Tony's Chocolonely

Tony's Chocolonely Nederland B.V.
Private
Industry Confectionery
Founded Amsterdam, Netherlands
November 29, 2005 (2005-11-29)
Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands
Key people
 Henk Jan Beltman
(CEO, shareholder)
Teun van de Keuken
(Founder)
Products Chocolate bars
Website www.tonyschocolonely.com/us/

Tony's Chocolonely is a Dutch confectionery company focused on producing and selling chocolate closely following fair trade practices, strongly opposing slavery and child labour by partnering with trading companies in Ghana and Ivory Coast to buy cocoa beans directly from the farmers, providing them with a fair price for their product and combating exploitation.

The company's slogan is: "Crazy about chocolate, serious about people".

History

In 2002, investigative reporter Teun van de Keuken of the Dutch television show Keuringsdienst van Waarde found that none of the chocolate manufacturers that had signed the Harkin–Engel Protocol was upholding the agreements made in 2001 (producing 'slave-free' chocolate from 2005 on), he decided to take matters into his own hands by recording himself eating 17 bars of chocolate and subsequently taking himself to court for "knowingly purchasing an illegally manufactured product". To make a case against himself, he convinced four former cocoa plantation child slaves from Ivory Coast to testify against him. By 2007, the Dutch attorney general had the case dismissed for being outside their jurisdiction.

When none of the companies he contacted showed any interest in producing chocolate bars made differently, he started manufacturing his own chocolate, and in November introduced a milk chocolate bar made entirely from 'slave-free' cocoa.

On February 6, 2007 a court ruling in Amsterdam officially acknowledged that Tony's Chocolonely chocolate was produced in a slave-free manner.[1] A Dutch importer for Swiss-brand chocolates unsuccessfully sued the team behind Tony's Chocolonely for reputation damage, claiming that "slave-free chocolate is impossible to produce".[2]

When a hazelnut milk chocolate bar was added to the lineup in 2010, Dutch TV show 'Een Vandaag' reported that 9-year-old children participated in the Turkish hazelnut harvest.[3]The company responded by immediately switching to a local hazelnut supplier from the Netherlands. The same year, the market-share of the brand exceeded 4.5 percent in the Netherlands.[4]

In 2011 Henk Jan Beltman became a majority shareholder and moved the company to a new location near Westergasfabriek.

With production steadily increasing, the company decided in 2015 to expand their business to the United States, opening their first international office in Portland, Oregon.[5]

As of 2018, outside of home country the Netherlands, Tony's Chocolonely is found in stores in Belgium, Sweden, United States and Germany. In the Netherlands its market share was 16,7% in 2017.[6]

Products

  • Large bars
  • Small bars
  • Tiny Tony's
  • Personalised chocolate bars
  • Chocolate milk
  • Chocolate Easter eggs
  • Chocolate Letters

The available flavours of the chocolate bars are:

  • Milk chocolate 32%
  • Extra dark chocolate 70%
  • Dark almond sea salt 51%
  • Dark milk pretzel toffee 42%
  • Dark pecan coconut 51%
  • Milk caramel sea salt 32%
  • Milk hazelnut 32%

The company introduces each year, between October and December, three new chocolate bar flavours. The most appreciated of the three limited editions is then added to the permanent collection.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Uitspraak Rechtbank Amsterdam, 06 februari 2007, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2007:AZ7870 (Dutch)
  2. ↑ Tony's Chocolonely mag zich slaafvrij noemen, Trouw, 6 februari 2007. (Dutch)
  3. ↑ Hoe haalbaar is Fair Trade? (Dutch)
  4. ↑ Bij Tony Chocolonely draait het niet alleen om winst maken (Dutch)
  5. ↑ Tony's Chocolonely launches in Portland
  6. ↑ "Feiten en cijfers over 2016 en 2017". TonysChocolonely.com. Retrieved 1 August 2018. (Dutch)
  7. ↑ "chocoshop". TonysChocolonely.com. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
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