The 2-page U.S. Chocolate Market Factsheet contains all the key industry indicators essential for creating a compelling company business or marketing plan: 2011 sales and forecast estimates, as well as discussion of segment sales drivers and emerging product trends. It is attractively priced at $195 and available for immediate download at Vreeland & Associates eStore.

http://www.vreelandassociates.com/products-page/confectionary-market-research/

This reprint from Candy Industry Magazine, August 2102, is available for a free download from our eStore, Articles & Reviews category.

Held in Washington, D.C., 300 guests from 28 countries attended the two-day meeting. Notable guests include the prime minister of Côte d’Ivoire, heads of the Ghanaian and Ivoirian cocoa marketing organizations, governor of West Sulawesi, Indonesia, leading scientists and senior leadership from major industries that represent 80% of the global corporate cocoa/chocolate market.

The topic is prescient, given that the current cultivation system is proving to be unsustainable. An estimated 90% to 95% of cocoa is produced under relatively low yields by growers farming an average of three hectares. The trees are aging and disease/insect prone (an estimated 30% to 40% of the world crop is lost to diseases and pests). In short, in many parts of the world, growing cocoa is no longer a viable livelihood.

Kraft Foods VP Bharat Puri described his company’s efforts with driving transformation in the keynote address titled “Creating a More Delicious World.” As the world’s largest chocolate company, Kraft is leveraging its considerable marketing presence in cocoa producing countries.

“Simple changes can make a big difference,” Puri notes. These changes are identified at the community-level and address perceived constraints, such as building wells and libraries, fostering micro-finance loans and improving the students’ mobility by donating over 10,000 bicycles.

But faced with a forecasted yawning gap between rising demand for chocolate products and falling supplies, more work needs to ensure that cocoa farming remains an viable livelihood for the next generation of farmers. Puri urges the attendees to “get on the bus” and collaborate. Apparently his message landed on fertile ground, as representatives from two cocoa producing countries requested in the follow-up Q&A session that “the bus” visit their countries.

Breakout roundtable discussions included fostering strategic coordination for agricultural development; cocoa and climate change in Southeast Asia; the role of public-private partnerships in the U.S. government’s Global Hunger & Food Security Initiative: Feed the Future; addressing child labor; and conserving cocoa genetic resources and others.

Conserving cocoa genetics has become increasingly important as the sustainability of the global cocoa economy depends upon a broad genetic breeding stock foundation. This stock has been seriously eroded in recent years due to the destruction of native rainforests, natural disasters, extinction of traditional varieties and underfunded germplasm collections. Fortunately, an international initiative, called CacaoNet, is developing a strategy for the conservation and utilization of these resources. Some of the benefits of CacaoNet are conserving the genetic diversity of these critical cacao genepools and strengthening the safe exchange of cacao germplasm, according to Brigitte Laliberté, a consultant with Biodiversity International,

“Measuring results” was the central theme in the “Developing a Sustainable Cocoa Monitoring and Evaluation Platform” session. The CocoaMAP, described as a sector-wide global platform for measuring progress and impacts, was introduced by Dennis Macray, who formerly led Starbucks coffee sustainability programs.

“The concept for this project started at the WCF meeting last year (May, 2011) and evolved over the past year, to include establishing technical working groups with multi stakeholders,” Macray explains. CocoaMAP will be launched this fall and initially will include Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. The final report that includes summary data in an easy to assess dashboard and data drill-down capability is expected in spring 2013.

Since 2000, the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) has been at the forefront of promoting sustainable agricultural stewardship and economic development in cocoa-growing communities. Its annual two-day partnership meeting provides a vantage-point for assessing progress and for coordinating international efforts for improving cocoa farmers’ livelihoods.

“By collaborating across the cocoa supply chain with governments, civil society and the cocoa and chocolate industry, we’re able to maximize funding, training and know-how to more widely boost scale and accelerate development and change in more areas, more quickly than if we were to go it alone,” said WCF Chairwoman and Kraft Foods’ VP of Public Policy Anne Alonzo in prepared remarks.

Examples of this collaboration process included Memoranda of Understanding signed with the U.S. Peace Corps, Ghana Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare and Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of Employment; Letters of Intent signed with UNDP and the G8 Food Security Summit; hosting in partnership with The World Bank and International Finance Corporation the CocoaVision 2020 Workshop in Davos, Switzerland; and expanded partnerships with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service’s Borlaug and Cochran Global Cocoa Fellowships.

