undergoes refining, conching, and tempering (“Chocolate Making” 2019).

Taza, a much newer, smaller chocolate company founded in 2005, has a production process that differs drastically from that of Cadbury (“About Taza” 2015). Trading directly with the farmers, Taza purchases high quality cacao beans from the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and Haiti (“Taza Direct Trade” 2015). Taza then ships the beans back to its factory in Somerville, Massachusetts and roasts and winnows the beans. They then use molinos, or traditional Mexican stone mills, to grind the cacao beans in order to preserve the flavor. This is where Taza’s “stone ground” chocolate comes from. The chocolate mass then undergoes tempering, molding, and cooling (“Our Process” 2015).

Taza receives its cacao directly from farms in South America and islands in the Caribbean. Cadbury receives its cacao from the Ghana Cocoa Board in Ghana in West Africa.

To emphasize, one of the major differences between Cadbury’s and Taza’s purchasing practices is that Cadbury purchases cacao in bulk from the Ghana Cocoa Board whereas Taza purchases cacao directly from the farmers. Cadbury previously received Fairtrade certification for following regulations for free and fair labor practices in the trade of ethical goods. However, Cadbury now follows free trade practices (“Cocoa Life” 2019; Leissle 2018). Free trade is a business model whereby companies purchase the cacao at market price, which is the lowest price for purchasing cacao. The cacao is likely not high quality. The Ghana Cocoa Board has instituted measures for quality control, including giving farmers training in agriculture and spraying to control for pests and diseases. The Cocoa Board also performs quality tests and bean classifications (Leissle 2018). Yet, the cacao comes from numerous farms and it is combined in bulk. Therefore, the purchaser does not know exactly what farms in Ghana or the types of cacao pods that the cacao beans come from. Additionally, since the farmers and farm workers do not know exactly what chocolate company will be purchasing their cacao, they do not have a direct relationship with the company and therefore, they may not have incentives to produce a high quality of cacao bean, rather they are more concerned with producing a large quantity of cacao beans. The majority of cacao farmers are involved in free trade because most of the big chocolate companies use the free trade business model to achieve the lowest possible price for the cacao. In purchasing cacao at market price, these companies can afford to sell their final chocolate products at a cheap price for chocolate consumers (Leissle 2018). Thus, consumers from all classes can afford to purchase Cadbury’s chocolate products, which will continue to increase Cadbury’s revenue (Albritton 2013). As a result of this free trade system, the farmers receive lower wages. In Ghana, the Ghana Cocoa Board pays the farmers and takes out taxes, which can be a large percentage. Additionally, the farmers’ payment may have further deductions depending upon farm labor and environmental certifications (Leissle 2018).

At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, Cadbury had issues with slavery in cacao farming on the islands of Sao Tome and Principe, its main suppliers of cacao at the time. Through various investigations and after several years, the Cadbury company decided to boycott the cacao grown in Sao Tome and Principe in an attempt to rectify the situation. After the start of the boycott, Cadbury began purchasing cacao from other countries in West Africa (Higgs 2012; Satre 2005). In a large company where there are many exchanges and intermediaries involved from the cacao bean to the final chocolate product, it can be difficult to monitor labor practices in third-world cacao growing regions, especially under the free trade business model. As previously mentioned, Cadbury’s cacao comes from the Ghana Cocoa Board. Thus, the Cadbury company is not aware of exactly what cacao farms the cacao comes from and Cadbury cannot easily monitor the labor practices on these farms. Nevertheless, Cadbury has launched a new initiative to partake in the Cocoa Life program (“Cocoa Life” 2019). This program is centered on educating cacao farmers and farming communities with the goals of lifting them out of poverty and giving them life skills in order to allow farmers to benefit from and participate more in the cocoa supply chain (“Cocoa Life – About the Program” 2019).  Currently, in the cacao farming world, large companies in first world countries control the supply chain while farmers in third world countries live in poverty (Leissle 2018). Many feel that it is imperative for farmers to be educated and play a larger role in the cacao supply chain such that they can earn better and fair wages to support their farms and, in turn, pay their workers fair wages (Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute 2019).

Taza, on the other hand, practices direct trade. The company created the Taza Direct Trade Program for the chocolate industry to promote transparency and quality (“Taza Direct Trade” 2015). In fact, Leissle refers to Taza as the “direct trade pioneer for chocolate,” (Leissle 2018). Direct trade involves a firsthand relationship between the purchaser (Taza) and the farmers (Leissle 2018). As such, Taza pays the farmers 15 percent to 20 percent above the market price for this high quality cacao. This ends up to be at least $500 above market price per metric ton of cacao (“2018 Transparency Report” 2018). Therefore, the final chocolate product is more expensive for consumers. This is due to the fact that the company (Taza) pays the farmers a higher price for the cacao to ensure that the cacao is high quality (Leissle 2018).

Taza’s direct relationship with cacao farmers, whom Taza refers to as its “grower partners,” plays a large role in the company’s ability to monitor the labor practices of the cacao farms (“Taza Direct Trade” 2015). In contrast to Cadbury, Taza has no intermediaries or middlemen in the cacao purchasing process. Therefore, with the direct contact, purchasers from Taza can monitor the growing conditions and labor practices on the farm to ensure that they are non-abusive and environmentally sound (“Taza Direct Trade” 2015). Furthermore, Taza publishes an annual transparency report that contains the price they paid for cacao among other statistics about the farmers and the farms.

Taza’s direct relationships with its growing partners fosters a better labor environment for the workers. Not only does Taza benefit from high quality cacao, but Taza has a positive impact on the community in Haiti by producing stability and giving workers a sense of ownership in the cacao and a critical piece of the supply chain. This video produced by Taza describes Taza’s relationship with growers in Haiti
(“Sourcing for Impact in Haiti” 2015).

One of the trademarks of direct trade is that the farmers have a direct relationship with the chocolate companies without the involvement of middlemen. On the other hand, in larger, free trade supply chains, there can be many middlemen involved in the cacao purchasing as shown in Cadbury’s purchasing process
(“Chocolate Making” 2019).

While both the direct trade and the free trade models have little third party regulation, the direct trade model can provide more transparency since it is less complicated with fewer middlemen involved in the cacao purchasing process. Additionally, since Taza pays higher prices for the cacao, the farmers earn higher wages. This leads to the prevention and mitigation, and even eradication of, unfair or forced labor on these farms. On the other hand, through the free trade model of paying market price for the cacao, the farmers earn much lower wages. This can be conducive to exploitative or forced labor environments since the farm owners may not be able to afford to pay their workers fair wages.

In addition to the effect of cacao purchasing practices on labor conditions, cacao purchasing practices affect the taste of the final chocolate product. This is due to the fact that Cadbury purchases lower quality cacao at market price in bulk from the Ghana Cocoa Board whereas Taza purchases higher quality cacao at a higher price via direct trade practices (“Taza Direct Trade” 2015; “Cocoa Growing Countries” 2019). This difference in cacao quality leads to different chocolate production practices. Since the cacao is low quality, Cadbury, like other large chocolate companies, hides the flavor of the cacao in the final chocolate product via various processing steps such as adding their “special chocolate flavoring,” which includes sugar and condensed milk (“Chocolate Making” 2019; “Fact Sheet: Chocolate Manufacturing,” n.d.). On the contrary, Taza’s production process preserves the flavor of the high quality cacao such that it is detectable in the chocolate.

In order to gain some more knowledge about the differences in taste between Cadbury and Taza chocolate, I had some friends do a tasting of the two. They each tasted a square of the Cadbury Royal Dark Chocolate bar and the Taza Chocolate Mexicano 70% Dark Cacao Puro stone ground disk. The only ingredients in the Taza chocolate are organic cacao beans and organic cane sugar. In the Cadbury bar, the ingredients are sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, milk fat, natural and artificial flavor, soy lecithin, and milk. Looking at the ingredients of the two chocolates, some of the major differences are that there are no additives aside from organic sugar in the Taza disk whereas there are several ingredients besides cocoa in the Cadbury bar. Some major contrasts between the descriptors for the two types of chocolate were that the Cadbury chocolate was smooth, silky, and sweet, whereas the Taza chocolate was gritty, bitter, and not as sweet. These differences demonstrate the fact that Taza’s processing methods bring out the taste of the cacao for the consumer whereas Cadbury’s processing methods create a uniform flavor where the other ingredients mask the cacao.

Ingredient labels for Taza Cacao Puro and Cadbury Royal Dark Chocolate. The only ingredients in the Taza chocolate are organic cacao beans and organic cane sugar. Thus, many people can taste the flavor of the cacao. The Cadbury chocolate contains many other ingredients that mask the flavor of the cacao.

In all, chocolate takes on many different forms depending on the type of cacao processing and production methods. Direct trade cacao purchasing creates a firsthand relationship between the company and the farmers. By excluding middlemen from the process, the direct trade purchasing is less convoluted than free trade, making it easier to monitor labor practices and ensure fair labor practices. This is not to say that all free trade chocolate involves child labor or unfair labor, but that labor practices are more difficult to monitor when there are more parties involved in the purchasing.  In addition to the labor aspects of direct trade versus free trade, a byproduct of direct trade is that Taza is able to create a unique flavor from the high quality cacao beans rather than concealing the flavor of the cacao using other ingredients as in a Cadbury chocolate bar.

Bibliography

“2018 Transparency Report.” 2018. Taza Chocolate. 2018.
https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/2018-transparency-report.

“About Taza.” 2015. Taza Chocolate. 2015. https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/about-
taza.

Albritton, Robert. 2013. “Between Obesity and Hunger: The Capitalist Food Industry.” In
Food and Culture, edited by Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik. Taylor & Francis.

“Chocolate Making.” 2019. Cadbury. 2019. https://www.cadbury.com.au/about-
chocolate/chocolate-making.aspx.

“Cocoa Growing Countries.” 2019. Cadbury. 2019. https://www.cadbury.com.au/About-
Chocolate/Cocoa-Growing-Countries.aspx.

“Cocoa Life.” 2019. 2019. http://www.cadbury.co.uk/cocoa-life.

“Cocoa Life – About the Program.” 2019. Cocoa Life. 2019. http://www.cocoalife.org/the-
program/approach.

“Fact Sheet: Chocolate Manufacturing.” n.d. https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/schoolandgroups/~/media/cadburyworld/en/files/pdf/fa
ctsheet-chocolate-manufacture.

Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute. 2019. Examining Brazil’s Cocoa-Chocolate Supply Chain:
Film Screening and Discussion, Part 2. Harvard University.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H6088tpE8c.

Higgs, Catherine. 2012. Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa. Athens: Ohio
University Press.

Leissle, Kristy. 2018. Cocoa. Newark: Polity Press.

“Our Process.” 2015. Taza Chocolate. 2015. https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/our-
process.

“Our Story.” 2019. Cadbury. 2019. http://www.cadbury.co.uk/our-story.

Oxford. 2019. “Chocolate.” Oxford Dictionaries | English. 2019.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/chocolate.

Satre, Lowell J. 2005. Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business. Athens:
Ohio University Press.

“Sourcing for Impact in Haiti.” 2015. Vimeo. 2015. https://vimeo.com/141051869.

“Taza Direct Trade.” 2015. Taza Chocolate. 2015.
https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/taza-direct-trade.

A Grassroots Changing of the Status Quo in Cacao Supply Chains: Taza Chocolate

When looking for bean to bar chocolate companies that are part of the solution to the inequalities and labor exploitations in cacao farming, look no further than to Taza Chocolate in Somerville, Massachusetts.  To provide a wholistic analysis, this blog will examine what bean-to-bar is, the labor issues that exist within cacao production and the process used by Taza Chocolate.  This will provide a contemporary understanding of chocolate production and the cacao supply chain while highlighting a firm that is approaches the challenges in an effort to promote equality for farmers.  While Taza is only a small part of the solution to these problems, it helps lead small chocolate companies that provide high quality products while paying their farmers premium prices for their work. 

            According to Professor Carla Martin, bean to bar chocolate companies “transform cacao beans into finished chocolate products in-house. This is different than the work done by chocolatiers, who transform chocolate from another manufacturer into different finished products like truffles, bonbons, barks, or bars.”[1]  In addition, bean to bar chocolate companies use beans that are considered ‘specialty cacao’ in the production of ‘craft chocolate.’  In order for cacao to be classified as specialty cacao, it has both tangible and intangible characteristics.  Martin states that these range from flavor and variety to sustainability certifications and environmental protections.[2]  Although there is still research being done on cacao genomes, three main types of cacao trees, the forastero, the trinitario and criollo trees exist,[3] with the latter two being considered ‘specialty cacao.’[4]  The forastero variety is known as ‘bulk cacao’ which is sold at the market price without a premium and is used by a larger companies like Hershey and Mars.  When searching for specialty cacao, the five major producers are, but not limited to, Madagascar, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Ecuador and Belize.[5]  As we will see later on, some of these countries are sources for the beans used by Taza Chocolate. 

