F&D Heroes Issue 1

Unwrapping the truth about poverty within the
chocolate industry, Ben Greensmith, the UK and
Ireland Country Manager for Tony’s Chocolonely,
breaks down the complex issue at the Bread & Jam
2.0 Virtual festival.
Food for thought…
According to Tony’s Chocolonely annual FAIR Report:
In Ghana and Ivory Coast, over two million children
work on the land under illegal conditions because
their parents are not able to earn enough from their
cocoa harvest.
In Ivory Coast, the average cocoa farmer earns an
average of $0.78 per day. Nowhere near enough to live
off, let alone support a family – not even in West Africa.
Worse still, a study conducted in 2018 Global Slavery
Index confirms that at least 30,000 people are victims
of modern slavery in the cocoa industry in Ghana and
Ivory Coast.
A little bit of history
In 2003, Dutch journalist and presenter of TV program
‘Keuringsdienst van Waarde (KVW),’ Teun van de
Keuken, read a book about how child labour and
modern slavery is still very much a part of the cocoa
trade. He used his platform on KVW to publicise the
dark secrets by eating a number of chocolate bars
from leading manufacturers and declaring himself a
chocolate criminal, turning himself over to the Dutch
authorities. However, the public prosecutor couldn’t
identify the direct link between him eating the bar to
the children who were forced into labour.
Whilst waiting for the judge’s decision, Tuen decided to
launch his own 100% slave-free product in an attempt
to prove to chocolate manufacturers that it is possible.
Tony’s therefore launched as a PR stunt, Teun wanted
to show there was a different way to produce chocolate,
with no compromise in the value chain, he never set
out to create a global chocolate brand. However, Tony’s
picked up momentum, becoming Holland’s number one
chocolate company. But it’s not stopping there… Tony’s
Chocolonely is the instigator and propeller behind
the movement to eradicate child labour and slavery
associated with cocoa.
Create awareness
Tony’s wants to create awareness for the unequal
share of the cocoa industry through leading by
example. Ben epitomises this in a quote taken from
founder of The Body Shop, Anita Roddick, “If you
think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to
bed with a mosquito in the room… We want to be the
mosquito in the room.”
They have a strict no-paid media policy, working
with a pull rather than a push marketing model. Ben
describes how “it’s a complicated message, we prefer
to have one-on-one conversations. The chocolate is a
means to achieve the goal to inspire change.”
If you’ve ever picked up a Tony’s Chocolonely bar
you’d have noticed how irregular the pieces are,
going against the generic ‘excel spreadsheet’ style
divide. This is not by accident or down to a machinery
malfunction. The shapes represent the inequality of
chocolate companies, the bar (like the industry) is
unequally divided. Ben says that “they tell the story
in its purest form of the unequal nature of the cocoa
industry. West Africa is actually hidden in the design,
a little nod to the farmers.”
Create a movement
Ben describes how Tony’s is focusing on the
consumers who have the buying power, as if they
know their favourite brands are endorsing slavery,
they can help force the change. It is then down to the
government to listen, and force through legislation.
The future of the cocoa farmers is dictated by us
the consumer, and the leading global chocolate
manufacturing giants. United, we can stop child
slavery on cocoa farms and the wage discrepancies
which leave families of eight surviving on 0.7 US
dollars a week.
Tony’s have also made their values accessible to
everyone by publicising its open chain resourcing
principles; companies can educate themselves,
enabling those willing, to break down their own deepset
irresponsible processes.
The principles
Tony’s wants to: ensure that the farmers and
cooperatives get at least five years sale at a higher
price. The cocoa farmers get paid a price that enables
them to earn a living income. Trade is direct and on
equal footing with cocoa farmers and cooperatives. It
wants to professionalise farms by working together.
And to improve productivity with less dependency on
cocoa by investing in knowledge and skills.
Tony’s really is crazy about chocolate, it has invested
in the product for it to be the best it can be whilst
limiting its impact everywhere, without compromise.
It has created unique and intriguing flavours to
pique the interest of the consumer to ensure it
gets into people’s shopping baskets. Tony’s is also
very serious about people as its truest aim is to
eradicate enslavement which is so deeply rooted in
the sourcing of cocoa for chocolate production in the
western world. It’s not your typical company, Tony’s
exists to end slavery in the chocolate industry; an
impact company that makes chocolate, and not the
other way around.
tonyschocolonely.com
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