Why Fair Trade Chocolate: An Interview With Christopher Angell (Part II)

Part II of my interview with Christopher Angell, co-founder of Angell Organic Candy Bars.

How has paying a fair trade premium to your suppliers made a difference?

Since we at Angell Candy Bars don’t make our own chocolate, we don’t source our cacao directly from the growers, but buy finished chocolate from a large manufacturer who does that.  There are two main reasons for this: the first is that making chocolate and making candy bars are very different, and both require different skills and equipment.  It’s enough of a challenge for us to focus on our finished product, and leave the ingredients to other people with more expertise in that area.  The second is that if we were a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, our candy bars would probably cost 3-4 times more than they do now, which would change the nature of the product substantially. But since we source our chocolate from a manufacture who follows those guidelines, we can be certain that how we source our ingredients makes a difference to those who work at the cocoa farms.

Which leads to the need for certifications . . .

Exactly. We want our customers to rest assured that they are buying a product that genuinely makes a difference.That’s why we’re so hung up on certifications--organic, Fair Trade, Kosher, 1% for the Planet etc.  There are lots of products that make claims like “all-natural” or “sustainably produced” or “donate a portion of proceeds” that don’t really say anything, even though they sound good.  We don’t want people to take our word for it, we want them to be able to trust in independent verifications.  So in the case of Fair Trade, it means that the premiums we pay for ingredients go to things like wells, schools, farming equipment, and, at the end of the day, a bigger paycheck that recognizes the effort required to grow cocoa, which is very challenging.

I would add that, even though we don’t have any direct commercial relationships with the cocoa farmers, my wife Suzanne visited cacao farms in Ghana to understand the differences between Fair Trade, conventional and organic cocoa farming. We’re also are in the process of putting together a trip to Latin America, where our cacao comes from.  We never want to be seen as a parrot for a certifying agency, or as using labels purely for their marketing value.  We take all of our partnerships very seriously, and we are committed to working with organizations of principle and integrity.

The immediate reaction among companies when a move to fair trade is mentioned is that the shift involves cost and a large amount of time.  How would you respond to those objections?

We have a number of certifications- organic, kosher, and 1% for the Planet.  We believe that independent verification is important in order to have universally recognized and upheld standards.  The paperwork for Fair Trade isn’t any more onerous than for any other certification.

Since we have always been Fair Trade certified, I haven’t had to confront the inertia of adding certification, and never had to justify to myself why I wasn’t using Fair Trade chocolate., ordering Fair Trade chocolate is just as easy as ordering non-Fair Trade chocolate, and the price premium is very modest compared to the benefits (although things are different for companies sourcing their own beans and making their own chocolate)  Currently, you pay a much higher premium for organic (which our products also are) than Fair Trade.

I know for a fact that many Fair Trade certified cooperatives only sell a small portion of their cocoa Fair Trade. If an industry giant said that they were only going to buy Fair Trade certified chocolate, there’s supply already out there and a system in place to recruit and certify more farms. In the UK, Cadbury Milk, the top selling chocolate bar there, and KitKat are Fairtrade.  The American consumer is not as informed about Fairtrade and needs to be educated further, but I think more and more consumers are coming around to the idea that the developing world shouldn’t be used as a means to circumvent the sorts of rights and protections that we consider fundamental in our own countries.

Any new products in the pipeline?

Yes, though we still have a long way to go with our existing products.  We have been very humbled and surprised by the enthusiastic support we have received from the vegan community for our Dark Angell, and we have gotten the message that this is an underserved community loud and clear, and so we have another organic and fairtrade vegan bar we’re working on.   We have the caramel bar I mentioned earlier which uses what I refer to as the holy trinity of American candy bars:  milk chocolate, peanuts and caramel.  Finally, we’re working on mini version of the bars to make them easier to share at kids’ parties and holidays.  So we’re definitely not bored!

Learn more about Angell Candy Bars.