Barry Callebaut unveils chocolate’s ‘second generation’ with key Venice launch
Barry Callebaut's Peter Boone speaking recently at the launch of its Second Generation Chocolate. Pic: Barry Callebaut
The CEO of Barry Callebaut, Peter Boone, has hailed a “paradigm shift’ for the chocolate industry, in unveiling its ‘second generation chocolate’ at a special launch event in Venice, Italy, reports Neill Barston.
According to the head of the Swiss-headquartered business, its latest offering has formed the culmination of more than eight years of research and development work that has seen a refinement of its fermentation and roasting processes to deliver its latest series.
Among its latest generation’s key reported claims is a focus on ‘cocoa first, sugar last’ promising 50% sugar reduction on its latest much anticipated range, being made available in dark and milk varieties, which gained its international launch this afternoon in Italy.
The business chose the location of Venice, given its dedicated history of craftsmanship and design, which the company has applied to the development of its second generation series, which follows on the heels of the sustainably-forged Wholefruit Chocolate launched in 2019, and Ruby, the ‘fourth type of chocolate’ unveiled in 2017, which has gone on to be adopted by a broad base of markets around the world.
Peter Boone said: “This is not just an innovation, we think it’s a real paradigm shift in the world of chocolate. It’s a product that represents superb quality, an exciting re-invention and a whole new future for our industry. Our business is to bring joy and happiness into the lives of people every day and every second around the world with chocolate. Over the last 200 years of chocolate, there have been numerous milestones, and in this time, they have driven our industry forward, each and every one of them.
“They have dramatically increased the quality of the chocolate that we consume, and today we introduce another, which is more than just an innovation – it is involved everyone at every level in Barry Callebaut, which will usher in a new era of chocolate happiness.”
In a presentation on the new series,’ Bas Smit (below), vice president of global marketing for the business explained that the creation of its latest variant was born out of a realisation that consumers wanted to be both conscious of their diets and lifestyles, as well as having moments of indulgence, which he believed the latest offering delivered.
Furthermore, the company’s head of cocoa science, Marcello Corno was also among those speaking at the launch. He explained that in order to forge the second generation of chocolate, the company completely revised its fermentation processes, to maximise natural flavours from the cacao beans – which stands as a key attribute for the latest series.
As the company explained, its redesign of chocolate making has been described as the Cocoa Cultivation & Craft principle (CCC) – to recognize the special qualities of each cocoa bean and its characteristics.
With initial efforts dating back to early 2000, Barry Callebaut gained new insight from a long-term research program in collaboration with the Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, which it believes will offer a gamechanging solution in production methods.
Second generation breakthrough
As the CEO added, its latest series will ‘enable brands and artisans to create a dynamic new series of second generation chocolate product series and creations,” which he believed would build upon the success of its previous releases in recent years.
Significantly, its ruby series of chocolate, designated as the fourth type of chocolate was swiftly adopted by Nestle, which used it within its flagship KitKat chocolate series, and it has gone on to be adopted by a number of leading manufacturers across the industry.
