Tony's Chocolonely: The Road to 100% Slave-Free Chocolate?

As late as 2020, the supply chain of the global chocolate industry was characterized by modern slavery and child labour, poverty, dire living conditions and deforestation. While players in the cocoa industry had launched certification and in-house sustainability programmes, experts claimed that these have had limited impact. This failing prompted alternative efforts to change the sector from within. One of them, Tony's Chocolonely, a Dutch brand, set out to challenge the industry and demonstrate that cocoa could be sourced differently. Created in 2005 after an investigative journalist exposed the "dark side" of the industry, Tony's became one of the market leaders in the Netherlands. It operated a fully segregated supply chain "from bean to bar" for all cocoa components in its chocolate, and paid farmers in Africa a higher price for their cocoa beans to help them earn a living income. It described itself as "an impact company that sells chocolate; not a chocolate company trying to make an impact". Its vision - "a cocoa industry with 100% slave-free chocolate" - went beyond its own operations and applied to the global industry, urging the big chocolate players to take responsibility along the entire supply chain. The size of Tony's Chocolonely compared to the global chocolate industry brings an analogy to mind: Could this David defy Goliath? Could a start-up with a social mission change an entire industry from within? To achieve 100% slave-free chocolate meant tackling a host of strategic, tactical and operational issues, many linked with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

• Poverty
• Operations and supply chain management
• Marketing
• Entrepreneurship
• Consumer marketing