            In terms of issues at play in the chocolate market and cacao production, there are several glaring issues that have caused calls for change in the industry.  The first to be examined is slavery, in particular, violations of child labor laws.  Although many of these accusations occur in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana (countries that do not produce large amounts of specialty cacao), it is still important to understand that these are the realities of many chocolate producers.  When examining labor practices in Ghana relative to cacao production, Amanda Berlan points out that just because slavery doesn’t exist in a legal sense, stark violations of human rights can still occur.  She writes, “labor processes typically fall somewhere within a spectrum of unfreedoms rather than under neat dichotomous labels and these should not be homogenized.”[6]  Anything that is found to deprive a child of the potential to have a fulfilling childhood is seen as a violation of labor laws and sadly, many children often face no choice but to work on cacao farms to support themselves or their families.  In an attempt to bring these abuses to light, the Harkin-Engel protocol was adopted by big chocolate companies, yet to little effect.[7]  While companies have acknowledged that these abuses exists, they have “insisted that the cacao chain is outside of their control.”[8]  It is an open secret that labor abuses exist in the cacao industry, but many large corporations do little about it.  It is only smaller producers that purchase higher quality cacao, like Taza Chocolate, who are not only aware of these dangers, but also buy from farms that do not exploit workers.

            The second issue that arises from the cacao process derives from the extreme poverty that many small farm families live in.  Carol Off points to this poverty as being a contributor to child labor violations.[9]  Since farmers are already incredibly poor, the need to save costs on labor exacerbates the need for children to work since parents do not need to pay them.  In terms of all the revenue that cacao brings in, farmers only see a measly 3% of all of the profits, earning under a dollar a day in income.[10]  Off points out that this exploitation is egregious and that despite reforms in the Harkin-Engel protocol, there is nothing in the protocol to pay farmers more.  She writes, “Nowhere in the agreement does it suggest that the cacao companies might simply undertake to make sure the farmers received a decent price for their beans.”[11]  Therefore, better practices could help to solve the poverty that farmers live in and also mitigate the need for cheap labor, which would help prevent child labor abuses.  Berlan argues that a grassroots approach, as opposed to a top-down approach, is best to attack the child labor laws.[12]  It is reasonable to believe that due to the correlation between the poverty of cacao farmers and child labor abuses, a grassroots approach would likely help solve the income inequality that the farmers face.  How will this approach be accomplished?  Taza is one of many bean to bar to chocolate producers that pays a premium to farmers and avoids child labor abuses in their farms through transparency.  To quote Taza co-founder, Alex Whitmore, “We believe both farmer and chocolate maker should share the reward of making a great product.”[13]  With this background in mind, let’s examine Taza Chocolate’s process to see why they are part of the solution to the problems present in the cacao supply chain. 

            In order to achieve these goals, Taza Chocolate employs what they call ‘Taza Direct Trade.’  The objective of Direct Trade is to remove “predatory middlemen and abusive labor practices,” while “ensuring quality and transparency for all.”[14]  The five commitments of Taza Direct Trade are as follows: develop direct relationships with cacao farmers, pay a premium price to cacao producers, source the highest quality cacao beans, require USDA certified quality cacao beans and publish an annual transparency report.[15]  By developing relationships with the farmers who grow their cacao, Taza is able to observe how the farms are run, allowing them to meet the goals that they have set forth to solve the problems that exists in the cacao supply chain. 

            In terms of setting better child labor standards, Taza Chocolate’s commitment to transparency, although being only a small producer, is a step in the right direction in an attempt to rid the cacao supply chain of labor abuses that sadly still occur in the 21^st century.  This serves as a strong juxtaposition to big chocolate companies, recalling the writing of Carol Off, where larger producers claimed that they could not control their supply chain and thus, were not at fault.[16]  If small companies like Taza are the ones making an impact, why aren’t the large corporations also doing something about it?  This lends more credibility to the belief that a changing of the status quo in the cacao supply market will come via a grassroots movement, not big chocolate.  In addition to the transparency and direct relationships that Taza develops, the other key objective of Taza Direct Trade is paying a premium price to cacao producers.[17]  Not only does this reduce the need for cheap labor, but it also helps farmers immensely who often receive very little for their labors.

            As mentioned before in greater detail, when it comes to who gets the short end of the stick in terms of profits in the cacao market, the famers are the ones who hurt the most economically.  According to their Transparency Report, Taza employs two strategies, premiums and price floors, to ensure their producers receive top dollar for cacao beans.  The premium paid is “$500 per metric ton more than the NYICE (market) price.”[18]  In the event that the market prices are low, Taza has a fallback plan through the use of a price floor of $2800 per metric ton.[19]  The premium paid to farmers allows for many benefits as they are able to pay their own workers more as well as improving technology that is required to care for the cacao trees.  With increased funding, better labor practices exist on farms sourced by Taza in addition to considerations for sustainability and the environment.  In return for the premium they pay, Taza gains the “highest quality cacao beans,” another commitment of their direct trade.  The beans are classified with a 75% fermentation rate and dried to no more than 7% moisture.[20]  What makes Taza different than most chocolate makers is the fact that they stone roll[21] their chocolate which is an ancient Mexican process that is rarely practiced today.  According to Jesse Last, Taza’s Direct of Cacao Sourcing, conching, the process used by most chocolate makers, removes a portion of cacao’s bold flavors.[22]  Thus, the combination of stone rolling and high quality cacao allows Taza to achieve a unique[23] taste relative to most American products, while paying a premium to their suppliers. return for the premium paid to farmers. 

            The final area that shows Taza is helping improve the cacao supply chain is the spillover effects that they have had with other smaller chocolate producers.  They reinforce the idea that it will take a grassroots movement to achieve change.  Their Direct Trade commitments are no longer applicable to just them.  When Taza first published transparency reports, they were in contrast with the status quo, potentially jeopardizing the company with their high premiums.  Last writes “Sharing our sourcing partner relationships and the cacao prices we paid them struck many in the secretive chocolate industry as unusual at best and bad for business at worst.”[24]  Despite the risks taken by Taza, they appear to be ahead of the curve when it came to their Direct Trade protocol and have seen other small bean to bar producers adopt similar practices.  According to Last, “As it turned out, consumers appreciated our transparency, and other chocolate makers took note.”[25]  Although Taza isn’t one of the big chocolate companies, their model is an excellent blueprint for grassroots companies to help change the problems in cacao supply while maintaining a strong business with elite products.  When Taza was first founded, cacao brokers were not selling cacao that was both high quality and organic.[26]  Since Taza’s creation, that status quo has begun to change in this sector of the chocolate industry.  Following in Taza’s footsteps are the likes of Askinosie Chocolate, Madecasse Chocolate and Dandelion Chocolate which appeared in class. 

            Despite facing an uphill battle to change the cacao supply chain, Taza Chocolate’s evolution over the last decade offers hope for the future of the chocolate industry.  Smaller producers who follow a similar model will help to combat in the income inequality that threatens farmers by paying a premium for higher quality beans, coupled with higher quality products.  In addition, premiums and transparency practices, like those employed by Taza, will reduce the need for cheap labor and provide greater awareness into working conditions on cacao farms.  These practices promote the evolution of the status quo away from a longstanding tradition of inequality, dating back to the 1500s.  In the cacao market, bean to bar producers are working to shift the supply chain from one of abuse and inequality to one where farmers and laborers are treated fairly.  This blog serves to highlight the efforts and business model of Taza, but it is only a microcosm of the larger, gradual shift in the cacao supply chain.  The development and growth of companies like Taza offer solace in the fact that things can change with time.  Despite years of negligence to these issues, something is finally being done.  It is nice to hear that right here in Massachusetts, there are small business working to alleviate the problems that have been brought to our attention in class. 

Works Cited

Berlan, Amanda.  “Social Sustainability in Agriculture: An Anthropological Perspective on          Child Labor in Cocoa Production in Ghana.”  The Journal of Developmental Studies 49.8          (2013): 1088-1100. 

Giller, Megan.  Chocolate for the Table: How Taza Transforms a Mexican Drink Into a Bar With            Bite (blog).  http://www.chocolatenoise.com/taza-chocolate

The Gourmet.  “TAZA – Stone Ground Organic Chocolate.”  YouTube.  YouTube, 2 November   2012.  Web.  30 April 2019. 

International Cocoa Organization.  ICCO.  Last modified February 22, 2019.         https://icco.org/about-cocoa/fine-or-flavour-cocoa.html

Juan Motamayor, Philippe Lachenaud, Jay Wallace de Silva a Mota, Rey Loor, David Kuhn, J.    Steven Brown and Raymond Schnell.  “Geographic and Genetic Population             Differentiation of the Amazonian Chocolate Tree.”  Plos One.  Plos.  1 October 2008.       Web. 12 March 2019. 

Martin, Carla, “Sizing the craft chocolate market,” Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute (blog),     August 31, 2017, https://chocolateinstitute.org/blog/sizing-the-craft-chocolate-market/.

Off, Carol.  Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet.  Toronto:        Random House Canada, 2006. 

Taza Chocolate.  Taza Chocolate.  Last modified April 2019.  https://www.tazachocolate.com/.

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[1] Martin, 2017

[2] Martin, 2017

[3] Motamayor et al., 2019

[4] ICCO, 2019

[5] Martin, 2017

[6] Berlan p. 1089

[7] Off p.161

[8] Off p. 140

[9] Off p. 143-146

[10] Martin Jan. 30 Lecture slides 7-8

[11] Off p. 146

[12] Berlan p. 1098

[13] Taza Chocolate, 2015

[14] Taza Chocolate, 2015

[15] Taza Direct Trade Commitments, 2017

[16] Off, p. 140

[17] Taza Direct Trade, 2017

[18] Taza Direct Trade, 2017

[19] Taza Direct Trade, 2017

[20] Taza Direct Trade, 2017

[21] Taza Chocolate, 2019

[22] Taza 2018 Transparency Report

[23] Giller, 2019

[24] Taza 2018 Transparency Report

[25] Taza 2018 Transparency Report

[26] Taza Direct Trade “Learn” Tab

Pioneers of change: Taza and Raaka.

With the rise in the number of chocolate producers, issues surrounding the production of chocolate and its sourcing have also come to the forefront. Through the analyzation of the cacao-chocolate supply and production chain, issues such as the unethical sourcing of cacao through the unfair payment of cacao farmers and the misuse of cacao beans in the production of chocolate have arisen. We will look at some of the solutions that have been created to combat these issues and how two companies, Taza Chocolate and Raaka Chocolate, have integrated and adapted these solutions into their practices, making them pioneers for change in the chocolate production industry.

The first prominent issue in the cacao production industry is the promotion of unethical cacao sourcing practices within the farmer-to-company supply chain. A major theme that has arisen amongst chocolate producers is the sourcing of cacao and the unethical payment of cacao farmers. Farmers have been found to be “the most poorly compensated for their efforts” when considering where the percentage of the proceeds from one chocolate bar goes (Leissle 129). The largest share of the profits from a chocolate bar has been found to be an average of 44.2% (going to the retailers), while only 6.6% goes to the farmers themselves and 2.2% to the people who trade and transport the cocoa (Leissle 129).

An illustration depicting how the profit of one chocolate bar is distributed to the cacao-supply chain and how much of that actually goes to farmers.

There is a gap between these large chocolate companies and the sources of their ingredients. Where the cacao that goes into a company’s chocolate bar comes from is rarely known to consumers, thus creating a large disconnect between farmers and chocolate producers in the supply chain. There has been a perceived increase in “geographical, emotional, and even visceral distance between shoppers and the origins of what they eat and drink” (Leissle 145). Many chocolate companies today make it nearly impossible to see where the cacao beans that go into the production of their products come from and who are the farmers behind it all. One solution to the issues surrounding poor cacao sourcing practices has been certifications. Certifications help prioritize some of the overlooked aspects of the cacao production process, such as “cocoa trees, farmers that manage them… and, at the other end of the supply chain, chocolate consumers” (Leissle 152). For example, Fairtrade certifications have promoted the awareness of trade injustice as well as raised awareness of the discrepancies and gaps in the cacao supply chain (Leissle p. 145). By setting the minimum prices that chocolate producer must pay for their cacao, Fairtrade certifications have been part of the solution to the ongoing problems that have arisen in the cacao production industry. However, it has been researched that very little data on the distribution of profits among Fairtrade supply chains is available for consumers (Sylla 180). Moreover, through the Fairtrade system, “the net financial gains that reach producers are meagre” (Sylla 233). Fairtrade does more for the visual and consumer satisfaction of purchasing the product than it does to combat poverty in the developing world (Martin and Sampeck 52). The transparency of cacao used in chocolate products is also not fully addressed with Fairtrade. It is evident that although Fairtrade takes a step in the right direction towards combatting many of the issues that have arisen in the cacao supply chain, there are still many gaps with this solution.

