Tonys Chocolonely

Founded by Teun van de Keuken, a Dutch journalist who launched the crusade against (child) slavery in the chocolate industry on the consumer watchdog show Keuringsdienst van Waarde. Tony is the English equivalent of Teun. Teun was shocked to discover that slavery still existed in the cocoa sector. He tried to discuss the problem with the large chocolate makers, but they ignored him. So he took action. He decided to lead by example and make 5,000 Fairtrade chocolate bars himself. Tony’s Chocolonely was born.

Right now there is modern slavery on cocoa farms in West Africa. Things aren’t being shared evenly in the chocolate supply chain. The chain starts with millions of farmers who produce cocoa and ends with the billions of consumers who enjoy chocolate. But what about the bit in the middle? This section is dominated by a handful of chocolate giants that profit from keeping the price of cocoa as low as possible. As a result, farmers are forced to live in poverty. And that leads to illegal child labour and modern slavery.

In 2012 Tonys changed the wrappers on their bars, they now use uncoated, recycled FSC-certified paper. This means the wrappers on their bars are not coated with porcelain or kaolin. The paper is made from a mixture of recycled and FSC-certified paper and foil they use contains as much recycled material as possible.