Every decision made at Theo is rooted in our mission and values
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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.
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VALUES
Created by Theo Employees, our values are the foundation of how we do business.
Community. Honesty.
Excellence. Well-Being.
ethical sourcing
Our sourcing strategy and commitment to using the highest quality ingredients sets us apart. Every ingredient we use is carefully chosen to ensure it’s not only delicious, but meets our organic and fair trade commitments.
THIRD PARTY CERTIFICATIONS
Our commitments to organic and fair trade are core to who Theo is as a company and guide every new product development decision we make, no matter how difficult it is to source (just ask our new product development team about their dream ingredients!). We partner with third-party organizations to back up each of the commitments we make.
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Fair for Life
Fair Trade is an international system including certifications that guarantee producers have been paid a price that enables positive economic growth for the individual and the region.
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USDA Organic
Every Theo ingredient has been verified as organic (except for items where this is not possible, such as salt, or where such verification is very elusive) and we work with farmers and suppliers to ensure these standards are maintained.
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Organic is Always Non-GMO
Did you know that the USDA organic certification also prohibits the use of GMOs? This means whenever you see the USDA organic seal, you can trust that the products are also non-GMO. For those who don’t know, we’ve adopted this seal from our friends at Organic Valley.
THEO COCOA SOURCING APPROACH
Our cocoa beans and the lives they touch are at the heart of our mission and business – and since our founding we’ve focused on knowing exactly where our cocoa beans come from and building relationships with the communities who grow them. As the primary ingredient in all of our products, we have an even deeper approach to sourcing cocoa beans to combat the common issues in the cocoa industry:
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Fair Wages for Farmers
We pay more than conventional cocoa bean prices to contribute to fair trade development funds for the communities who grow our beans.
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No Forced Child Labor
Our Fair Trade, Fair for Life certification ensures that work is done to prevent forced child labor from occurring on farms where we source cocoa.
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Sustainable Farming
Through our trading partner, Esco Kivu, farmers are trained with an emphasis on agroforestry, shade grown cocoa, and crop diversity.
Cocoa Pricing Breakdown
The price paid for our cocoa is one of the key differences between Theo and the conventional chocolate industry. Every metric ton of cocoa purchased for Theo includes premiums that go above and beyond the base price and additional costs that conventional cocoa includes. We report on Freight on Board (FOB) Pricing, which is set when the transporter takes possession of beans for us at the port of Mombasa in Kenya.
Here’s how the pricing for every ton of beans stacks up:
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BASE PRICE TO FARMERS:
This fluctuates based on market prices at the time the cocoa is shipped (see page 5 for an update on the market in 2024!).
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ORGANIC PREMIUM:
An extra premium is added to the conventional market price to reflect the high quality organic beans that are purchased.
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FAIR TRADE DEVELOPMENT FUND:
Fair trade premiums are paid on top of the price of each metric ton of cocoa to the community growing the beans as a development fund.
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ADDITIONAL COSTS:
This includes miscellaneous costs for final processing of the beans, infrastructure, transporters, freight costs, farmer training and agronomists. In the case of beans purchased from Watalinga, this is paid to Esco Kivu, who provides administrative and operational support to farmers.
2024 COCOA MARKET INSIGHTS
per metric ton*
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$6,830
average price paid to farmers
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$240
paid into fair trade development fund
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$4,914
average delivered price**
THREE YEAR COCOA SUPPLY CHAIN TREND
*The average price is calculated across all beans delivered – not contracted - in 2024.
**This is our average FOB price, which means Freight on Board. It includes the base price, premiums and additional costs described in the Cocoa Pricing Breakdown.
fair trade development funds
FAIR TRADE DEVELOPMENT FUND CONTRIBUTIONS
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$132,000
2024 fair trade development fund contributions
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$2.72 million
cumulative fair trade development funds since 2005
SOURCING SPOTLIGHT:WATALINGA, DEMOCRATICREPUBLIC OF CONGO
All of the beans purchased for our chocolate in 2024 continued to come from Watalinga, in Democratic Republic of Congo. We began purchasing beans from this region back in 2012, when we partnered with Eastern Congo Initiative (a NGO), our trading partner ESCO Kivu, and small holder farmers in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Together, we invested over $800,000 in infrastructure, cocoa capacity projects, and direct payments to farmers which supported increasing bean quality and yield. Since then, the region has developed into a successful organic cocoa growing region.
Maintaining this partnership through our own operational changes over the past year was incredibly important to us, and the beans used to make our chocolate have continued to fund the efforts of the Watalinga Cocoa Farmer’s Association.
The WATALINGA COCOA FARMERS ASSOCIATION receives funds from the purchase of each metric ton of cocoa, and determines how the funds are best spent in support of their community.
compostable packaging
Our team has been exploring how Theo Chocolate treats can be packaged in more sustainable materials. Viable sustainable packaging options are relatively new, and materials that meet our needs are still limited. Once a new option is found, an extensive process of development, research, and production testing is required before new packaging can be introduced to market.
In 2023, Theo Chocolate debuted Filled chocolate bars in a plant-based packaging material, which is made from Non-GMO sugarcane and Pacific Northwest-sourced, FSC-certified paper. In 2024, the team progressed towards their goal of achieving compostable certification using this same material base.
The Theo New Product Development and Design teams partnered closely with packaging vendors to overcome challenges in print quality and production with the certified compostable materials. After several rounds of testing, our team successfully scaled and launched one flavor in the Filled line, Cashew Caramel Crunch, in BPI-certified compostable packaging. This launch marks a big step toward Theo’s goal of reducing the introduction of new plastics entering the world.