Another major issue in the chocolate production industry that ties along with the sourcing of cacao is the way that the cacao beans are prepared and incorporated into the chocolate products. Large chocolate manufacturers process cacao beans in a way that standardizes them, creating the same distinct taste in their uniform products. The intricacies and various tastes that come with different types of cacao beans are lost in the process (Martin and Sampeck 49). However, in response to the loss of individual cacao flavor and quality in mass-produced chocolate, there has been an increase in bean-to-bar chocolate makers that have attempted to provide solutions to these cacao supply chain problems (Martin and Sampeck 53). Two companies that have made positive steps forward in addressing some of the problems regarding chocolate production are Taza Chocolate and Raaka Chocolate. Their efforts are distinct and different, but they are equally as impactful.

Taza Chocolate

Taza’s stone mills, used to make their Stone Ground Chocolate.

Taza is a recognized brand in the Massachusetts community. It has often been referred to as an innovator in the chocolate industry and a pioneer for trade. Taza has a unique and special way of making their chocolate, which is also a focal point of their brand. Taza brands their chocolate as “Stone Ground,” meaning that their chocolate is unrefined and undergoes minimal processing. Instead of the traditional chocolate refining and milling process, Taza uses traditional Mexican stone mills to grind their cacao. They do this to preserve the taste of their products, and to allow the bold flavors of their cacao to shine. This method also makes their chocolate have a gritty texture that not a lot of other chocolate bars have (Taza Chocolate “Our Process”).

More on the Taza cacao production process.

Regarding how Taza sources their cacao, Taza is Direct Trade certified. This means that there is no third party involved with the sourcing of their cacao because Taza buys directly from the producers. Important ways to positively transform cacao supply chains have often been found to be with Direct Trade and increased transparency (Martin and Sampeck 52). Taza’s website says that they work directly with providers and pay a price higher than the Fairtrade price, although they do not specify exactly what they pay for each specific bean. Taza also provides transparency reports that detail where their cacao is from, what farmers grow each specific bean, how many cacao beans are exported from each location, and the average cacao price per metric ton. They also provide profiles on each of their cacao suppliers (Taza Chocolate “Taza Direct Trade”). They were the first ever chocolate company to publish the average prices they pay for their cacao and are the first in the industry to create an annual transparency report on their cacao sourcing practices (Leissle 155).

Taza’s chocolate bars.

Taza makes a large effort to address some of the prominent issues in the cacao supply chain. They have found ways to integrate the individuality of the cacao beans into their products and they have also committed to sourcing their cacao in ethical and transparent ways. However, there are many points in which Taza could improve on, especially with integrating the unique flavors of cacao beans into their recipes more and increasing their transparency on exactly how much they have paid for the cacao in each of their chocolate bars. Raaka Chocolate is a company that takes the solutions that Taza has incorporated into its business model a step further.

Raaka Chocolate

Raaka Chocolate

A bean-to-bar company based in Brooklyn, New York, Raaka Chocolate is a company that has made strides in combatting several addressed problems in the cacao production industry. One of Raaka’s main branding points is the use of Unroasted Chocolate. They make it evident on their website that they are proud of their chocolate production process. The reasoning behind using unroasted chocolate is that they “simply love the bold, bright, and fruitier flavor of unroasted cacao beans.” They continue on to say that their chocolate is unique because they “couldn’t find these flavors in other chocolate since most of what is available is made with roasted cacao beans,” so they decided to change the traditional chocolate production process (Raaka Chocolate “Unroasted”).

Their website details how they produce their unroasted chocolate. Like many other chocolate producers, Raaka’s cacao seeds are harvested from the pod by hand. The seeds are left in wooden boxes covered in banana leaves for 4-7 days in order to ferment. Raaka says that their focus with the fermentation process is to develop a unique flavor profile in the cacao. Once the beans are fermented, they are dried. At this stage in the process, Raaka takes special care in the recipe development. They treat the cacao beans in a way that caters to each type’s distinctive flavor. One example is the Kokoa Kamili’s Bean. Because of its earthy flavor, Raaka ages the bean in a Bourbon Cask for their Bourbon Cask Aged bar. This aspect of their cacao production happens right before the nibs are ground and mixed. It is called pre-infusion, and it is where Raaka inserts flavor into the cacao nibs by steaming or aging them. The cacao butter absorbs the flavor that is provided, creating a unique and distinctive taste. The cacao is then ground, mixed, milled, conched, tempered, and poured into molds to be wrapped and sold (Raaka Chocolate “Unroasted”).

More information on the Raaka production process and their Unroasted chocolate.

Snapshots from the Raaka factory.

Raaka’s chocolate bars are single-origin. They write on their website that they produce bars that are single origin because they aim to preserve and highlight the natural flavor of the specific bean. When they discuss how each cacao bean has a distinct flavor, they write that they are “not just talking from country to country either: cacao beans can taste completely different within a single region depending on the unique characteristics of that area. The post-harvest process, specifically fermentation, brings out a bright and bold acidity. This is the profile we look to preserve” (Raaka Chocolate “Unroasted”). It is evident that Raaka takes special care into the different varieties of cacao and how they can highlight the ways in which cacao can manifest and taste through their recipes. It is distinctly expressed and quite transparent that Raaka has made efforts to change the way in which cacao beans are treated in the chocolate production process, and have addressed this issue through their treatment and preparation of cacao beans.

Another defining point of Raaka’s brand is its claim of practicing Transparent Trade. Raaka says that their form of acquiring cacao does not fit into the certifications that already exist, so they refer to their practices as Transparent Trade. They define what this means in great length on their website, with three major themes summing up what actions constitute their Transparent Trade policy. The first aspect of Transparent Trade is direct purchasing. Raaka’s cacao is purchased directly from cooperatives and grower organizations where the focus is on sustainability and premium prices for farmers. Secondly, Raaka’s prices are stable. They aim to always buy cacao at stable and premium prices. The prices that they pay for cacao are higher than commodity market and Fairtrade prices and are also protected from market fluctuations. Finally, Raaka is transparent about their pricing. All of their cacao transactions are displayed on their website and on their packaging. They are transparent about how much they paid for the cacao that they use in their products, and how their own practices measure up against worldwide prices (Raaka Chocolate “Transparent Trade”).

A graph showing the prices that Raaka pays for their cacao, and how this compares to Faritrade and commodity prices.

Something interesting to note about Raaka’s process is that they do not buy cacao directly from farmers. They say that this is because farmers cannot produce enough cacao for a chocolate making company and running a farm and managing sales is a lot for farmers to handle. Instead, Raaka buys their cacao from farmer-owned cooperatives and producer/exporters. These organizations buy the beans from farmers and also ferment, dry, and sort the beans “with a focus on quality and consistency” (Raaka Chocolate “Transparent Trade”). Raaka also provides detailed information on their producer partners, like statistics on where their cacao is from, the flavor profile of the beans, and a lot of details about the farmers cultivating the chocolate. The “Freight on Board” price is listed on every Raaka bar. This is the price that they pay the cooperatives, so you see exactly how much of your money went to these organizations and therefore, also the farmers. They also include a graph that shows how much they pay for each producer they work with and how this compares to the Fairtrade price. From the graph above, it can be seen that Raaka pays a higher premium for their cacao and offers stable prices to the producers and farmers, unlike the Fairtrade price which is significantly lower.

Raaka is transparent about where they source their cacao from.

Why aren’t they certified? One of the major branding fallbacks of Raaka is that they are not Fairtrade certified. In a consumer-driven market where opinions of the product can make or break the product’s success, it is interesting how Raaka does not want to acquire a certification that many consumers recognize and trust. Raaka says that “there’s nothing inherently wrong with certifications; many of them open up new, more valuable markets, and we have some of them” (Raaka Chocolate “Transparent Trade”). But certifications have shown to often fail to realize the needs of micro-economies, especially when it comes to the efficacy of Fairtrade pricing. Raaka’s Transparent Trade actions create a focus on understanding the individual needs of the communities that they work with on obtaining their cacao.

Raaka chocolate bars.

Raaka has made tangible and transparent steps towards addressing some of the issues in the cacao-supply chain. They make a strong effort to incorporate the uniqueness of all of their cacao beans into their recipes. Raaka also has created their own solutions when it comes to the sourcing of cacao and has been a pioneer for transparent sourcing and trade, paving the path for more positive change in the industry.

Conclusion

Taza and Raaka both have made tangible actions towards addressing some major concerns with the modern cacao supply chain. Taza is a pioneer when it comes to Direct Trade and has made cacao transparency one of its core values. Taza also takes special care in the sourcing and production of its cacao. Raaka has taken these solutions a step further and has made active efforts towards embracing the individuality of each bean and has also ensured that the sourcing of their cacao products is done in ethical and extremely transparent ways in order to ensure the wellbeing of the farmers behind their products.

Although strides have been made to address persistent issues in chocolate production, there is still more that can be done. However, companies like Taza and Raaka have each taken their own initiative with making an impact in the way that cacao is harvested and produced. They are pioneers in the industry and have taken to light some of the core issues that should no longer be ignored. They have become part of the solution to the problem, and they are paving the path for more companies to come.

Works Cited

Berlan, Amanda. “Social Sustainability in Agriculture: An Anthropological Perspective on Child Labour in Cocoa Production in Ghana.” Journal of Development Studies, vol. 49, no. 8, 2013, pp. 1088–1100. 

Leissle, Kristy. Cocoa. Polity Press, 2018. Wiley. Kindle Edition.

Martin, Carla and Sampeck, Kathryn. 2016. “The Bitter and Sweet of Chocolate in Europe.” pp. 37-60

Raaka Chocolate. “Transparent Trade.” Raaka Chocolate, 2019, www.raakachocolate.com/pages/transparent-trade

Raaka Chocolate. “Unroasted.” Raaka Chocolate, 2019, www.raakachocolate.com/pages/unroasted

Sylla, Ndongo Samba. The Fair Trade Scandal: Marketing Poverty to Benefit the Rich. Ohio University Press, 2014.

Leissle, Kristy. Cocoa. Polity Press, 2018. Wiley. Kindle Edition.

Taza Chocolate. “Our Process.” Taza Chocolate, 2019, http://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/our-process

Taza Chocolate. “Taza Direct Trade.” Taza Chocolate, 2019, www.tazachocolate.com/pages/taza-direct-trade

Image 1: https://makechocolatefair.org/issues/cocoa-prices-and-income-farmers-0

Image 2: https://www.facebook.com/TazaChocolate/photos/a.138322673974/10154057674633975/?type=3&theater

Image 3: https://www.facebook.com/TazaChocolate/photos/a.10150894096223975/10154193660973975/?type=3&theater

Image 4: https://www.facebook.com/RaakaChocolate/photos/a.235059806510251/1436744469675106/?type=3&theater

Image 5: https://www.raakachocolate.com/pages/unroasted

Images 6 & 7: https://www.raakachocolate.com/pages/transparent-trade

Image 8: https://www.facebook.com/RaakaChocolate/photos/p.2350067638342780/2350067638342780/?type=1&theater

Video 1: https://vimeo.com/33380451

Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbX90R9cjBM

Taza Chocolate: A Step in the Right Direction, but Still Room for Improvement

As you have probably discovered when looking through the chocolate display in various retail and grocery stores, five large players dominate the global chocolate market. Their prevalence allows them to dictate the rhetoric and information synthesized by chocolate consumers on a daily basis. However, the industry is fraught with serious issues that these companies are not taking drastic enough steps to solve. Instead, we must look to other companies, although less well known and smaller-scale, that are forging innovative paths to solve these very real problems, in order to learn from them but also recognize where there is room for improvement. One such company is Taza Chocolate. 

 Taza Chocolate is a bean to bar chocolate company based in Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 2005 by CEO Alex Whitmore, who was inspired by the stone ground chocolate he had tasted on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. He apprenticed under a molinero in Oaxaca in order to learn how to make and work with traditional Mexican stone mills. The result of these unique mills and minimal processing is chocolate with bolder flavors and a grittier consistency than the smoothness that is usually expected from more mainstream companies. 

Summary of the Taza Chocolate production process

Taza chocolate can be bought online through its website or at Amazon and can be found at retailers such as Whole Foods. According to the Taza Website, “We do things differently. We do things better. We are chocolate pioneers” (Taza Website: Direct Trade). They are pioneers not just because of their unique production process and flavor, but also because of their commitment to addressing the problems that plague the industry today through supply-chain transparency. 