Having attended several WCF partnership meetings over the years, it is truly amazing to witness how this organization, in only 12 years since its founding, has positively benefited the entire supply chain of the cocoa industry. President Bill Guyton and his very able staff desire much credit for hosting such a well-managed and informative gathering.

CHOCO-LOVE

Demand for premium candy is booming despite the recession

By Steve Rosenbush Monday, June 4, 2012

Posted in The Daily

Given the state of the economy over the last few years, it might seem surprising that the demand for super premium chocolate, sourced by experts in remote parts of Latin America and Africa and assembled by hand in small factories in the United States, would take off in such a big way. But it has.

Since the depths of the financial crisis and recession in 2008 and 2009, there has been a surge in the number of people who are willing — no, make that determined — to pay $6, $7, $8 or more, for a bar of chocolate.

As poor as the economy has been, the last few years have been defined by other forces as well, including widespread interest in healthy living, locally sourced foods, fair wages and the environment. The market for high-end chocolate — not truffles and confections, but simple bars, the plainer the better — has benefited from all of those trends.

“The chocolate market is growing for any number of reasons. For years, an awareness of the health benefits of chocolate has helped drive this market. And people have parallel concerns about where their food comes from, and a willingness to experiment with $6 chocolate bars,” said John Kehoe, vice president of sourcing and development at TCHO, one of the companies that pioneered the movement seven years ago. “And the product — it’s great.”

TCHO is one of a handful of small companies that make high-end chocolate bars. The company, which has just 30 employees and operates from its headquarters on 100-year-old Pier 17 in San Francisco, is run by Wired magazine co-founders Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe. Other players in the market are Theo Chocolate in Seattle, Mast Brothers in Brooklyn and Askinosie Chocolate in Springfield, Mo.

Those small producers are part of a somewhat broader market for premium chocolate, a multibillion-dollar business in the United States. Market researcher Vreeland & Associates said that the premium category accounted for 12 percent of the $17.3 billion retail chocolate business in 2009. According to Vreeland & Associates, premium chocolate will account for 17 percent of a $19 billion market by 2014 — a  bigger share of a bigger market.

“I am very bullish on the premium chocolate market. That is where all the innovation and all of the energy is,” says Curtis Vreeland, the head of Vreeland & Associates. The total retail chocolate market is growing about 6 percent a year, but he says the premium segment might be growing twice as fast.

During the last few years, confection makers — a tradition-minded group — have increasingly opened themselves to new ideas, incorporating new flavors from cinnamon to sea salt, rosemary and olive oil — and creating products and new ways to consume chocolate, Vreeland said. For example, companies such as Theo and TCHO sell nibs, or small bits of bean that aren’t sweetened or processed into bars.

“It started with the beverage industry, where companies have to innovate because the product life cycle is so short,” Vreeland said.

The innovation moved from the beverage industry to the culinary world, and finally to confections, he said. Chocolate also has benefited from constant reports about its health benefits — it’s rich in antioxidants and can boost the mind and body. And those tales linking it to heightened romantic interest? There’s evidence to support that, too.

“We have learned a lot from the coffee and the wine business,” said Kehoe, who spent years working in Latin America in trade and cocoa exporting until he wound up at TCHO four years ago. There’s a new emphasis on flavors throughout the industry.

He recalls a time when farmers in Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and other cocoa-producing countries rated their produce simply on its physical quality. Certain regions were likely to produce a particular flavor — Ghana, for example, is known for producing a traditional “deep chocolate” taste. A “fruity” taste is unique to the cocoa of Peru, and Ecuador is known for a “nutty” variation. But there was no way to get the best beans of the crop, which were the best expression of local qualities.

So TCHO and other companies have created new supply chains so that they can buy the products they need and produce them according to their own specifications. TCHO is involved in every step of production, from bean to bar, Kehoe said. He created the TCHOsource program, which works with a handful of cooperatives — five in Ecuador and Peru, one government program in Ghana and one co-op in Madagascar.

Working with USAID, a federal agency that has provided a multimillion grant, TCHO is creating “flavor labs,” or mini-roasting stations that allow growers to taste chocolate made from their own cocoa. The growers get to keep the labs and use them with all of their customers, not just TCHO.

“Companies like TCHO are small, but have a big impact,” Kehoe said. The program benefits the farmers, he said, when they can produce a higher quality crop, for which TCHO will pay a premium. He said TCHO will pay 10 percent or 20 percent above the premium already commanded by organic or so-called fair trade produce, certified to ensure fairness to local farmers.

