Of course not! The market is saturated, the price level below ground - and with the best will in the world, chocolate is not part of a healthy diet.
In any case! Because the chocolate product impressively shows how the value chains are distributed globally. Ghana and Ivory Coast produce 70 percent of the world's raw cocoa demand. Processing into chocolate takes place everywhere - just not in these countries.
What are the effects? The qualified jobs (e.g. plant technicians, quality engineers, laboratory technicians) are available here in Germany, for example. The employees in the countries of origin of the raw materials work primarily in agriculture, with very little economic participation in the value creation. Fair is different and unfortunately Fairtrade labels mislead us in this regard.
Fortunately, there are now a number of companies that want to change that. The concept is called "Bean-to-Bar" chocolate. In other words, a chocolate where the entire added value takes place in the country of origin. It was clear to us: We must have such a chocolate in our program at Manuyoo!
In addition to the question of the procurement and value-added chain, other criteria were important to us when making the selection: Do the brand, the product quality and the cost structure match the expectations of the German market? Do the entrepreneurs convince us on a human level? Can we trust that they apply the same ethical standards to their company that are important to us? And last but not least: Do we like the product? Are there varieties with an aha effect?
Believe us, we've tried a lot! And we are happy to be able to present you with Afrikoa, a great brand. In addition to the evergreens, there are also unusual varieties such as vegan oat milk chocolate.
Try it yourself!