Problems: Slavery, Economics and Gender Inequality

In order to critically analyze Taza’s attempted solutions, it is important to first understand the problems, which unfortunately are not new but rather have plagued the industry for centuries. Slavery was an integral part of chocolate’s history, and can be traced back to the 1500’s when the Spanish Encomienda system forced natives in Mesoamerica to grow cocoa and perform labor without pay. The terrible working conditions and disease spread by the Spaniards ravished the native population, and Africans were brought in to replace them. From 1500-1900, between 10 and 15 million enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas and the Caribbean to grow cocoa and other commodity crops. However, even after slavery was abolished, it continued and continues to plague the industry today, mostly in the form of child labor. The International Labour Organization defines child labor as, “all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery… work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children” (ILO). Carol Off found evidence of such child labor in Cote D’Ivoire, with some farmers or their supervisors “working… young people almost to death. The boys had little to eat, slept in bunkhouses that were locked during the night, and were frequently beaten” (Off, 121). A 2009 study by Tulane corroborated Off’s discoveries when it found that more than half a million children in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire were working in conditions that violated ILO guidelines as well as national laws on minimum wage and minimum hours (Berlan).

Another prevalent problem is the poverty that many cocoa farmers face, particularly in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, due to the economics of cocoa farming. Unlike many northern countries where jobs are salaried, wages for day laborers on farms are “neither guaranteed nor generally regulated” (Leissle, 106). Farm owners only receive cash when they sell their crop; thus, they earn 80% of their annual income in the six months of the main growing season, making budgeting for the rest of the year extremely difficult, especially because many inputs are needed at the start of the growing season when farmers are the lowest on cash. This can result in farmers having to take loans or credit, which often have incredibly high interest rates and can be impossible to pay back. The price fluctuations of chocolate also make it difficult to budget, as anything from bad weather to political turmoil can drastically affect chocolate’s price. Lastly, the prices farmers receive are often too low to support their costs. Farmers rarely sell their product directly to the big chocolate companies, instead selling to middlemen who have more negotiating power and can mislead them. Therefore, even if the price paid for chocolate goes up, there is no guarantee that the farmers actually receive this increase.  As a result of all of these factors, many farmers struggle to make a living.

Finally, gender inequality is an important problem that is often disregarded, in part because literature has minimized the role of women in chocolate production. Women are thought of as having only light and non-essential tasks, when in reality “female labor play[s] a central role in almost every aspect of cocoa production and sale… statistics undoubtedly underestimate the role of women” (Robertson, 100/104). But the industry is male-dominant, which has negative effects on women. For example, social norms dictate that even if women grow the cocoa, men are the ones that actually sell the crop and receive the cash (Leissle, 122). This means not only that women have no proof they are getting the right amount of money, but also that men of the household have control of the cash, which they often use to pay for needs they find most important before distributing the rest, if any, to women and children. Consequently, even though women contribute greatly to chocolate production, they have very little power. 

Taza’s Solution: Direct Trade Model

In order to combat some of these issues, according to Taza it developed, “The first third-party certified direct trade cacao sourcing program, to ensure quality and transparency for all.” (Taza Website: Direct Trade). Because it is the first of its kind, Taza published five guidelines and commitments for its direct trade system that it holds itself accountable to. 

1. Develop direct relationships with cacao farmers:  Taza began by purchasing cocoa from La Red Guaconejo cooperative in the Dominican Republic and shipping it directly to Boston so that there were no middlemen involved. This direct method shrinks, “a commodity chain that is often far-flung, [so that] no step of the trade exchange, from farm to factory, was unknown or untraceable to Taza’s founders” (Leissle, 154). They later expanded their sources to include other producers in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Ghana, all of which they have personal relationships with. Their single origin bars reflect and appreciate the uniqueness of each location. 
2. Pay a price premium to cacao producers: Taza commits to paying at least $500 per MT above market price for its beans
3. Source the highest quality cacao beans: Taza emphasizes fine flavor beans rather than bulk beans, and directs resources over the long term to assist producers in maintaining high quality output 
4. Require USDA certified organic cacao: As part of its commitment to source only the best cocoa, Taza requires its producers to be organic certified. 
5. Publish an annual transparency report: Taza was the first chocolate company ever to publish such a report. It includes the quantity of beans bought from each individual producer, the price Taza pays for these beans, and an intimate look at the individual producers they partner with. 

Overview of Taza’s Direct Trade Program in 2018

Pros of Taza’s Direct Trade Model

Taza’s direct trade model has improved the economics of farmers while simultaneously promoting transparency in the industry. In paying a large premium (15-20%), Taza ensures that the farmers do not have to worry about not being able to earn enough to survive fluctuations in cocoa price that are entirely outside of their control. This gives farmers much-needed predictability and visibility into future income and improves their standard of living. Furthermore, by publishing the exact prices they buy the seeds at and having all of their numbers and reports independently verified each year by the Quality Certification Services, Taza guarantees integrity and transparency. This is a stark contrast to the rest of the industry; many companies in recent years have introduced “even more ambiguity into the landscapes of its practice” by relying on internal certification and accountability schemes (Leissle, 147). For example, Cadbury recently stopped fair trade certification and instead initiated an in-house sustainability guarantee, which has decreased transparency because, “when a certification scheme is internal to a company, it is more difficult to assess whether they are rigorous and consistently applied. The only option is to take the company’s words that they are” (Leissle, 147-148). The same can be said for craft chocolate companies, who claim to pay several times the world market price for cocoa, yet there is no way for the consumer to verify. In publishing its prices, Taza has set a new standard for the industry, and others, such as Dandelion Chocolate, are following suit.

 Taza’s production process also allows for stronger relationships with producers and greater visibility into the company’s supply chain, ensuring no child labor is used to produce its products. In interacting directly with each of their producers, and visiting at least once a year, Taza can guarantee the use of fair labor. Furthermore, in Ghana, where, as discussed earlier, child labor is especially prevalent, Taza has invested in education programs for children and their family. For example, the local producers Taza partners with coordinate workshops in local schools for students and parents to “educate around age-appropriate farm activities… versus dangerous ones” (2018 transparency report). Additionally, Taza has patterned with the non-profit International Cocoa Initiative and its buyer Tony’s Chocolonely, to “proactively address any instances of unsafe work through a combination of family resources and training that rewards transparency and addresses core issues of poverty and lack of education” (2018 transparency report). 

Finally, Taza’s single origin bars promote consumer awareness about the countries where it sources its chocolate. Each bar, according to the website, “is minimally processed to let the bold flavors and unique terroir of our Direct Trade Certified beans shout loud and proud”  (Taza website: Origin Bars). 

Taza’s single origin chocolate bars

By indicating where the chocolate is grown, these single origin bars can help consumers learn that the taste of chocolate differs from place to place, and “invite shoppers to consider the politics and economics of exporting cocoa… By offering a range of chocolate experiences that can change even day by day, single origin chocolate reminds us that there are real people, institutions, and power structures behind every bar” (Leissle, 170). A more informed consumer is likely to make more informed decisions in the future, which can help promote sustainable, ethical chocolate production by creating demand for such products. 

How Taza can Improve

Although the Taza model has many strengths, there are areas where it is still lacking. For example, the prices listed in the transparency reports indicate the amount paid per metric ton to producer organizations, but they do not indicate the farm gate price, or how much the individual farmer receives. The farm gate price is distinctive from the price paid to the producers, but by not including both, the reports can mislead the consumer into thinking the listed price is entirely received by the farmers. In only one year, 2016, Taza reported the price that was actually received by farmers, which ranged from 51-76% of the price that was received by producer organizations (2016 transparency report). However, no other transparency report published these numbers, and this percentage could have changed substantially in the years since, especially because a few of the producer organizations they work with have changed. While Taza is exemplary in its transparency, there is room to be even more transparent by consistently publishing the farm gate price in its reports. 

Additionally, even though gender inequality is an important problem in cocoa production, Taza does not explicitly address it in its transparency reports. Photos of women farmers have been featured in some of the past reports, and the number of women farmers is included in each report (ranging from 15% to 45% of each producer organization). These inclusions are important in disproving the misconception that women are not involved in cocoa production. However, there is no reference to the struggles women face due to the power dynamics of the industry. Taza had the opportunity to do so in its 2018 report, when it mentions that its partner in El Majagual, Dominican Republic donated his chocolate factory to an association of local women. However, they do not even name the women’s association or delve into what it does, and it seems as though the sale was a decision made independently by the producer with no help or influence from Taza. This is an area where Taza can really improve and learn from organizations such as Kuapa Kokoo, a Ghana based company that sets gender quotas for elected representation at the community and district levels of governance and organizes conscious-raising women’s groups and women’s literacy programs (Leissle, 149). An essential next step for Taza is to acknowledge the unequal distribution of power and wealth due to gender, because according to field work and research by Kristy Leissle and Stephanie Barrientos , “Apart from explicit, well-directed efforts to empower women, most assistance…[goes] directly or indirectly to men” (Leissle, 173). 

Conclusion

In summary, Taza Chocolate is changing the way chocolate is sourced, produced and consumed. In addressing the economic problems farmers face, ensuring its producers do not use forced labor, and investing in programs that combat child labor, Taza is making a positive impact on cocoa production. However, there are many areas where Taza can still learn and grow— the transparency reports would be greatly improved if they included farm gate prices, and just as the company has invested in programs to fight against child labor, it should invest in programs that are actively looking to support women.  That being said, Taza’s direct trade program is truly innovative, and its transparency reports are challenging other companies to improve their own practices. Although the direct trade model is not feasible for the larger scale companies that dominate the industry, consumers must demand the same level of commitment to ethical production that Taza demonstrates.  

Works Cited

Berlan, Amanda. “Social Sustainability in Agriculture: An Anthropological Perspective on Child Labour in Cocoa Production in Ghana.” Journal of Development Studies, vol. 49, no. 8, 2013, pp. 1088–1100. 

Leissle, Kristy. Cocoa. Polity Press, 2018. 

Off, Carol. Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of The World’s Most Seductive Sweet. The New Press, 2006.

Robertson, Emma. Chocolate, Women and Empire: a Social and Cultural History. Manchester University Press, 2013.

https://www.ilo.org/global/standards/subjects-covered-by-international-labour-standards/child-labour/lang–en/index.htm

https://www.tazachocolate.com

https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/2016-transparency-report

https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/2018-transparency-report

Images Cited

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0974/7668/files/Taza_Chocolate_Making_Process.pdf?10043542871181577895

https://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/taza-direct-trade

http://www.tazachocolate.com/collections/bars

A Crafty Future

There is a revolution going on in America.  It exists as almost a counter to the industrial revolution that drove this country forward a hundred years before it.  Craft artisans are taking over in the wake of a society that has been built by mass production.  As this revolution moves across foodstuffs, it is of no surprise that craft chocolate is currently on the rise.  However, it is important to understand why this revolution is taking place now, and some of the hurdles it must overcome to continue its success.

The Lay of the Land

Currently two chocolate companies, Hershey’s and Mars, account for over 50% of chocolate sales in the U.S. (Euromonitor, 2017). It should be of no surprise that these two particular companies own so much of the market share. They were both founded on the idea of bringing chocolate, which was previously a luxury treat, to the masses.  Milton Hershey was a pioneer in mass production, revolutionizing and streamlining much of the industrial process.  Hershey’s team discovered that by using condensed sweetened skim milk they could create a product with longer shelf life and that blended easily with cocoa powder.  This meant that not only could he ship his chocolate bars further, but lasting longer on the shelf meant less profit losses due to spoilage.  Hershey also looked at supply chain optimizations, investing in his own dairy farms and even building a sugar mill operation in Cuba, complete with its own railroad.  This allowed Hershey to control both the costs of commodities for his chocolate bar and the quality.  Mars, on the other hand, was more successful due to marketing than anything else.  His Milky Way bar (which originally sourced chocolate from Hershey) was more nougat than chocolate, making it larger on shelf and seem a comparatively good value to the Hershey bar. That said, both had the same result, taking an indulgence that was once almost exclusive to the wealthy and middle classes and democratizing it for every day enjoyment.

Mass production allowed for chocolate to be produced cheaper, allowing those savings to be passed on to the consumer – or more importantly, from a marketing sense, for them to outprice their competitors.  But while price is important, so are the products themselves.  While it may have taken a while for consumers to acclimate to the flavor of Hershey’s and Mars bars when they first came on the market, the particular blend of milk, sugar and other ingredients insured that they were universally palatable and they now exist as the template for what we expect chocolate to taste like.  Similarly, both companies have hero products that are specifically designed for easy consumption.  Both Hershey’s Kisses and M&Ms were made for portability (individually wrapped/ melts in your mouth, not in your hand) and their small, poppable size makes it easy for consumers to lose track of mindfulness and eat large quantities in one sitting. These products have other advantages, as they are easily adaptable to innovation.  As consumers are desiring more variety and novelty across the board, these products have proven to be the most flexible in introducing new flavors – and easily acceptable to consumers who are familiar with their form and have built brand trust.  These companies have leveraged seasonality, larger cultural trends, and limited time offers to drive new product news and sales.

