Tony's Chocolonely

Values

Our Story

Tony's Chocolonely began as a bold quest to eradicate slavery from the chocolate industry.

In 2005, Dutch journalist Teun van de Keuken was investigating slavery in the chocolate industry for 'Keuringsdienst van Waarde' (a Dutch investigative journalism programme) when he discovered widespread slavery and child labour in West African cocoa supply chains. When his calls for industry reform were met with indifference, Teun took matters into his own hands and founded Tony's Chocolonely.

The brand’s name “Chocolonely”, reflects Teun’s initial isolation in this cause. In fact, they unequally divide their bars to remind us that the profits in the chocolate industry are unfairly divided.

“We can't do it alone. Alone we make slave free chocolate, together we make all chocolate 100% slave free. The more people who choose slave free and spread our message, the sooner 100% slave free will be the norm in chocolate.”

Tony’s work exclusively with partner co-operatives and cocoa farmers who are Fairtrade certified. Tony’s pays a higher price for their cocoa - which includes a Fairtrade premium - to enable partner farmers to earn a living income. They also became a B Corp in 2013, meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

In 2012, Tony’s started buying their cocoa directly from cocoa farmers in West Africa. They now work with 6 cocoa cooperatives: 2 in Ghana (ABOCFA and Suhum Union) and 4 in Ivory Coast (Kapatchiva, ECAM, ECOJAD and SOCOOPACDI).

Their long-term relationship with these cooperatives means that they know their suppliers well and can assist them with their financial management. The farmers know they can sell Tony’s their cocoa for a good price for the foreseeable future, allowing them to invest in their farms and maximise their crop.

But they don’t stop there. To create a fairer supply chain, Tony's believe that companies have to go further than certification and take full responsibility. That’s why they have developed their 5 Sourcing Principles, a framework for a fairer sourcing system.

1. Traceable cocoa beans - Tony’s trade directly and on equal footing with cocoa farmers and farming cooperatives. They make an effort to know who’s producing their beans (through their Beantracker) so they can identify issues and take steps to remediate.

2. A higher price - Tony’s pay fair prices for their cocoa so farmer households can earn a living income and run healthy farms. They believe that chocolate makers should foot the bill until the market price climbs high enough to make a living income the big-league standard for everyone.

3. Strong farmers - Tony’s work to professionalise farming cooperatives and farms, giving them more power to structurally change inequality. This means investing in direct contact, time and money by assisting in finding new, international markets, organising transport, stimulating mutual buying of agricultural resources and democratic AGM’s.

4. The long term - Tony’s commit to engaging in 5-year commitments with cooperatives to facilitate investments.

5. Quality and productivity - Tony’s also invest in current agricultural knowledge, skills, and innovation when it comes to growing cocoa and other crops.

While Tony’s have never found an instance of modern slavery in their supply chain, they do not guarantee that their chocolate is 100% slave free as they are unable to monitor plantations 24/7. They do find instances of illegal child labour occurring on the cocoa farms where they source their beans and work proactively to solve them.

Tony’s have a Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) in place across all 7 cocoa cooperatives that they source from in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Last year, they found 387 cases of illegal child labour and remediated 221.

In 2021, Tony’s came under fire for their partnership with Barry Callebaut, one of the biggest chocolate processors in the world who is accused of abuses in their supply chain. However, the brand bravely defended their deliberate decision, stating that one of the pillars of their roadmap is to inspire others to act, most importantly to inspire big chocolate companies to adopt their 5 Sourcing Principles. Working with Barry Callebaut has enabled Tony’s to scale up production and grow Tony’s Open Chain, by processing cocoa beans for their Mission Allies.

They also give back to farmer communities in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire through Chocolonely Foundation. These projects range from providing funding for school or social loans to entrepreneurial women.

You can find Tony’s unique chocolate bars sold around New Zealand in select supermarkets and stockists.

Dive Deeper

Tony’s Open Chain
Tony’s Beantracker
Chocolonely Foundation