Tony’s impact
Tony’s deliberately chooses to work in Ghana and Ivory Coast. That’s where the worst problems are so that’s where we want to have a positive impact. Tony’s mission is to make all chocolate 100% slave-free. In Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire 1.56 million children are working in illegal circumstances and 30.000 people are victims of modern slavery. Therefore, we deliberately choose to work in these countries, making a positive impact where the worst problems are.
our impact
Tony’s mission is together we make 100% slave free the norm in chocolate. And our roadmap is helping us get there. But how much progress are we making and how much impact are we having? Good question! That's why we’ve gone to great lengths to explain what we’re doing. We also monitor the effects of our activities so you can see what impact we’re having. These are our main impact results from last book year date:
kg chocolate sold
More and more people are discovering our chocolate. Last book year, we sold; 8.672.000 kg of chocolate. Growth is an important part of our mission. It enables us to work with more farmers who benefit from our recipe for 100% slave-free cocoa. It also means we can make more noise in the chocolate industry, so the chocolate giants follow our example.
metric tons of cocoa beans purchased
That’s about 18 shipping containers filled to the brim! The beans used to make our cocoa mass and our cocoa butter are all traceable, purchased directly from our partner cooperatives in Ghana and Ivory Coast. We're unique in this respect. Almost no other chocolate brand sold in supermarkets knows where or how its cocoa beans are grown. They have no relationship with the cocoa farmers and if the cocoa comes from West Africa they're completely in the dark. As strange as it may seem, this applies to the vast majority of certified (sustainably produced and organic) cocoa.
farmers we work with directly
The 8,921 farmers who produce cocoa for Tony’s are 8,921 farmers who earn a decent income. And because they have wives and children, the number of people who benefit is far greater. We buy cocoa per season. So the number of farmers we’re working with this year is higher than the number of farmers who produced the cocoa for the 46 million bars we sold last year. Got it?
paid in premiums
In addition to the Fairtrade premium we also pay a Tony’s premium so cocoa farmers can earn a decent income. The premium helps increase the farmer’s income both literally and by enabling them to invest in resources that increase productivity, such as agricultural training courses and nurseries for new cocoa trees. The premium also reduces their outgoings by enabling them to buy fertiliser in bulk and install central water pumps and by making education more accessible. More than 9.2% of the retail price of our bars goes to the cocoa farmers.
Tony’s sourcing principles for slave free cocoa
We show that chocolate can be made differently, without slavery and exploitation. We’ve developed our own recipe for slave free cocoa with five ingredients. It enables the farmers to make a decent living. It also ensures that we know exactly where our beans come from and allows us to work with the farmers to eliminate the abuses in the industry!
Tony’s partner cooperatives
The cocoa farmers are affiliated with our partner cooperatives, which comprise Kapatchiva, Ecojad, ECAM and Socoopacdi in Ivory Coast and ABOCFA, Asetenapa and Asunafo in Ghana. Tony’s Impact team regularly travels to Ghana and Ivory Coast to visit the partner cooperatives and attend the annual meetings. It goes without saying, that we always take an extra bag of Tony's chocolate with us so that the farmers can see the results of all their hard work.
your impact
Just calculated your impact? Then now you know how many beans it takes to make your favorite bar. Every bite helps. Whenever you enjoy a mouthful of Tony’s you’re eating chocolate made from traceable beans purchased directly from the farmer for a higher price. If we need more cocoa beans, we can work with more farmers who benefit from our sourcing principles for slave free cocoa. By eating our chocolate you’re part of the solution, but you can also sign the petition..
Here you can see how the farmers have chosen to invest their Tony’s premium:
impact projects
Illegal child labor: monitoring and remediating
We’ve started implementing the Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) developed by the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) and Nestlé so we can more closely monitor the risk of illegal child labor at our partner cooperatives in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The system addresses the issue of child labor in cocoa production and helps improve the living conditions of the farmers. If farmers supply cocoa for Tony’s their children are monitored. Besides raising awareness of the consequences of child labor in cocoa communities, we also gather social data to ascertain whether, where and why child labor is being used. Once we understand the reasons, we try to find permanent solutions. We do this together with ICI, our partner cooperatives, the communities in West Africa and other key players, because only together can we solve the problem.