(wait.  Is she wearing an infinity scarf and hipster glasses?)

So, if big chocolate is designed for palatability and companies are responding to consumers desires for more interesting, topical flavors, why are we seeing a proliferation of craft chocolate providers? When we look at the numbers, the story becomes more telling.   When looking at sales growth, mass chocolate has remained flat year over year (CSP daily news, 2016).  This despite their innovation and the fact that chocolate consumption overall is growing.  Instead, the growth seems to be predominantly driven by premium and craft chocolates, suggesting not just changing tastes, but a changing attitude about where our food is actually coming from.

Big Food Backlash

There is growing negativity towards giant corporations and conglomerates, particularly when it comes to food. From an economic standpoint, consumers have watched as these corporations get massive tax breaks which have translated into bonuses for the executive suite, while the working class continues to struggle.  While this issue impacts most major corporations, it is of particular concern when it comes to the chocolate industry and growing awareness around fair labor practices, forced labor, child labor and the ethical price people pay for their chocolate.  There is a lot of skepticism that these companies will make ethical choices when given the opportunity, particularly when people see so many examples in the news of them pursuing profits over people, such as Nestle bottling drinkable water in the middle of the Flint, Michigan water crisis (the guardian, 2017).  More and more often, buying in to big brands feels like an investment against your own interests.

The Big Middle creates more space for differentiation

The sheer nature of big brands as they fold in to one another may be working against them. “When you have increasing concentration of producers in the center, you leave room on the periphery for specialization,” says Elizabeth G. Pontikes, associate professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. (Shanker, 2017) In other words, these multinational conglomerates are creating their own sea of sameness.  In a society that is increasingly valuing individuality, particularly when it comes to the millennial and younger generations, brands and products that lack differentiation also lack appeal.  We can see this even in the most famous of branding cases, Coke vs. Pepsi with beverage drinkers now migrating to new choices like LaCroix and energy drinks.

The obvious choice might be for these mass chocolate brands to create verticals that touch these periphery spaces, but they have struggled breaking in.  Hershey’s introduced their Cacao Reserve premium line in 2006.  The brand lasted three years, suffered several price drops and the need for mass market advertising support, before they dropped it from store shelves. (Thompson, 2007) Their next move was to build their premium line using borrowed equity.  At the same time they launched Cacao Reserve, they purchased Scharfeen Berger, a premium line of chocolates out of California. As they pushed to mass market the brand, they switched suppliers, using cheaper beans from West Africa.  The result was severed relationships with brands like Whole Foods, who were concerned that Hershey’s could not guarantee that the beans weren’t sourced through child labor (Bloomberg, 2017).  The brand has somewhat rebounded, but the initial loss is still being recovered, and leaves the question as to whether or not big brands can ever play credibly in the premium/ craft space.

A wake up call for food

The obesity crisis in America was a wake up call about the food we consume and how it is being produced.  A series of films, articles and exposes, while at times misleading and ignores the true labor of food, caused people to rethink what they are getting out of processed food.  The consumer take-away was that mass produced food lacks quality and nutritional value, is predominantly artificial fillers, and is potentially detrimental to your overall health. Quality, whole ingredients, and care has become increasingly synonymous with healthfulness, regardless of traditional markers like fat and calories.

While all of these things make craft chocolate more appealing, it still has hurdles to overcome to convince people to pay the enormous price tag that comes along with it.

As noted, industrial chocolate is the baseline for people’s orientation to what chocolate should look and taste like, as well as what it should cost.  For Craft chocolate to succeed, they don’t just need to overcome the shift to premium pricing, they need to overcome expectations set by mass market chocolate.  There is a need to educate people on to the true value of the chocolate they are consuming and the difference that craft chocolate provides. There are four key ways in which craft offers a point of difference that both provides a difference that supports craft’s value proposition and requires consumer education: process, taste, ingredients and sourcing and ethics.

Understanding the process

Over time, manufactures have swapped out real ingredients for cheaper artificial substitutes such as vanillin instead of vanilla.  (Martin-Sampeck, 2016). This has impact on the flavor, consistency and mouthfeel of the chocolate itself. Craft chocolate’s smaller production model in of itself creates a different end product, but some companies have gone further, focusing on minimizing the process.

Taza chocolate, a bean to bar company located in Somerville, MA, takes great pains to educate consumers as to their process.  They describe their bars as “chocolate with true grit.” Their mission is to return chocolate to its pre-industrial roots.  They believe that less processing allows for more complexity in flavors. Their chocolate is stone ground on hand carved molinos (mill stones) with little refinement between that and the end product.  The result is, to their description, a chocolate bar that lacks the smoothness that consumers have come to expect, but with a stronger chocolate flavor and more complexity in experience overall.

 

Expanding your palate

“When most people eat a piece of chocolate we want that pleasure immediately: boom!  That’s the music of mass-market chocolate.” (Williams, 2012)

Historians have theorized (incorrectly) that when chocolate came to the old world, that it was appropriated to suit Europeans’ tastes (Norton, 2016).  In fact, chocolate’s evolution from its new world form to the substance we know today was a process that took over a century of innovation.  The chocolate that Europeans first enjoyed was a fairly close recreation of how it was consumed in Mesoamerica.  The Europeans had just acquired a taste for it.  That said, they had a lot of motivation to do so – chocolate was seen as exotic, a luxury (due to both its scarcity and use as currency), and had potential new health benefits.  Additionally, unlike today, there was no basis for comparison.  For today’s consumers, their palates have been educated in the world of mass produced chocolate – and what they have come to expect is a very sweet, creamy, almost single note experience.  Craft chocolate, on the other hand, leans in to chocolate’s bitter notes, and offers way more complexity.  Not only do consumers need to adjust to the new flavor profile, but they need help recognizing the flavor notes to truly appreciate the difference they are getting from craft.

Dick Taylor chocolates started in a small factory in Eureka, California by Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor.  They started their factory out of a love of craftsmanship and making things with their hands (both worked in woodworking and boat building).  In addition to educating consumers on the sourcing of their beans, they seek to educate consumers on how craft processing changes the flavor and experience of their chocolate.  From their website “by not cutting corners or taking shortcuts in our process we are able to leave out vanilla, additional cocoa butter or other emulsifiers, in hopes of capturing and highlighting the subtle flavor nuances in the cacao we source from around the world.”

In this they set expectations that their chocolate will be less sweet and have more complexity of flavors.  To further support that, their packaging calls out the specific flavor notes that the chocolate bar offers, much in the way that wine and craft beers call out tasting notes.

XOCOLATL, a “micro-factory” chocolatier out of Atlanta similarly looks to highlight chocolate’s natural flavors.  Their bars are blended with spices and other elements that call out chocolate’s flavor components.  For example, their Americana bar contains no apples, but uses familiar pie spices to highlight that quality within the chocolate.

Origin/ localization

While mass chocolate uses the blending of not only several different types of beans, but beans from multiple locations, there is a rising trend in single origin chocolate.  This has arisen both out of an increased interest in food provenance and small chocolate purveyors interest in highlighting the different unique flavor profiles of the beans.  (Norton, 2013) By doing so, they are able to not only show off the different flavor varietals, but capitalize on the exotic locales to add a sense of rarity and uniqueness to their product lines.

Amedei Chocolates, a craft company out of Tuscany, Italy, builds their sourcing education in to their product offerings.  Each of their bar product lines serves as an exploration in the difference that cacao content, origin and the beans themselves can make.  Their Toscano Black line offers three different (though relatively close) percentages of dark chocolate – 63%, 66%, and 70%.  Their cru product line is all single origin dark chocolate – allowing consumers to taste the subtle differences between each region.  But where they go one step further than many bars is to focus and educate consumers on the strains of cacao available.  They offer both a Blanco de Criollo and a Porcelana bar.  The external packaging on each features a botanical drawing of the bean.  The inside explains the history, origin and flavor notes.  For the Porcelana bar, it notes the Venuzuela plantation, it’s small production of only 3,000 kilos of beans, and the rarity of this particular strain. Tasting notes are described as “toasted almonds that alternates with pressed olives.” This reinforces the specialness of the bar and the unique experience that it offers, while simultaneously pushing the consumer’s palate to recognize more subtleties in flavor.

Ethical Sourcing

One of the major challenges in the chocolate industry overall is the issue of labor practices and sourcing.  Even setting aside the more dire problems of forced and child labor, very little of the profits made from chocolate sales actually makes its way back to the farmers that grow it.  While there are a variety of certification schemes (i.e. Fair Trade, UTZ Certified, IMO Fair for Life), the cost of participating is high, and consumer demand has yet to drive a higher price in goods that can be translated back to the farmer. (Martin-Sampeck, 2016)  Additionally, there are those who don’t think that programs like Fair Trade go far enough, and result in a minimal profit increase for the farmer.

Companies like Taza and Askinosie chocolates instead have focused on direct trade, which cuts out middlemen and insures that more profits go back to the hands of the farmers.  Askinosie notes on their website “we hold the craft and quality of our chocolate in almost equal balance with doing as much good as we can in the world.”  As part of educating consumers at to the importance of direct trade, their bars feature the actual farmers that they work with on the front.  The back label tells that person’s story, how they became acquainted with Askinosie chocolate, and how their contribution insured the quality of the product you are holding.  It also features the following guarantee:  A stake in the Outcome. We guarantee to our farmers more than fair prices, open books and a share in our success.   In the way that they tell the story of their trade relationships, Askinosie doesn’t just insure the consumer of the ethics of their bar, they humanize it and translate that in to a real value to the consumer in the quality and craft of the final product itself.

The future of craft

Craft still has some educational and orientation challenges to overcome, but as more and more people migrate away from big food and big chocolate, the opportunity to create a wider variety of chocolates leveraging ethical sourcing and quality ingredients remains as promising and sweet as the product itself.

Sources used:

Brenner, Joel. 2000. The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars.

Coe, Sophie D., and Michael D. Coe. 2007 (1996) The True History of Chocolate.

CPS News (September 15, 2016) Premium Chocolate Driving US Sales Growth.  CPS Daily News. Retrieved from:http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-news/snacks-candy/articles/premium-chocolate-driving-us-sales-growth

D’Antonio, Michael D. 2006. Milton S. Hershey’s Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams.

Glenza, Jessica. (September 29, 2017) Nestle Pays $200 a Year to Bottle Water Near Flint Michigan.  The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/29/nestle-pays-200-a-year-to-bottle-water-near-flint-where-water-is-undrinkable

Laudan, Rachel (May 5, 2015) A Plea for Culinary Modernism. Jacobin Magazine Retrieved from https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/slow-food-artisanal-natural-preservatives/

Leissle, Kristy. (2013) Invisible West Africa: the Politics of Single Origin Chocolate. Gastronmics: The Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 13. No. 3 (Fall 2013)pp.22-31

Martin, Carla and Sampeck, Kathryn. 2016. “The Bitter and Sweet of Chocolate in Europe.” pp. 37-60.

Norton, Marcy. 2006. “Tasting Empire: Chocolate and the European Internalization of Mesoamerican Aesthetics.”The American Historical Review 111 (3): 660-691

Shanker, Deena (February 7, 2017) The Rise of Craft Chocolate. Bloomberg News. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-02-07/the-rise-of-craft-chocolate

Terrio, Susan J. 2000. Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate. pp. 1-65

Thompson, Stephanie. (March 6, 2007) Reservations about Reserve Haunt Hershey. Adage Magazine. Retrieved from: http://adage.com/article/news/reservations-reserve-haunt-hershey/115326/

Trout, Jack. Differientate or Die: Survival in our Era of Killer Competition. New York. Wiley, Second Edition 2008

Williams, Pam and Jim Beer. 2012. Raising the Bar: The Future of Fine Chocolate. pp.141-209

Yu, Douglas. (March 29, 2018) Lindt Will Most Certainly Come Back to Growth in US. Confectionary News. Retrieved from https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2018/03/29/Lindt-will-most-certainly-come-back-to-growth-in-US-says-Vontobel

 

Taza and Theo: An Investigation of Ethical Chocolate Making

Recent years have shown the chocolate industry to be riddled with alarming socioeconomic and ethical dilemmas spanning from child labor to racial prejudice and sexism (Berlan 1089-1090). The interwoven issues facing the chocolate industry are daunting and suggest that chocolate cannot be divorced from the web of exploitation that often follows in its wake.  While large chocolate companies like Hershey’s and Mars continue to dominate the industry despite suffering harsh comments from critics, some chocolate companies have taken up the challenge to produce and sell chocolate while intentionally pursuing ethical practices. This investigation takes a look at two small chocolate companies: Taza Chocolate and Theo.

