In the context of soaring cocoa prices, Tony’s Chocolonely, a Dutch chocolatier, continues to experience remarkable growth and success. According to its latest FAIR report published on February 4, 2025, the company announced a 33% revenue increase, reaching €200 million. This impressive performance underscores the brand’s commitment to social responsibility and ethical business practices, even amid industry challenges.

“The latest Annual Fair Report illustrates the strides we’ve made to expand our impact and our business simultaneously,” stated Douglas Lamont, CEO of Tony’s Chocolonely. He emphasized the company’s focus on addressing what it identifies as the three critical issues in the cocoa sector: insufficient living income, child labor, and deforestation. Lamont noted that the firm has made substantial progress in West Africa, asserting that “our sourcing principles are positively impacting farming families.”

The report highlights three significant milestones achieved over the past year: record revenue, a reduction of cocoa’s climate impact by half, and a doubling of farm resilience. This annual report encompasses the brand’s financial year from October 2023 to September 2024, aligning with the cocoa growing and harvesting calendar.

The Plight of Cocoa

Recent cocoa growing seasons have been marked by crop shortages that have escalated cocoa prices. The financial implications are significant, leaving both companies and consumers grappling with increasing costs. In the past year alone, cocoa prices surged dramatically, escalating from approximately $3,600 per metric tonne in October 2023 to a staggering $12,440 in June 2024.

Describing this period as “one of the most volatile years in cocoa market history,” Tony’s Chocolonely also pointed out that crop yields have diminished by 20%. Lamont remarked on the challenges faced by the industry due to soaring cocoa prices, stating, “Despite these hurdles, Tony’s Chocolonely is thriving, and our positive impact in West Africa is expanding as well.”

Scaling Cocoa Responsibly

Tony’s Chocolonely’s growth trajectory is attributed mainly to its expansion efforts in the United States, where the brand saw an impressive 86% increase in business due to successful partnerships with major retailers such as Walmart and Kroger.

In addition to retail growth, the company’s collaborative sourcing initiative, known as Tony’s Open Chain, has outpaced overall brand growth by achieving a 71% increase in the ethical sourcing of cocoa beans. “This success is thanks to new partnerships, including Mr. Beast Feastables and UK supermarket Waitrose,” Lamont noted.

Tony’s Open Chain aims to foster collaboration in cocoa sourcing while maintaining competitive chocolate offerings. It allows other confectioners and companies to become Mission Allies, sourcing cocoa beans according to Tony’s Five Sourcing Principles. These principles include ensuring a living income for all cocoa sourced from communities where the Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System is fully implemented. Tony reports significantly lower child labor cases in their partner cooperatives, with rates under 4%, compared to over 47% in the broader industry.

Lamont asserts, “Our report this year provides further evidence that our Five Sourcing Principles model can operate at scale, delivering substantial long-term benefits to cocoa farmers and their families, particularly in efforts to eradicate child labor from the cocoa supply chain.”

Acknowledging its rapid growth, Tony’s Chocolonely also emphasizes that its cocoa volumes have surged even faster. “We’ve welcomed numerous new partners, our Mission Allies, who have chosen to source their cocoa through Tony’s Open Chain, including some of the fastest-growing chocolate brands and well-known grocery retailers,” Lamont stated.

Building Resiliency and Ending Exploitation

Beyond addressing exploitation in the cocoa sector, Tony’s Chocolonely is dedicated to developing a more resilient supply chain that can withstand climate-related challenges. During the recent crop-growing season, cooperatives involved in Tony’s Open Chain reported crop losses of only 11%, which is significantly lower than the industry average.

As a result, the brand has raised its cocoa bean order volumes to 30,000 metric tonnes, marking a 71% year-on-year increase. To drive systemic change, Tony believes it is essential to demonstrate to the industry that this business model is beneficial for shareholders as well. “The figures show we’re on the right track, with significantly increased net revenue while maintaining a positive EBITDA, driven by strong growth in the US and various core European markets,” Lamont explained.

Tony’s mission addresses the plight of millions of West African cocoa farmers who struggle to earn a living income, leading to persistent poverty, child labor, deforestation, and underinvestment in their farms. Currently, over 1.5 million children are engaged in illegal labor on cocoa plantations, with forced labor affecting approximately 30,000 individuals. Alarmingly, 80-95% of rainforests in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have been lost since 1955, with cocoa production contributing to one-third of this devastation.

“Through close collaboration with all our Mission Allies, we are demonstrating that by working together, we can eliminate exploitation within the cocoa industry,” Lamont concluded.