And above all… Think Chocolate! 

Depending on their quality, cocoa beans are roasted for 25 to 50 minutes at temperatures ranging from 230 degrees F to 300 degrees F.

Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world’s perfect food. 

I just finished my third new business presentation in as many days. Each company is a large, publicly traded, well-known household name. All are considered leaders in food service and are responsible for serving millions of beverages and meals annually. And each meeting had nothing to do with saving money or cutting costs. Instead, the conversations focused on sustainability, Fair Trade and social responsibility.

The buyers at these companies are acutely aware of the importance of their supply chain in ensuring that their stores have an uninterrupted supply of products. None of them wants to face the thought of running out of a popular menu item. And all place a huge burden of responsibility on their vendors to make sure that doesn’t happen. At the same time, they all understand that focusing solely on price is a destructive business tactic. They prefer to focus on longer-term investments by paying higher prices and knowing that a third party certifies where the crops come from. The certifications we discussed include organic, Fair Trade, UTZ and Rainforest Alliance. These buyers know that paying more money for products that are independently certified means the crop is generally better treated than its non-certified counterpart. Fair Trade products mean that farmers receive a premium price; Certified Organic means that the coffee or cocoa was grown without using artificial pesticides; UTZ certifies that all of the growing and processing is subject to strict regulations; and Rainforest Alliance means that the crops were grown to ensure that valuable rain-forest lands are not endangered. Each of these certifications costs the buyer more money, and each company was willing to accept that price premium knowing it would lead to a more sustainable supply.

The discussions I had were focused on how we could help these companies deliver products with these attributes. Now, the fun part — the Research and Development component — begins. The lab is now creating single-origin cocoa mixes, Fair Trade chocolate syrups and organic flavored syrups. And while it is always fun to develop new items, it is especially gratifying doing so and knowing that both farmers and consumers will ultimately benefit from what we make.  

The Cadbury Creme Egg plant in Bournville, England, can produce 66,000 Creme Eggs every hour, or more than 1.5 million eggs a day.