TCHO buys organic and fair trade goods when it can. But its first priority is to buy the best cocoa, regardless of whether it is organic or not.

“Chocolate starts as such as humble product, produced at small farms in the hot steamy tropics. But it can be used to produce products that command an incredible premium, and you can do so much with it,” Vreeland said. “You can give it to your girlfriend. Or you can add bacon to it and it’s guy candy. I can’t think of another product that has given so many people so much joy.”

Madison Chocatiers West Sensation Truffle With Szechuan Flavor Button

In 2011, confectionery flavors trends are being influenced by four general trends: back to comfort, way back to retro, forward to new gastronomic exploration and healthy indulgence. But today’s confectionery consumers are not mono-tracked. Given the economically fickle times, they seem to be bouncing between comfort and exotic flavors.

“They are somewhat tired of being beleaguered by the economic and political news, so [they] want to feel comforted and be transported out of the usual day-to-day with something new,” explains author and TheChocolateLife host Clay Gordon.

These conclusions were identified from extensive interviews with senior managers at major flavor and ingredient suppliers, discussion threads with the online artisan chocolatier community and experts in the premium confectionery segment.

Download this five-page PDF report:  U.S. Confectionery Flavor Trends for 2011

• Botanical and ecological sources of chocolate;
• Cultural and traditional uses of chocolate during the Pre‐Columbian times by the Mesoamericans ‐ the Mayan and Aztec peoples;
• Chocolate use during the Spanish Colonial period and the American Southwest;
• How chocolate enraptured and captivated Europe;
• Historic and Modern changes made to chocolate and the creation of eating chocolate;
• What ingredients make up high quality chocolate and comparisons; and
• Health benefits of dark chocolate.

If you are interested in having Mark give a chocolate presentation to your organization, please do not hesitate to contact him for details.

Mark Sciscenti, Chocolate Historian, Chocolate Artisan
World Tree Chocolates
Santa Fe, NM
marksciscenti@gmail.com or 505‐577‐4261

• eStore to download some of the company’s most popular confectionery industry research reports.
• Blog posts and videos on current confectionery and chocolate trend setting topics.
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We will be posting weekly on current confectionery topics.  Be sure to sign up for our newsletter, “like” us on Facebook and watch for our Twitter feeds.

Judging will take place the day of the Show between 1:00pm-2:00pm.   The judges are Curtis Vreeland, president of Vreeland & Associates, and Le Bec Fin’s Executive Pastry Chef Cedric Barberet.  Vreeland is founder of the Next Generation Chocolatier Competition, the country’s only national artisan chocolate competition.  Chef Barberet uses his international training to meld innovative techniques with classic elements.   One of his many credits was creating in 2005 Donald Trump’s wedding cake.

Entries are being accepted until April 8th. Click here for guidelines. The two categories are:

• Sweet and Savory: pairs with any other meal at any time of day
• A day to remember: a wedding chocolate or dessert with chocolate

About Bucks County Chocolate Show
The show is a venue based on looking into the trends within the Chocolate Industry and sharing all the excitement and flavor that it brings, to the general public.  Creating a template for other chocolate shows, this contest is just another way to showcase exceptional things that are happening in ‘The World of Chocolate’.  Winners will be recognized with photos sent to a Global dl of approximately 2,000 people in ‘The World of Chocolate’, A list press, press releases reaching the Mid-Atlantic region, blogs, event planners, restaurants and inns throughout the Region.  To contact the event organizer,  call Gretchen Tartakoff at 215.850.6292 or email grt@buckscountychocolateshow.com.

That said, below are some noteworthy examples of confectionery trends.

Droga Confections

Knipschildt Chocolatier

Comptoir du Cacao

New Tree

Xan Confections

Over the years scientists have discovered that chocolate is naturally packed with many healthy properties. Our next chocolate maker, Irvine, CA-based Xan Confections, has taken chocolate’s good-for-you benefits, fortified them, and separated them into five specific functional categories under the CocoXan brand. They are:

• Coco Heart (with antioxidants)
• Coco Well (with Wellmune WGP)
• Coco Brain (with vitamins & DHA)
• Coco Preggers (for new & soon-to-be moms; with Folic Acid and DHA omega-3)
• Coco PMS (with antioxidants & anti-inflammatory ingredients and sold with the byline: “Unbitch yourself”)

Moonstruck Chocolatier