Digital innovation to advance chocolate sector
Setting a precedent for a greenwashing-free chocolate industry, German brand EcoFinia is utilizing groundbreaking tracking technology to demonstrate full supply chain traceability.
Its organic, Fairtrade, vegan label iChoc now comes with a ‘Farmer to Bar’ QR function enabling consumers to track the roots of their purchase back to one of 240 specific cacao growers in Yamasá, Dominican Republic.
The tool uses hundreds of precisely documented multi-source data elements, visualized on an interactive world map – a system which took over a year to develop. With no other chocolate brands known to be adopting tracking technology to this extent, the level of traceability is pioneering. While the system ‘has some inefficiencies’, according to Gerrit Wiezoreck, EcoFinia MD, it’s a ‘step in the right direction’.
Full traceability, he explains, means going further than tracking chocolate back to a single fermentation and drying centre. “We are voluntarily leading the way and creating maximum transparency for our customers. It is extremely difficult to trace raw materials like cocoa due to the decentralized structure of the supply chain. The good players in the chocolate field were always able to name the cooperative from which they buy chocolate, but cooperatives are large entities consisting of thousands of farmers – there’s a lot of anonymity. What makes it so innovative is that we’re going the last mile that nobody so far was able to go. This last mile is the most complicated step, both digitally and administratively.”
Committed partnership
Speaking on what the initiative means to cacao growers, Wiezoreck says this level of transparency means ‘recognition and valuation’ for farmers like Juan Matheu De la Rosa (pictured left). “The farmer is seen for his or her hard work. This is the most important thing. This commitment has long-lasting effects. It brings steadiness, reliance, planability … a committed partnership,” says the MD.
When Wiezoreck visited Yamasá his project received support from local farmers. Due to economic barriers and humidity challenges, many Dominican Republic farmers have never had the opportunity to taste chocolate, so the visit concluded with a presentation of finished product. “The people creating the raw material are handing in wet beans; most of them don’t see the end product. For them, tasting a chocolate spread or bar is special and highly rewarding. The end product would not be possible without them.”
In further commitment to Yamasá residents, each time a consumer tracks a bar via the QR, EcoFinia makes a donation to a project chosen by the community itself – a large aqueduct providing clean water to one of the regions which supplies iChoc’s cacao. This ongoing support – which aims to hit €20,000 a year – follows an initial investment from the brand to kick-start construction of the aqueduct.
As part of its 2025 growth plans iChoc has undergone a brand refresh featuring updated packaging designs, released two new flavours (Cinnamon Bun and Jackfruit & Coconut) and secured a new listing with Oxfam.
By Rosie Greenaway, editor