The Companies

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Taza Chocolate

“We make and share stone ground chocolate that is seriously good and fair for all.” 

Taza Chocolate is located in Somerville, Massachusetts and specializes in stone ground chocolate. Taza was launched in 2005 by founder Alex Whitmore and his wife and brand manager, Kathleen Fulton (Taza Chocolate). Whitmore was inspired to produce stone ground chocolate after traveling to Oaxaca, Mexico where he had his first taste of the delicacy and became the apprentice of a molinero to learn how to master the production technique. Taza describes itself as “a pioneer in ethical cacao sourcing” and hails itself as the “first U.S. chocolate maker to establish a third-party certified Direct Trade Cacao Certification program” (Taza Chocolate).

Theo Chocolate

“As a company rooted in cocoa, our mission is to help create a beautiful, compassionate and enduring world by responsibly making delicious and inspiring products for everyone.”

            The Theo cholocate company is located in Seattle, Washington and was founded in 2006 by Joe Whinney. Theo prides itself in being the first “run of organic chocolate” made in the in the United States (Theo Chocolate). The founding of Theo was the legacy of Joe Whinney’s passion for making a difference in the injustice and exploitation he witnessed as he traveled Central America and Africa during the 1990s. Per Theo, their chocolate is crafted with “only the purest ingredients grown in the most sustainable way possible” to meet the “highest standards for organic, Fair Trade, and Fair for Life, organizations which promote equitable trade practices for small farmers abroad (Theo Chocolate).

 

Tackling the Dark Past of Chocolate

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The Problem: Transparency

Although the grim realities of the chocolate industry have been revealed in recent years, the lucrative field is still shrouded in mystery, as many chocolate companies are not forthcorming with the inner workings of their firms. The issue of transparency extends to many foreign governments which are vague and negligent about the treatment of poor cacao laborers in their countries. Taza Chocolate and Theo endeavor to increase their transparency by providing information on their sourcing, bean to bar technique, and certifications.

Taza Chocolate is open to vistors seven days a week to tours and visits. Taza provides a team of “chocolate guides” who are always savailable to answer questions about the companies process and mission (Taza Chocolate). Taza also hosts community events such as its annual Taza Chocolate Block Party, which features food, music, and art. Taza annually posts a “Transparency Report” on its website, which provides import figures for the years production and features the names of specific farmers the company works with (Taza Chocolate).

Theo Chocolate also offers tours, which provide not only a glimpse into its factory and processes, but teaches visitors about the social and environmental issues relation to cacao and cacao farmers. Theo allows its visitors to witness the company’s chocolate making techniques and provides events ranging from children’s classes to chocolate and tea pairing classes (Theo Chocolate). The welcoming atmosphere advertised by the two companies encourages customers to not only visit but engage with the intricacies of the companies’ chocolate making processes. Theo publicizes its pricing guidelines and claims to strive for “all the cocoa farmers they do business with” to taste the chocolate made from their beans. The transparency of these companies keeps customers informed and holds the companies to their commitment to organic and fair chocolate.

 

The Problem: Sourcing

            The sources from which chocolate companies obtain their cacao is a hot topic of debate because of issues such as child labor, slavery, and the exploitation of small farmers. Many of these workers receive unfair wages, work in harsh conditions, and cannot send their children to school. The discourse on sourcing has been significant for over a century, featuring key figures such as William Cadbury, founder of Cadbury Chocolate. In the earlier 1900s, Cadbury encountered trouble in of Sao Tome, an island from which his company obtained cacao beans despite the regions use of slave labor (Satre 19). Cadbury grappled with the issue of slave labor throughout his career, and today Cadbury chocolate is still a key player in the chocolate industry. Unlike the early, unethical history of Cadbury, Taza and Theo both claim to ethically source their chocolate and pay fair prices.

Taza Chocolate sources its cacao from its “Grower Partners” in the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and Haiti. Taza provides a detailed profile for each of its cacao producers which featues information including the country region, number of farmers, duration of partnership, tasting notes which contribute to the terroire of their chocolate, history of the region, and pictures of the farmers with Taza employees (Taza Chocolate). The through information Taza provides truly puts faces to the names of the farmers and displays Taza’s direct and personal engagement with their cacao producers.

Theo Chocolate currently sources its cacao from Peru and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Theo also publicizes the sources of some of its other ingredients, such as their Hazelnuts from Turkey and coconuts from the Philippines (Theo Chocolate). Like Taza, Theo regularly visits its cacao suppliers. Theo directly negotiates prices with its suppliers and provides training on suitable agricultural practices. With its model, Theo claims that farmers know how much income to expect from their harvests. While Theo provides the names of its two suppliers, the Norandino Cooperative in Peru and Esco-Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Theo does not provide the same detailed supplier profiles as Taza.

From “Bean to Bar”

Both Taza and Theo outline Theo outline their chocolate making process. Taza’s process moves from roasting to stone grinding in molinos, to preparing the final product. Theo’s process spans from sourcing fine cacao beans to, to conching, to wrapping the finished product—a bean to bar endeavor.

The Problem: Certification

Taza utilizes its own fair trade certification, known as Taza Direct Trade Certified Cacao (Taza Chocolate). Per Taza, this certification does away with “predatory middlemen and abusive labor practices” (Taza Chocolate). Taza Direct Trade guarantees face to face relationship with producers who respect the environment and fair labor. Taza claims its producers provide the company with the best organic cacao and that it pays farmers prices significantly higher than Fair Trade, including a 15 to 20 percent premium.

Theo Chocolate operates under the Fair Trade system. Fair Trade is an international system that awards certifications which ensures that producers have paid a price to enable positive economic growth for the individual and their region (Theo Chocolate). Fair trade claims that its farmers are better able to provide their families with sufficient nutrition and access to healthcare and education.

Theo’s operations are covered under the Fair for Life Fair Trade certification. This certification means that a third party analyzes the company’s operations and keeps it accountable to the Theo commitments to labor and working environments. This specific qualification certifies ethical labor conditions along the entire supply chain, in particular no forced child labor (Theo Chocolate).Theo claims to earn high scores and demonstrate improvement each year. In addition to its Fair Trade certification, Theo chocolate is USDA organic, Non GMO Project verified, and kosher.

While the certifications of Taza and Theo represent a huge step towards fair chocolate production, the certification systems are not without faults. Fair Trade has been criticized for the limited reach of funds in the developing world, as many small farmers do not actually receive the extra funds from the premiums paid by companies (Sylla 90-91). This problem is exacerbated by the extra fees farmers must pay to participate in the program, and the collateral issue of other farmers who lose competition by not participating in the program. Direct trade is viewed as an alternative to the Fair Trade system, promoting direct communication and price negotiation between cacao buyers and farmers. However, Direct Trade also receives criticism for its limited reach and the fragile, temporary relationships that often exist between buyers and sellers. However, the advertising of Taza and Theo claims to combat these shortcomings by advertising the close relationships between their companies and their cacao producers.

The Problem: Advertising

            Advertising in the chocolate industry is often rife with gendered and racialized stereotypes and tropes, with are only perpetuated by the widespread industry (Leissle 126). An example of such advertising, is the Dove chocolate commercial pictured below. In the ad, a woman experiences a tantalizing sensual experience as she consumes the dove chocolate. The appears to primarily target women, who will seek to emulate the experience of the women in the commercial, while others, primarily men, with be attracted by the sexualized overtones of the ad.

Dove Commercial

 

Taza’s advertisement focuses almost entirely on their chocolate making process. Taza does not exploit the tropes so often relied on by other players in the chocolate industry. Instead, Taza chooses to provide a glimpse into the bean to bar chocolate production process the company boasts so proudly.

 

Taza Chocolate Advertisement

Early Theo Chocolate Advertisement. This video features a message from the company’s founder and describe their commitment to ethical practices.

Today, Theo primarily advertises through its website and the images it features. However, the video above advertises Theo’s win of the title “Heart of Seattle”. The video praises the community values and environmental mindfulness of the company since its founding in 2006. Like Taza, the Theo Chocolate advertisement focuses on the unique qualities of the company, rather than stereotypical advertisement techniques.

Theo Chocolate Advertisement

Granted one must acknowledge that Taza and Theo are both small companies whose ads are not televised, thus their motives and techniques are slightly different than that of a major company like Dove. Nevertheless, the focus of their websites and publicity are on the good-naturedness of their chocolate and production techniques.

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With the prevalence on exploitive and secretive chocolate companies, Taza Chocolate and Theo are a refreshing break from the saddening trends. The two small companies truly engage with the chocolate making process from the bean all the way to the bar, functioning on a primarily local rather than global scale. Theo and Taza exemplify the beginning of ethical practices in the chocolate industry, although the industry still has a long way to go before it is equitable for all.

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Works Cited

“About Taza.” Taza Chocolate, http://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/about-taza.

Berlan, Amanda. “Social Sustainability in Agriculture: An Anthropological Perspective on

Child Labour in Cocoa Production in Ghana.” Journal of Development Studies, vol.

     49, no. 8, 2013, pp. 1088–1100., doi:10.1080/00220388.2013.780041.

“Dove Chocolate Commercial – Senses.” YouTube, 6 May 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?

      v=SwPwQ4S4op8.

“Home – Spring 2018.” Theo Chocolate, http://www.theochocolate.com/.

Leissle, Kristy. “Cosmopolitan Cocoa Farmers: Refashioning Africa in Divine Chocolate

Advertisements.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2012, pp. 121–139.,

doi:10.1080/13696815.2012.736194.

“Our Story.” Theo Chocolate, http://www.theochocolate.com/blog/our-story/.

Satre, Lowell Joseph. Chocolate on Trial Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business. Ohio

Univ.Press, 2006.

Sylla, Ndongo Samba. The Fair Trade Scandal Marketing Poverty to Benefit the Rich. Ohio

University Press, 2014.

Taza Chocolate, director. Taza Chocolate “Bean to Bar.” Vimeo, 8 Dec. 2011,

vimeo.com/33380451.

Theo Chocolate, director. 2018 Heart of Seattle Winner – Theo Chocolate. 18 Apr. 2018,

vimeo.com/265462354.

Theo Chocolate, director. Theo Chocolate. YoutTube, 27 Mar. 2009,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQZLAKq6LgM.

 

 

Tracing Terroir: Unpacking Taste, Identity, and Origins in Chocolate

Terroir in Chocolate
Terroir is a quality in a food product that synthesizes genetics, location, and human intervention to evoke a “sense of place.” This blog post discusses the notions of terroir in chocolate and the multiple layers of chocolate origins, as well as explores the concepts firsthand with a chocolate tasting that tests whether these factors are discernible to the average consumer in the final product.

To describe terroir in chocolate is to recognize the interconnected web of relationships that produce chocolate: from its raw state and growing conditions to the manufacturing process and final moment of consumption and appreciation (Nesto 131). Flavor begins with the genetics of cacao and its precursors are “translated” during the fermentation process into distinguishable characteristics (Presilla 117). Environmental conditions—climate, soil type, topography, surrounding plants—and the chocolate-making process further affects how this cacao flavor is expressed (Martin 2018). In addition, human interaction with cacao influences how terroir is expressed. The final chocolate product embodies a series of actions that shape the final flavor: from deciding when to harvest and choosing certain cacao pods to balancing mucilage-to-seed ratios during the fermentation process and manipulating texture and aroma with roasting and grinding (Nesto 134). For instance, in areas where cacao is harvested during the rainy season, drying the seeds in the sun is not a reliable option. Artificial drying methods, such as over wood fires, infuse smoky and deeply-roasted flavors into the cacao beans, which would not appear in cacao beans from other places where harvest occurs in a warmer, sunnier climate (Presilla 117). Essentially, terroir reflects the identity of the chocolate and its origins.

Exploring terroir in chocolate starts with examining the place where cacao beans originate.

While terroir in chocolate is an emerging concept, the notion is well-established and widely recognized in the world of viticulture. Like wine grapes, cocoa beans exhibit detectable and distinct flavors between different types and terroirs (Leissle 23). Yet, while parallels can be drawn between the two agricultural products, the comparisons are only useful to a certain point (Presilla 126). The differences between viticulture and enology with cacao cultivation and chocolate-making highlight why terroir is more difficult to express in the latter field. Firstly, concerning genetics, the form of grapevines reflects inherent genetic qualities and each grape is genetically identical to each other. In contrast, the exact connection is tenuous between gene markers and physical morphology in cacao pods. Moreover, in a single cacao tree, cacao pods are not genetically identical to each other (Nesto 133). Secondly, the system of regulation and labeling of raw-material origin is more consistent and widespread for wine-producing grapes than it is for chocolate-producing cacao (Nesto 134). Lastly, growing grapes and producing wine are often done in close proximity to each other, allowing for more control throughout the process. This is certainly not the case with chocolate.

