Mission & Values
Our approach to chocolate sets us apart as a company. Our model is based on a core idea - chocolate can be made in a way that allows everyone in the bean-to-bar process to thrive.
We invite people to discover a better world through chocolate.
Our Mission
As a company rooted in cocoa, our mission is to create a more beautiful, compassionate, and enduring world by responsibly making delicious and inspiring products for everyone.
Our Values
Created by Theo Employees, our values are the foundation of how we do business.
Community. Honesty. Excellence. Well-Being.
Our mission and values guide each decision we make at Theo.
From the cocoa farmer in the Congo, to the truck driver in Seattle, and the chocolate lover in Philadelphia, we believe there is a thread that runs through us all. The choices we make here in Seattle touch lives across the planet in real and lasting ways. That knowledge, and that responsibility, drives us to do things in ways that contribute towards a more compassionate and enduring world.
It’s why we make our own chocolate, to ensure that everyone is treated in a way that we can be proud of and that only the highest quality ingredients and processes are used.
This model has some very real impacts on the way we do business.
Third Party Verification
We use third parties to certify that both Theo and everyone we work with is being authentic in our claims. It gives both us, and those who love our chocolate, peace of mind that each Theo product is helping to create better lives for everyone. Our own facilities are certified and we get audited each year along with our suppliers. The audit looks at a number of things such as wages, working conditions, and our environmental impact. This is different than companies who may buy fair trade ingredients but don’t verify their own practices through an audit each year.
Stable Pricing
We have opted out of the global commodity cocoa market, because the prices it pays are volatile and leave farmers guessing about how much money they’ll make year to year. Low cocoa prices means farms aren’t always profitable, and disincentivize farmers from investing in their farms or families. Cocoa cannot be sustainable in that model because farmers have no reason to keep growing it. In contrast, Theo has a reliable base price, negotiated annually with our farm partners for meeting base quality specifications. We also pay an additional price premium for better quality beans. Offering a stable price to farmers allows them to plan their future with confidence, and quality premiums provide an incentive to maintain and improve the quality of their cocoa.
Full Transparency
Throughout this process and along our entire supply chain, we are committed to full transparency. We work and trade directly with our suppliers to determine prices and visit all of our cocoa origins each year to make sure we’re understanding their circumstances and challenges as well. Beyond just being transparent with farmers about pricing, we strive for all of the cocoa farmers we do business with to have tasted the chocolate made from their beans. Most farmers who grow cocoa are so disconnected from the process, they don’t know who ultimately makes chocolate from their beans or what it tastes like. We believe that full transparency is required to earn consumer’s confidence in our business practices and supplier’s confidence in our partnerships.