- KoRo Source, the B2B sourcing platform for label founders and start-ups, is starting a collaboration with Tony's Open Chain to enable easy sourcing for fair trade chocolate products.
- The special thing about the Tony's Open Chain supply chain: the price paid per ton is far above the usual Fairtrade price
- For KoRo Source customers, this means they can now source cocoa beans from the (even fairer) Tony's Chocolonely supply chain to bring chocolate products to market.
Through the collaboration of Tony's Open Chain as a transparent supply chain for cocoa beans and KoRo Source as a one-stop-shop for product development, startups and brands can now develop and launch fair chocolate products using Tony's Chocolonely's already established and always audited supply chain.
Easy sourcing for fair trade chocolate products
Developing products and making them ready for the market is a challenge, and fair products with a transparent supply chain are the supreme discipline in the food industry. Even today, millions of cases of illegal child labor and modern slavery are still being uncovered in cocoa farming.
The Global Slavery Index estimates that there are currently 30,000 cases of modern slavery in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and NORC's 2020 report finds that one in two children in cocoa farmer:in households in these markets work under illegal conditions. Tony's Chocolonely, the Dutch company that launched the Tony's Open Chain as a fair supply chain initiative alongside its own chocolate brand, has therefore made it its mission to make chocolate free of illegal child labor and modern slavery, every chocolate worldwide, by inviting all chocolate manufacturers to join the model with the Open Chain.
The special price structure of Tony's Open Chain
Since 2013, Tony's Chocolonely has consistently paid additional premiums to all partner cocoa farmers to close the gap between the price farmers receive for their cocoa and a price that provides a living income (Living Income Reference Price, or LIRP).
Here's how it works: Tony's pays the Tony's premium in addition to the Fairtrade premium, plus a $50 cooperative fee. That's because paying a higher price is the first and crucial step toward eliminating the widespread problem of poverty - the main cause of child labor and modern slavery in the chocolate industry (read more in the Tony's FAIR REPORT).
Just recently, due to inflation and the resulting rising cost of living in its partner countries, Tony's Chocolonely voluntarily committed to raise the premium once again and pay more for the raw material (82% in Côte d'Ivoire and 77% in Ghana more than the standard cocoa price set by the government).
We will be happy to provide more information on the pricing model as well as Tony's Open Chain upon request.
About TONY'S CHOCOLONELY
Tony's Chocolonely comes from the Netherlands, was founded in 2005 by a TV journalist and is the chocolate market leader in its home country - alongside big players such as Nestlé, Mars and Mondelez. As a so-called impact company, Tony's Chocolonely not only draws attention to grievances, but also actively does something to ensure that untenable conditions finally change, away from paternalism towards equality in the business relationship with its partners in African countries.
To this end, Tony's Chocolonely has launched various programs, implements them consistently and transparently, and proves that it can be done differently. Tony's Chocolonely is happy to share its know-how with all chocolate producers, inviting them to act according to the same principles and thus finally ensure justice in cocoa farming - chocolate without a bitter aftertaste. Detailed information can be found in the annual FAIR REPORT and at www.tonyschocolonely.com.
About KoRo Source
KoRo Source is the first true B2B sourcing platform for private label products in the areas of food, supplements and cosmetics. The company supports start-ups as well as established brands, influencers and celebrities in developing their own products and launching them in various markets. KoRo Source is a subsidiary of the Berlin-based trading company KoRo Handels GmbH.