Parallels are often drawn between viticulture and enology with cacao cultivation and chocolate-making, but the comparisons are only analogous to a certain point.

There is a physical and figurative divide “between tree and mouth” that obstructs the expression of terroir in chocolate (Leissle 22).  As cacao travels thousands of miles from tropical growing zones to factories in Europe and North America, the ability to reflect cacao’s origin in the final chocolate product becomes increasingly difficult (Nesto 132; Leissle 22). The place of manufacture often subsumes the place of bean origin (Leissle 23). Closer proximity between cultivation and manufacturing, in addition to fewer transfers of ownership, would begin to narrow this gap (Nesto 132). With more control throughout the entire cacao-to-chocolate chain, terroir—or the “sense of place” of chocolate—can be better preserved (Nesto 135).

Chocolate Origins
Chocolate reflecting its cacao bean origins is a relatively new topic of collective interest. Historically, chocolatiers believed blending beans from many different places yielded a more desirable chocolate. In addition, in the past, consumers did not express interest in origin-labeled chocolate. “Single-origin” chocolates began to appear in the U.S. market in 1984 during the growing food movement of eating local and learning about food provenance (Leissle 23; Netso 134). To illustrate the nascent bean-to-bar craft: in 1997, there was only one artisanal chocolate maker selling commercial bean-to-bar chocolate in the U.S. (Leissle 23). Today, twenty years later, there are nearly 200 chocolate makers in this category, demonstrating a continued growing interest in where the beans in chocolate come from (Wiley 2017).

“Single-origin” is the name applied to chocolate made solely with beans from a particular plantation, area, or country (Leissle 23). Other terms include “exclusive-derivation,” “single variety,” “grand cru,” and “estate grown” (Presilla 126; Leissle 23). To the experienced taster, the advantage of a single-origin chocolate is that all the subtleties of its terroir will be distinct. Yet, it is important to note that, single-variety chocolate does not necessarily mean higher quality. No matter the origin, if the beans are of poor quality, the chocolate will be too (Presilla 128).

In contrast to single-origin bars is chocolate made with blends of cacao beans of different types or from different geographical areas. While blending is often associated with anonymous chocolate of corporate mass-producers, the craft of blending is pre-Columbian and does not necessarily have to be “anonymous” or of low quality (Presilla 126). Both single-origin and blended cacao beans are legitimate approaches to chocolate-making—neither method is necessarily better than the other. Yet, across both chocolate-making processes, there is a dearth of labeling of the cacao’s origins—whether a single area or multiple (Presilla 128).

Cacao beans vary by strain–such as Criollo, Forastero, or Trinitario–or geographic area.

Chocolate Tasting: A Sense of Place
A chocolate tasting seemed like an apt opportunity to further explore terroir and bean origins in chocolate. The chocolate availability at Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe in Harvard Square, a purveyor of specialty foods, had the most impact on the final sample selections. There were not enough bars produced in the same area as the bean origin to conduct a tasting. In addition, the store only displayed one chocolate bar made with West African cacao beans and was out of stock at the time of purchase. The majority of the world’s cacao supply comes from West Africa, but the average consumer would not realize this simply by surveying the chocolate bars on the store shelves. The limited availability of West African sourced chocolate appears to reflect larger trends of exclusion in trade logistics, purchasing power, bean type, and politics (Leissle 23).

In the end, the tasting was organized around four chocolate bars with different origins and, hopefully, terroirs. The selection began with three dark chocolate bars made with single-origin beans from three different places, with similar cacao content and minimal added ingredients. The last chocolate was a milk chocolate bar made from blended cacao beans, for the purpose of comparing cocoa content, texture, and taste.

Participating tasters conducted a sensory evaluation, consumed the chocolate, and ranked the overall appeal on a numerical scale.

The chocolate tasting consisted of seven participants sampling the different chocolates sans packaging. Initially, tasters shared their chocolate preferences and consumption habits. The majority enjoyed chocolate on a daily or weekly basis in the form of dark chocolate. Three people were familiar with the concept of terroir, often mentioning wine at the same time, while four had not previously known about it. The actual tasting consisted of a sensory evaluation, with each taster writing down notes about the chocolate’s appearance, smell, “snapping” sound, taste, and texture (Stuckey 135). After finishing the sample, each taster rated how much they liked a product on a scale of one—“strong dislike, would not eat again”—to five—“great appreciation, would purchase and eat again.”

The first sample—labeled “Chocolate A” —was Chocolat Bonnat’s Madagascar bar. While the packaging boasts that the beans are from a carefully selected cocoa grands crus in Madagascar, the chocolate itself is produced in France. The bar is 75% cacao and the listed ingredients in order are cocoa beans, cocoa butter, and sugar. This bar was selected as the first sample because its flavor profile promises “blond cocoa and sweet Indian Ocean, fruity, well balanced.” The aim was to begin with a chocolate bar that was not too overpowering in terms of flavor and texture.

This bar held true to its promise of balance. The tasters’ observations were not particularly specific, simply noticing that the taste was both sweet and bitter. The average ranking for the chocolate was 3.92 and was the crowd favorite for its evenness. Participants noted that there was nothing too strong about it, either in aroma or taste, and therefore, they would be more likely to consume the whole bar or buy it again.

Goodnow Farms Chocolate’s Esmeraldas was selected for the second sample, “Chocolate B.” This “premium dark chocolate” bar highlights that the cacao beans are “single origin” from the Salazar family farm in Ecuador’s Esmeraldas region. The chocolate is part of a “small batch” production process in Sudbury, Massachusetts, with this particular bar from batch number 1,046. The bar is 70% cacao and the listed ingredients in order are cacao beans, organic sugar, and cocoa butter. The packaging describes the flavors within as “intense,” “berry jam,” and a “long, pleasantly tannic finish.” This bar was selected to be tasted second in the sequence because of its promise of bold, fruity flavors.

Even though the bar does not contain fruit additives, the “berry jam” description seemed very apt when tasters commented on the chocolate’s color and taste. The color of the chocolate was described as so dark that it had a purple or even black hue. The flavor was described as “fruity” with elements of coffee or a stout beer. These specific descriptors immediately set the reactions apart from the first bar even though the listed ingredients are the same and the cacao content is even slightly less. While my hypothesis was that the difference was due to terroir—the combination of genetics, location, and human intervention—the tasters were more convinced that it was the manufacturing process alone, such as how long the cacao beans were roasted, that accounted for the taste differences. The average ranking was 3.85, but with more varying opinions than the previous sample.

The third sample, “Chocolate C,” was Taza Chocolate’s 80% Dark Dominican Republic. This bar is part of Taza Chocolate’s “Origin Bar” series where the packaging advertises that the chocolate is “made from bean to bar” in Somerville, Massachusetts. The ingredients are all labeled as organic—cacao beans, cane sugar, and cocoa butter—except for the vanilla beans. This bar was selected for its texture; the stone ground technique would provide a comparison for mouthfeel for the tasters when compared to the other chocolate bars. While the chocolate wrapping does not describe the flavor profile beyond its boldness, the online description describes the tasting experience as starting “with a burst of ripe strawberry fruit, then mellows into coffee and smoky notes” (Taza Chocolate). This chocolate bar was third in the sequence and last for the dark chocolate selections because it contained both the highest cacao content and the most powerful flavors.

This sample elicited the strongest reactions from the group and received the lowest average rating of 1.93. Those who had never tasted stone ground chocolate were surprised and unreceptive to the gritty, “sandy” texture. For those who were familiar with Taza Chocolate and did not mind the texture, commented on the strong flavor, describing it as “blueberry,” “cherry,” and “chipotle, without the spice.” The robust flavors and descriptions may be attributed to the use of vanilla beans in the chocolate, which is typically used to intensify and highlight other present flavors in chocolate (Presilla 138).

Chocolove’s Milk Chocolate bar, containing 33% cocoa, was the last sample: “Chocolate D.” This sample was last, for it had the most additives—cocoa butter, milk, cocoa liquor, soy lecithin, and vanilla—and was predicted to be the sweetest tasting. Instead of a single cacao bean origin, this bar is made from “a blend of Javanese and African cocoa beans” with “caramel-like flavors.” Rather than drawing on the lexicon associated with origins and traditional chocolate-making techniques, Chocolove references luxury and a historical tradition by mentioning that this bar is “Belgian milk chocolate” in several places on the front and back of the packaging. Like the other chocolate bars, this bar is not made in the place of origin, but in Boulder, Colorado.

Every single taster described this sample as “sweet” and some further elaborated with descriptions of “caramel,” “vanilla,” and “creamy.” A few tasters referenced a sentiment of artifice or a lack of perceived chocolate authenticity, mentioning the flavor tasted “cheap,” “fake,” “processed,” or like it was made with “condensed milk.” These reactions are appropriate when scanning this chocolate bar’s ingredients: sugar is listed first. Despite the consensus that the chocolate bar was overly sweet, the chocolate was still perceived as relatively favorable with an average rating of 3.36. While all the tasters are self-professed dark chocolate lovers, they shared that the saccharine taste of the Chocolove would appeal to them for the times when they do want a milk chocolate bar. The addition of sugar appeared to overpower any display of terroir and the discussion gravitated towards texture. As a group, we discussed whether we are socially conditioned to perceive “smooth” chocolate as “good” chocolate. So, even though the milk chocolate flavor was not necessarily better than the that of the Taza Stone Ground chocolate, this sample was more well-received because of its silky texture.

The packaging of the chocolate samples were revealed at the end to facilitate a discussion about tasting terroir.

Overall, the chocolate tasting was an insightful experience into terroir and bean origins of chocolate. All the tasters agreed that they could taste distinct differences between all the chocolate samples. While the group thought that some of the differences could be attributed to the place origin and plant genetics, they ultimately believed that human intervention was the largest influence on the final chocolate taste.

With so many factors to consider when choosing the samples of chocolate, it would be interesting to host another tasting with the same group of people but with different selection criteria. For instance, many chocolatiers argue against the use of percentages in chocolate advertising, saying that high cacao content does not necessarily reflect good flavor (Williams and Eber 170). A future tasting could test chocolates of different cacao content, but all from the same origin.

Terroir is a quality in a food product that synthesizes genetics, location, and human interactions to evoke a “sense of place.” The participants in the chocolate tasting believed that human intervention was the most dominant factor in affecting how terroir is perceived in the final product.

Future of Terroir in Chocolate
To investigate terroir in chocolate is to inquire into a chocolate bar’s origins. Regardless of a single origin or multiple origins, labeling a chocolate bar’s beginnings invites curiosity about its origins and what makes its taste distinct. Doing so paves the way for more socially responsible chocolate. For instance, an excellent chocolate bar labeled with its origins from a less-publicized chocolate-producing regions, such as those in West Africa, could be a positive representation (Leissle 30). As consumers become more interested in where their chocolate comes from, chocolate makers gain incentive to move closer to the cultivation process (Nesto 135). Combined with further research into different bean strains and place distinctions, there is much to look forward to the future of terroir in chocolate.

Works Cited
Leissle, Kristy. 2013. “Invisible West Africa: The Politics of Single Origin Chocolate.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. 13 (3): 22-31.

Martin, Carla D. “Health, nutrition, and the politics of food & Psychology, terroir, and taste.” 11 April 2018. AAAS 119x, Harvard University.

Nesto, Bill. “Discovering terroir in the world of chocolate.” Gastronomica 10, no. 1 (2010): 131-135.

Presilla, Maricel. 2009. The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes.

Stuckey, Barb. 2012. Taste: What You’re Missing. pp. 132-156.

“80% Dark Dominican Republic.” Taza Chocolate. https://www.tazachocolate.com/products/dominican-80

Wiley, Carol. 2017. 198 U.S. Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A State-by-State Guide.

Williams, Pam and Jim Eber. 2012. Raising the Bar: The Future of Fine Chocolate. pp. 141-209.

