Chocolate, but not as you know it

A Sweet Deal
(Published Sunday, November 19, 2006. By Alex Meehan)

Twenty years ago there was no such thing as organic food in the supermarket and no such thing as fair trade, the movement for ethical business practice in the third world. There was also very little in the way of confectionary aimed at adults.

However Green & Black's has changed all that. It has taken the concept of dark chocolate made with unprecedented quantities of cocoa solids and married it to the organic movement and a commitment to conduct its affairs ethically.

“Ours was the first fair trade product of any kind – the Fair Trade Foundation had been around for a couple of years, but they hadn’t nailed down anyone to take the fair trade mark until we started getting involved with the launch of the Maya Gold bar in 1994,” said Sams.

Fair trade's strategic intent is to deliberately work with marginalised producers and workers in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency. However, initially Sams encountered suspicion at this new idea on the ground.

“We had something of a credibility problem at first. In the tropics, there are many people from aid agencies telling the farmers that they need to modernise and embrace new ways of farming – then we came along and told them we wanted them to keep the traditional methods but just get very good at them. At first they were sceptical, because it was outside their experience.”

“But we explained this wasn’t about aid, this was a business deal, that we’d pay them this price and would guarantee to pay it for the next five years on a rolling cancellation basis. They would always have five years notice if we were going to pull the plug on it. This was unheard of. As you might imagine, we’re quite popular now. It’s a bit embarrassing actually,” he said.

You can read the rest of this article at The Sunday Business Post website.