We Love Our Farmers
We believe that the best quality raw cacao comes from
a partnership at eye level with our farmers, and paying them a fair price.
What is Direct Trade?
We know that "Fair Trade" has a good reputation. Still, we have chosen to go a step further and do Direct Trade.
Direct Trade means that we buy our cacao directly from local farmers' cooperatives. This allows us to have a much clearer understanding of the cacao supply chain and enables us to ensure fair prices, correct payments and respectful treatment for everyone involved.
We know which farmers' cooperatives our cacao comes from and all our farmers benefit from the considerably higher prices we pay compared to the market price.
Organic Cacao Farming
Our farmers only grow cacao that is certified organic. Organic quality is important for the taste of chocolate and keeping the earth healthy. No pesticides are used in the sustainable cultivation of Lovechock cacao (Skal 025561). Another advantage of the "no toxins, no mono-culture farming" policy is that farmers enjoy a better quality of life. Working in harmony with the natural habitat, they are not only farming cacao but also their own food and other cash crops, giving them multiple sources of income.
Production in South America
Another special feature of our cacao sourcing is that the raw cacao mass is made locally in Ecuador and Peru. Unlike most other chocolate manufacturers, we do not ship the beans to Europe or Asia, where further production is cost-effective, but work with our local partners in Ecuador and Peru.
There are two reasons for this approach: The production of raw cacao mass is a special and highly sensitive procedure requiring short temperature-controlled fermentation, a strict pre-selection of the beans and special drying conditions. We are convinced that nobody does this better than our partners in Ecuador and Peru with their longstanding know-how and cacao traditions.
And secondly, we prefer to keep a bigger part of the value creation chain in the country of origin in order to create local incomes.
Our Chocolate Factory
Once finished, the raw cacao mass is shipped to Europe, directly to our chocolate making facility. Here we make all our delicious chocolates - mixing the recipes, forming the chocolate and packing it. The production takes place under temperature-controlled conditions to achieve the best raw quality.