Barry Callebaut brand creates first 100% sustainable ingredients series, marking its 25th anniversary

Barry Callebaut has confirmed that its renowned Swiss chocolate brand Carma has become its first to deliver 100% sustainable ingredients for its range of couvertures, reports Neill Barston.

As the company explained, the nation’s confectionery making has been consistently refined throughout the centuries and are consistently considered among the finest in the world.

Notably, improve production processes and the use of quality ingredients has enabled chocolatiers and chefs to have the highest standards of quality in chocolate.

This long and rich history of making chocolate in Switzerland is tied to Carma’s founder, Carl Mentler. Passion for selecting high quality ingredients and creating an incomparable tasting experience that is unique to Swiss chocolate is of the utmost importance. The brand has been part of Barry Callebaut since 1999, with its parent company celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.

According to the business, in order to continue supporting chocolate artisans and chefs in bringing to life their creations without depleting the world’s resources, sustainable production is imperative.

Chocolate artisans and chefs around the world are becoming advocates for using ethically sourced ingredients, aimed to preserve chocolate for future generations.

As the company added, it goes beyond just cocoa to sourcing the most sustainable ingredients at every step of the process, with each ingredient in its couvertures: cocoa, dairy, sugar, and vanilla all being sustainable.

Balancing sustainability with reliability and consistency in taste profile and colour, which is a critical part of the uniquely Swiss chocolate crafting process. Carma’s mission was to create 100% sustainable chocolate, which has now been fully realised.

The challenges that the chocolate supply chain face everyday include ending forced labor, impeding deforestation, environmental issues, helping farmers to prosper and ensuring that ingredients used are fully sustainable and traceable.

That also means that each chocolate ingredient: cocoa, dairy, sugar, and vanilla also faces its own sustainability challenges and a constantly growing global population presents even tougher obstacles to sourcing these ingredients.

As the company said, sustainable chocolate is a movement that should be the norm in the chocolate industry, and Carma Chocolate concluded that it is proud to have achieved this landmark milestone and add this to our unique way of making Swiss chocolate.

Marking a 25th anniversary

Commenting on its major milestone, Barry Callebaut explained that the history of the company stretches back some distance beyond trading under its present banner.

In the beginning, there was the Belgian chocolate company Callebaut (dating to 1911, but with commercial roots stemming from the from 1850s), and Cacao Barry, its French arch-rival (originally founded in 1842).

Each had distinct strengths: Callebaut was focused on chocolate production and exports within Europe and to North America, while Cacao Barry had built an international profile by investing in cocoa farms and factories in Africa and South America. With a profound chocolate heritage, Klaus Jacobs saw the potential of what these companies could become together, and after a merger on 8th July, 1996, the chocolate industry changed forever.

As the company noted, customer focus, passion, entrepreneurship, team spirit and Integrity are values that are considered defining virtues of the business, whether in Zurich, Switzerland, Suzhou, China or Accra, Ghana.

These core values inspire its over 12,000 employees of more than 100 nationalities, uniting them across cultural and geographical borders. What’s even more remarkable is that 848 employees who were present at the very beginning share this 25th anniversary with Barry Callebaut.

The passion and commitment of the Barry Callebaut family is at the heart of every milestone the company has achieved, such as listing on the Swiss Stock Exchange in 1998 and exponentially growing its sales volume from just over 560,000 tonnes in 1997 to 2.1 million tonnes in 143 countries today.

Their strong sense of family spirit provides both stability and creativity to sustain its vision, making it one of the coolest companies in the world.Currently, about a quarter of all the chocolate and cocoa products consumed on Earth can be traced to Barry Callebaut.

It has become the world’s leading manufacturer of premium chocolate and cocoa products through solid partnerships with its customers. This is the same sense of purpose behind its academy centres, which have grown from four European locations to a total of 23 on five continents.

 

 

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