Tony's Chocolonely's impact report reveals €4.9M paid in premium to farmers last year due to record amount of cocoa beans sourced

• Annual FAIR report shows impact from past financial year and future ambitions

• Report reveals booming international growth and new Open Chain mission allies: Vly, Jokolade and ALDI

• 14% of chocolate bars in the Netherlands are now made using Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles, proving business case for Tony's Open Chain

• Plans to double down on Tony's Open Chain to accelerate impact in 2022

• The full report will be presented at Tony's FAIR, an inspirational online broadcast on December 2, 18:00 CET – hosted by BBC's Ikenna Azuike

[Local city], December XX 2021 – Tony’s  Chocolonely, the chocolate-making impact company on a mission to create a fairer chocolate industry, releases their annual FAIR report today, sharing their impact results from the past financial year and the ambitions for their next chapter.

The report offers transparency on what has been achieved over the last year, as well as where the company is yet to succeed in tackling inequalities in the chocolate industry. It includes both financial results and key impact milestones from West Africa and across the supply chain.

Landmark impact milestones reached

This last year saw a record amount of cocoa beans (an increase of over 87%) sourced via Tony's Open Chain – the industry-led initiative that enables other brands to make chocolate using Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles. Mission Allies Albert Heijn, ALDI, Jokolade and Vly collectively increased the beans sourced via Tony's Open Chain by more than 237%. In the Netherlands, this means that 14% of chocolate bars (in value) are now made according to Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles.

It also means that 8919 farmers were paid the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP) for their cocoa. Tony’s paid €4.9M in premium last year for their beans, a non-negotiable investment that closes the living income gap for farmers.

In the same year, for the first time ever, Tony’s crossed the €100M revenue mark – a testament to chocolate fans who support the brand's mission and demonstrating that it is possible to pay farmers a higher price whilst running a commercially successful business.

Tony's business and impact growth also sees global issue awareness of illegal child labor and modern slavery at an all-time high.

“For us, reaching these milestones is not only proof that we are heading in the right direction, but confirmation that we’ve entered a new era of Tony's Chocolonely, taking our mission to the next level on the global stage,” says Henk Jan Beltman, Chief Chocolate Officer (CEO) at Tony's Chocolonely.

Increase in remediated child labor cases

Tony's growth in sales and, consequently, bean count means more cooperatives are onboarded each year. With every new cooperative onboarded, new cases of illegal child labor are identified. This year Tony's onboarded 2 new co-ops and found 1701 cases of child labor.

Looking at Tony's 5 long-term partners, prevalence of child labor is low, at 3.9%. While at their newest co-ops prevalence is 50.5%, in line with the industry average of 50%. This proves that the longer Tony's works with a co-op, the lower the prevalence of child labor.

Using the Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS), Tony's remediated 368 cases of child labor – an increase of 67% compared to last year.

Paul Schoenmakers, Head of Impact at Tony's Chocolonely, says: "Finding cases is the only way to resolve them. We take responsibility and remediate every child labor case we find, rather than look the other way. Change is a process, and the stark difference in rates of prevalence shows that we’re on the right track." ​​​​​​​

Scaling industry impact in Tony's next chapter

The next chapter for Tony's will see a focus on scaling impact across the chocolate industry. A key mechanism for doing this is doubling down on Tony's Open Chain solution. By growing the number of beans sourced through Tony’s Open Chain, even more farmers will receive the Living Income Reference Price, which is an instrumental tool to help lift them out of poverty.

To ensure that all companies take responsibility for their entire supply chains, Tony's also plans to continue demanding due diligence legislation. Their focus will be intensifying lobbying efforts in the Netherlands, UK, US, and at an EU level, to achieve this.

Report unwrapped at Tony's FAIR

Tony's annual FAIR report will be presented at Tony's FAIR, the company's annual stakeholder event, on December 2. The digital broadcast sees host Ikenna Azuike (BBC) interview Chief Chocolate Officer Henk Jan Beltman, the Tony's Chiefs and specialists from across Team Tony's to dig deeper into the report and hear the stories behind the numbers.

Tony's FAIR will also feature interviews with ALDI, Cocoa360, sustainable condom company Einhorn, plant-based milk brand Vly and Ghanaian cocoa cooperative ABOCFA. Plus, creative performances from Holland's Got Talent finalist, dancer Gil the Grid and writer Kiza Magendane.

The FAIR broadcast will premiere at 18.00 CET / 17.00 GMT / 12:00 EST on tonyschocolonely.com and be available to restream on the website for the following 7 days.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Key impact insights:

• In the past year, Tony’s onboarded 2 new Mission Allies – Jokolade and Vly Foods – to Tony's Open Chain. This brings the total number of Mission Allies to 4. Proving the viability of Tony’s Open Chain: a unique, industry-led initiative that supports other chocolate brands to create transparent, traceable, direct, and more equal business relations throughout the entire chain.

• Together with its Mission Allies, Tony’s increased the quantity of cocoa beans sourced via Open Chain to a total of 12,574 mT (3,957 mT sourced by Open Chain Mission Allies).

• After the cocoa price drop in Côte d'Ivoire on October 1, 2021, Tony’s calculated that it would only cost an estimated $1 billion – the equivalent of 0.7% of global chocolate revenues – for the chocolate industry to pay the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP) to all cocoa purchased from West Africa.

• That is why Tony's plans to scale up the onboarding of new Mission Allies, with the aim to welcome 3 new Tony's Open Chain partners in the next year.

Key finance insights:

• Tony’s has decided not to continue the build of mission-driven chocolate factory Tony’s Chocolonely Chocolate Circus (TCCC) in Zaandam, the Netherlands. With the location becoming unavailable, the capital requirements of this site will instead be reinvested in growing global brand and issue awareness, creating impact on the ground in West Africa and the value chain, and in team expansion.

“It is with a heavy heart that we inform Chocolate Fans and stakeholders that we have decided not to continue our pursuit of building Tony’s Chocolonely Chocolate Circus. However, we believe this decision means we can instead double down on growing global awareness of our mission: to make all chocolate 100% slave free”. says Jan Huij, Chief Finance Officer.

About Tony’s Chocolonely:

Tony’s Chocolonely is an impact company that makes chocolate. Putting social impact before profit — Tony's Chocolonely's vision is to make chocolate 100% slave free. Not just their own chocolate, but all chocolate worldwide.

The company was founded in 2005 by 3 journalists from the Dutch TV show ‘Keuringsdienst van Waarde’ after they discovered that the world’s largest chocolate manufacturers were buying cocoa from plantations that used child labor and modern slavery.

Since then, Tony’s Chocolonely has dedicated its efforts to raising awareness of and eliminating inequality in the chocolate industry. Tony’s Chocolonely leads by example, building direct, long-term relationships with cocoa farmers in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, paying them a higher price and working together to solve the underlying causes of modern slavery and child labour.

Tony’s Chocolonely wants to inspire the industry as a whole to make 100% slave free the norm in chocolate. They believe that being a better business should be the norm, not the exception. The brand has grown to become one of the market leaders in the Netherlands and its bars are now available almost worldwide, with offices in the Netherlands, USA, UK, Germany, Belgium and Sweden.

Tony's Chocolonely is a B -Corp and Fairtrade-certified.

For more information,
press@tonyschocolonely.com