Chocolate Adventures

"Exposure to slavery is being recognised as a weakness within a business which must be addressed. The tide is turning, slowly."

I started working on this blog around Easter but for reasons (that will soon become apparent) I could not finish it for publishing at Easter.  

The premise of the blog was relatively straightforward. Find good quality Easter chocolates which do not rely in anyway on slave labour or the exploitation of farmers. This idea would test my premise that consumers face significant challenges in finding quality, reasonably priced products, which do not contribute to slavery or the exploitation of primary producers (farmers/fishers/etc). As you will, my Easter chocolate hunting provided an example of these challenges consumers face.  

The Chocolate Scorecard

I thought I was on a winner when I came across a Chocolate Scorecard report produced by Be Slavery Free. This scorecard ranks manufacturers and retailers for their efforts (or lack thereof) to identify and respond to slavery within the chocolates they produce and sell.  Moving to the top of this scorecard gave me hope that I would be able to find the chocolates I was looking for. For the record, the point of this blog is not to name and shame those companies which did not fare so well. Personally, it was disappointing to see that many of the chocolate brands I enjoy have some serious work to do when it comes to addressing slavery within their supply chains. Others simply did not respond to Be Slavery Free’s requests for information which is indicative of a general lack of awareness businesses have towards the opportunities available to them in the 'slave free products' space.

As a side note, we have a two part blog post around the universal lack of transparency and cooperative business practices that exist for consumers to make adequate decisions around the products they purchase - check out Part 1 and Part 2.

I enlisted the help of a friend in the Netherlands to source and sample some chocolates from one of the top contenders from the scorecard. She ordered a range of chocolates from their website with the hope of having them delivered before Easter. The price for the chocolates tested our friendship a little but there exists a promised dinner the next time I am Holland or whenever she is next in Australia. Delivery went well with the chocolates showing up about three days later in well crafted and visually appealing packaging. Her review of the actual chocolates was a very brief Dutch response of 'Mwoh' which I took to be the equivalent of an Australian 'mid'. In the end, she suggested another Dutch brand which she preferred (if she was going to buy expensive chocolate with a good social conscience). Interestingly, that brand was ranked fairly high on the scorecard. I realise that taste in chocolate is subjective so this project should not be considered to be an in depth market analysis.

There are a few things I took away from this experience. 

• Firstly, there are some manufacturers and retailers who are intentionally stepping into the 'slave free products space'.

• Secondly, they are offering products of comparable quality to those offered by businesses who are yet to seriously consider their exposure to slavery. 

• Thirdly, price is still an issue for consumers who want to buy slave-free products. 

• Fourthly (which is likely the consequence of the other factors), there is a general friction when it comes to consumers connecting with slave-free products. This friction may be the result of scalability issues and production costs (more so when labour is required from workers in OECD countries like the Netherlands).

Ultimately, there is room for improvement and growth when it comes to bringing slave-free products to consumers.

Overall, I am optimistic about what the future holds for slave-free products. Businesses are starting to recognise the opportunities available to develop and provide these products.  They are also beginning to recognise that addressing slavery is more than an ethical box to tick. Exposure to slavery is being recognised as a weakness within a business which must be addressed. The tide is turning, slowly.

Consumers are still far away from being able to find comparable slave-free products for the majority of their purchases. That said, the range of slave-free products is steadily increasing. The rate of increase can be accelerated as awareness of the connection between the products and slavery becomes more wide-spread. One of the best things that consumers can do is to share information, including honest feedback, about slave-free alternatives. To that end, keep in touch with New Rivers as we work on ways to link information (like the Be Slavery Free chocolate scorecard) with consumer feedback on slave-free products.

Join Our Mission:

For more information on how you can be part of making slavery obsolete through your investment with New Rivers, follow this link to learn more and join other investors. 

We are always interested in feedback and new ideas that people may have with respect to changes that can be made at the brick factories and any other businesses that New Rivers is involved in. We look forward to hearing from you - email us at info.newrivers@gmail.com.

Pictured: Manfred, Michelle (centre) and the New Rivers Team