Tony’s Chocolonely hopes for a hit with Glastonbury Festival special edition

Premium ethically-founded chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely has teamed up with the Glastonbury Festival for a special musically-themed treat in the form of a special edition bar celebrating the globally famous event and its commitment to sustainable values, reports Neill Barston.

As the Netherlands-based impact business, which played a key part in last year’s World Confectionery Conference explained, the latest launch will help raise funds for Oxfam, as well as offering a star prize of five pairs of tickets to this summer’s must-attend extravaganza.

According to the company, its latest Glastonbury X bars, which are being made in milk caramel sea salt flavour, are being sold exclusively in Oxfam stores and online shop from this week – with fans fortunate to find winning tickets destined to see artists including Elton John, Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses, and Lizzo, among thousands of other performers.

Nicola Matthews, UKI Head of Marketing at Tony’s Chocolonely, said: “There is a huge amount of synergy between these three organisations. Tony’s Chocolonely and Oxfam are united in the mission to eradicate the injustice of poverty – the root cause of child labour and modern slavery in the cocoa industry. And Glastonbury Festival is widely regarded as the most sustainable festival in the world due to its passion for protecting the environment on Worthy Farm and beyond. The festival also gives millions of pounds to its supported charities each year. It is incredibly exciting that Oxfam and Glastonbury are willing to support this partnership and amplify our mission with their shoppers and audiences.”

Lorna Fallon, Oxfam’s Trading Director, welcomed the latest initiative, which is part of Tony’s ongoing drive to create a sustainable chocolate supply chain, under its banner of seeking ‘slave free chocolate,’ through its ongoing measures to tackle child labour in key producing nations of Ivory Coast and Ghana. As recently reported, the company has, along with a number of other confectionery businesses, backed EU proposals for legislation against forced labour.

According to its latest estimates, the company said there were still 30,000 cases of modern slavery and 1.56 million cases of minors exposed to the worst forms of labour, which in a recent interview with Confectionery Production, the business said it was continuing to work towards eradicating. While, as previously covered, the company has still found incidents of child labour within its supply chains, it confirmed that it has stepped-up its efforts to deliver remediation programmes of education and investment of paying additional cocoa premiums to positively influence the situation.

“We’re so excited to partner with Tony’s Chocolonely and Glastonbury on this prize giveaway exclusively for our customers. It’s wonderful to have the support of such switched-on organisations. Tony’s chocolate bars are hugely popular in our shops, because the chocolate is so delicious. And as a long-standing partner and huge fan of Glastonbury this is a lovely opportunity to bring our shoppers a chance to go to the Festival this year. These super special chocolate bars could be anywhere across our shop network and the Oxfam Online Shop .The race is now on if you’re searching for a Choco Coupon!”