Image Sources
Image 1: “Discover Real Chocolate.” By Everjean is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Image 2: “Autour du vin: printemps (basin d’orange).” By Jean-Louis Zimmermann is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Image 3: Rice, Sarah. “At Dandelion Chocolate in S.F., cocoa beans are sorted by hand.” In “Bean-to-bar chocolates: Bay Area’s edgy sweets,” by Tara Duggan. 7 November 2014. https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Bean-to-bar-chocolates-Bay-Area-s-edgy-sweets-5879261.php

Images 4-5 by author

Image 6: Morejón, César. “A farmer extracts the seed of cacao…” The Wall Street Journal. In “A Tasting Tour of Ecuador, Chocolate’s Birthplace,” by Adam H. Gram. 13 September 2013. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-tasting-tour-of-ecuador-chocolates-birthplace-1379108319

Taza Sets the (Chocolate) Bar for Direct Trade and Ethical Sourcing

Taza Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate company that launched in Somerville, Massachusetts in 2005. Priding themselves on their unique stone-ground processing technique, which grinds organic cacao beans into “perfectly unrefined, minimally processed chocolate,” (Taza Website) Taza strives to provide a special blend of bold flavor and texture through their chocolate products. However, perhaps their most noteworthy trademark as a chocolate company is their commitment to ethical cacao sourcing that features the relationships with the farmers from whom they obtain their cacao beans. Specifically, Taza has formed Direct Trade relationships with five cacao producers around South America and the Caribbean. As documented through their groundbreaking annual cacao sourcing transparency reports, Taza contributes to the global problems facing the cacao-chocolate supply chain by keying in on each level within their supply chain- both the farmers who cultivate the product and the partners who source the cacao. Through their unique methodology and commitment, Taza achieves paying premium prices that reach their partners and promoting fair labor practices.

For chocolate companies, forming strong, healthy relationships with both the farmers and companies from which they source their cacao seems like an obvious solution to the problematic cacao-producing industry, but it is more difficult and less observed in practice. While conventional practice for firms to promote fair labor practices features obtaining a Fair Trade certification, Taza has done an effective job of this using the alternative Direct Trade model. While Fair Trade aims to more justly compensate marginalized producers, it creates unintended consequences. For example, little of the extra money produced by a Fair Trade agreement reaches the developing countries, and of that, less reaches the farmers (Sylla, 2014). One reason for this is the cost to obtain a Fair Trade certification, shouldered by the producers, is the same everywhere, meaning that the poorest countries have the most difficulty obtaining the certification (Sylla, 2014; Martin, 2018, Lecture 9). Conversely, Direct Trade circumvents any fees required for certification and privatizes the contractual relationship so that the producers do not bear unnecessary costs. Taza was the first chocolate maker in the United States to establish a third-party certified Direct Trade Cacao sourcing program (Taza Website). Direct trade is “a form of sourcing practiced by some coffee roasters and chocolate companies with standards varying between produces” (Martin, 2018, Lecture 5). While relationships are often fragile and temporary between chocolate companies and cacao farmers that participate in Direct Trade (Martin, 2018, Lecture 9), Taza has taken notable steps to ensure a healthy relationship that truly benefits everyone, from the cacao farmer to the consumer.

Specifically, as one part of their relationships with their partners through the Direct Trade model, Taza physically visits each partner at least once per year to build trust and compassion. As seen on Taza’s Facebook page through founder Alex Whitmore’s trip to partner PISA in Haiti, Taza places an emphasis on connecting with both their partners and the farmers from whom their partners receive cacao to create a truly interconnected supply chain. Whitmore and company are seen sharing their Taza product with Haitian farmers, a gesture that is representative of their close relationship. By connecting with PISA, Taza, as Whitmore describes, has highlighted the strengths of two entities and brought them together to make something great. While Haiti’s cacao beans are comparable to those found in the Dominican Republic, failure to properly dry and ferment these beans left their exquisite taste to go unrecognized and their cacao to be sold at a heavily discounted price.  PISA specializes in these processes (Leissle, 2013). This relationship has led to Taza sourcing the first ever Certified USDA Organic Cacao from Haiti and PISA and the farmers being paid a premium price for the cacao that they have been able to provide (Taza Website).

Taza’s 2016 Transparency Report features their combating another major influential factor facing the global cacao-chocolate supply chain: the price of cacao. Daunted by unstable cacao market prices, government control of purchasing and distributing, and supply chain intermediaries squeezing profits, cacao farmers fall victim to extremely low incomes. (Sylla, 2014). In the agricultural crisis in the 1970’s, West African governments used marketing boards and caisse systems to force cacao farmers to sell at prices below the world price and use the proceeds towards industrialization (Martin, 2018, Lecture 7). Today, intermediaries have inserted themselves in the supply chain of these cacao-dependent communities, squeezing profits throughout the supply chain and leaving cacao farmers with the bare minimum. Specifically, they have garnered strong market power through horizontal and vertical integration. At each level of the supply chain, competition has driven many players out, allowing these intermediaries to accomplish horizontal integration. By broadening their responsibilities within the supply chain, they have also achieved vertical integration (Sylla, 2014).

By ensuring a share of the premium prices they pay their sourcing partners reaches the farmers themselves, Taza plays their part in combatting the global lack of cacao farmer compensation. Taza’s Direct Trade relationship with their partners contributes to their communities through paying premium prices for the cacao to the processors and ensuring that the said premium reaches the farmers themselves. Analyzed in their 2016 Transparency Report here, Taza pays their partners at least $500 above the market price- a 15-20% premium, and never less than $2,800 per metric ton for cacao, protecting their partners against extremely low world market prices. For Jesse Last, Taza’s Chocolate Cocoa Sourcing Manager, knowing what they pay their cacao sourcing partners wasn’t enough. In 2016, Last took steps to ensure that cacao farmers were getting a slice of the cake too. Specifically, he updated Taza’s Direct Trade agreement to include a commitment by their partners to “provide documentation demonstrating the compensation paid to farmers and/or employees, as well as facilitate conversation between farmers and Taza” (Taza Website).

When Last visited these farms ensure their shares were received, he found no discrepancies between their reports and the payments documented by their own partners. Furthermore, Last provided an in-depth analysis (5 Steps Towards Understanding Price) within the transparency report that contextualizes farmer compensations received from their origin partners, and found that all but one of their partners is paying above the world market average per metric ton of cacao and “some” by almost twice as much (Taza Website). The extensive effort displayed by Jesse Last and Taza sets the standard that not just bean-to-bar, but all chocolate companies around the world should strive to meet in regard to paying the cacao farmers a reasonable salary. While obstacles, like those previously mentioned, often intervene with guaranteed fair wages for farmers, Taza has taken a uniquely ethical path not only to ensure this but also to strengthen the relationship between their partners and the farmers and to spread this methodology through the transparency report for the world to see. Their effort to affect others in an ethical fashion does not end with their suppliers- it extends all the way to their consumers.

As further part of their Direct trade Commitment, Taza requires all their cacao be USDA Certified Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified, as can be seen on one of their chocolate bars below, providing a healthy blend of ingredients in their chocolate for their consumers. While every Taza chocolate product contains the seal of Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified, they are also Kosher, soy-free, dairy-free, and vegan. Taza’s effort to source organic sugar is especially noteworthy. They have partnered with The Native Green Cane Project, recognized by The World Economic Forum, the Boston Consulting Group, the Union for Ethical BioTrade, and other organizations “as one of the world’s leading examples of innovative agriculture and sustainability’ (Taza Website). The traditional cultivation method of burning sugar cane unavoidably releases toxic gases and substantially contributes to biodiversity loss. The Native Green Cane Project has made a positive environmental impact by designing a mechanical harvester that eliminates toxic gas emissions and saves water that would otherwise be used to clean burnt cane. Furthermore, this practice eliminates the use of synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, and pesticides, making for a safer labor environment. Through these organic methodologies, Taza not only provides healthier products for their consumers but also contributes to a cleaner environment while promoting safer working conditions.

 

To guarantee the integrity of their Direct Trade program, Taza has had Quality Certification Services, a USDA-accredited organic certifier out of Gainesville, Florida independently verify the upholding of five Direct Trade claims, outlined on their website. To verify annual visits to their partners, Taza provides flight receipts or e-tickets. To verify paying their cacao producers a premium rate, they provide annual invoices completed by their Sourcing Manager and the cacao-producing partner. To ensure the exclusive usage of USDA certified cacao, they provide proper certification documentation from their partners and farmers. Taza’s commitment to diminish the problems that have plagued much of the cacao industry for centuries, specifically its producers, can be seen by their initiative to hold themselves accountable in the continuation of these practices that benefit the producers, consumers, and everyone in between.

While Taza has contributed immensely by enhancing their relationships with their origin partners, one way they could improve their outreach is by expanding to West Africa. West Africa produces 75 percent of the world’s cacao, but they have an extensive and continued history of child labor exploitation. Evidence of child slavery in Cote d’Ivore has been recorded as recently as the early 2000’s (Off, 2008). In other countries such as Ghana, children have limited freedom to choose to go into labor (Berlan, 2013). This undeniable evidence highlights deep internal roots that drive these continued unethical labor practices and the need for intervention from outside parties- specifically from local government, international entities, and corporations. However, these entities have had limited effect on changing the scope of West African cacao production over the years. U.S. Representative Eliot Engel drafted a bill proposing the implementation a detailing a labeling system, classifying goods as “slave free” if it could be proved that slavery was not used in their production. However, significant pushback from industry giants like Hershey’s and Mars gave themselves more time to investigate and improve the labor practices behind the production of their chocolate (Off, 208). The Harkin-Engel protocol was then passed in 2001 to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in Cote d’Ivore and Ghana, but the extent of its impact remains in question today (Ryan, 2011).

Taza could potentially break the stigma that West Africa is a poor investment for these artisan chocolate makers. However, considering the obstacles in play, Taza would need to stumble upon a perfect situation- one that might not exist now. Ghana’s Cocoa Board controls exports, limiting the ability of artisan chocolate makers to source cacao from farmers. Taza would likely need to look to other countries, such as the Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast completely deregulated its market, meaning Taza could directly contact farmers and cooperatives as they do with their five current partners. The problem then would be the quality of cacao. Cacao beans emit varying flavors and textures depending on strain and terroir, and Taza, like most bean-to-bar companies, prides itself on the unique tastes produced by the terroir of the regions from which they source their cacao. Despite being the biggest producer in the world, West Africa is known for producing very few single origin bars. In Christian’s Chocolate Census, the most comprehensive online database for chocolate, 3.8% of 1500 chocolate products contain beans exclusively from West Africa. U.S. chocolate artisan companies like Taza cite bean strain and scale of production for their avoiding West African cacao to source single origin chocolates. Farmers in West Africa predominantly grow direct-sun-tolerant, pest- and disease-resistant hybrid cacao beans, which are usually weak in flavor or bitter (Leissle, 2013). Furthermore, these regions operate on a large scale, making it difficult for small artisan companies to buy beans in smaller quantities. These regions typically will not sell in small quantities even if Taza offered a high premium for their beans. If Taza could somehow find a way into the small community of the Ivory Coast with quality cacao, they could impact that community through their commitment to relationships and premium prices. More importantly, they might open the door for other artisan – specifically bean-to-bar- chocolate companies By showing that it is possible to ethically source quality cacao from West Africa.

Overall, Taza sets a notable example for the chocolate industry by doing their part to combat the global problems facing cacao producers. Specifically, the Direct Trade method of sourcing cacao that Taza has adopted has allowed them to form strong relationships with their partners by connecting face-to-face at least once per year. By circumventing profit-squeezing middlemen present in the more widely practice Fair Trade method, Taza ensures that both their cacao-sourcing partners and the farmers get a fair share of the profits that their cacao generates. Furthermore, their awareness and commitment to uphold these practices is obvious as displayed through their unique transparency reports and third-party certifier. While Taza could up the ante by seeking to take on the most corrupt cacao-producing region in the world, West Africa, they would face many challenges- namely finding a Direct Trade partner and flavorful cacao-beans- that would danger upholding their current model of ethical sourcing. Taza, while only a small bean-to-bar chocolate company, must continue their commitment to ethical partnerships with cacao-producers and to transparency of these partnerships. They set the bar high (100% cacao…just kidding) for other bean-to-bar companies and show bigger conglomerates the potential to contribute to cacao producers around the world.

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Berlan, A. (2013). Social Sustainability in Agriculture: An Anthropological Perspective on Child Labour in Cocoa Production in Ghana. The Journal of Development Studies, 49(8), 1088-1100.

Leissle, K. (2013). Invisible West Africa. The Politics of Single Origin Chocolate. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, 13(3), 22-31.

Martin, C. (2018). (Lectures 5, 8, 9).

Off, C. (2008). Bitter chocolate : The dark side of the world’s most seductive sweet. New York: New Press.

Ryan, Órla, International African Institute, Royal African Society, & Social Science Research Council. (2011). Chocolate Nations (African arguments.). Zed Books.

Sylla, N., & Leye, David Clément. (2014). The fair trade scandal: Marketing poverty to benefit the rich. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press.

“Taza Direct Trade.” Taza Chocolate, http://www.tazachocolate.com/pages/taza-direct-trade.