People are not prone to agree with one another. If you gather a dozen people together for a dinner party and the subject turns to politics or religion, then there is inevitably going to be an argument. There is one thing, however, that there is a near universal consensus on: chocolate is a wonderful and delicious thing. While Europe and the United States account for most chocolate consumption, the confection is growing in popularity in Asia and market forecasts are optimistic about the prospects in China and India (Nieburg, 2013, para 9). According to the CNN Freedom Project, the chocolate industry rakes in $83 billion a year, surpassing the Gross Domestic Product of over a hundred nations (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 3). If chocolate continues grow popular in Asia, it stands to become even more lucrative. Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the production of this popular sweet benefits. Today, over 70 percent of the world’s chocolate is exported from Africa (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 10). While chocolate industry flourishes under international demand, the situation in Côte d’Ivoire in particular illustrates dependency theory and highlights the need for the promotion of Fair Trade. Chocolate has had a considerable impact on the country’s economic structure and labor practices. During Valentine’s week alone, millions of pounds of chocolate candies alone are sold (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 8). This naturally creates a demand for product, which in turns causes a need for ingredients. The main component in chocolate, of course, is cocoa. Since Côte d’Ivoire provides 40 percent of the world’s supply of this crucial ingredient (Losch, 2002, p. 206), it merits investigation i... ... middle of paper ... ...f-2012>. "Slavery-Free Chocolate." Stop Chocolate Slavery. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. . Ritzer, George. Globalization: the essentials. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print. Walton, A. (2010). What is Fair Trade?. Third World Quarterly, 31(3), 431-447. "Who consumes the most chocolate?." The CNN Freedom Project Ending Modern Day Slavery RSS. 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. . Wright, L. T., & Heaton, S. (2006). Fair Trade marketing: an exploration through qualitative research. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 14(4), 411-426. doi:10.1080/09652540600948019 Zak, L. (2009, 04). Not all's fair in love of chocolate. Food Magazine, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198287549?accountid=12964
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Show MoreChocolate bars are thought of as impulse buys, which means they require no thought. This is due to how inexpensive they are. However, if an ingredient such as sugar was to rise drastically, so will the cost of the chocolate bar therefore changing the buyer's perspective on the product class.
An article “Is There Child Slavery in Your Chocolate?” by John Robbins explains how chocolate companies supply their cocoa, and how it’s produced. Cocoa is grown in Ivory Coast in West Africa in high tropical climates. Robbin explains that West Africa is the world’s largest cocoa bean supplier it provides 43 percent of world supply. Hersey’s has by far the worst practices and policies, they enslave children from ages 11 and up, or even children as young as 5. They utilize them for abusive labor they force children to work the cocoa farm fields. Hersey’s is the world’s largest chocolate supplier they purchase their cocoa from West Africa. However, Heresy’s supply practices are by far the worst they enforce abusive labor as well as human trafficking
For example, in 2013, one in three bananas sold in the UK carried the Fairtrade certification mark. This demonstrates the appetite for food traded on fairer terms and is seen as a discernible shift in consumer awareness and behaviour.
In 2013, about 7.4 million tons of chocolate is expected to be consumed globally, totaling to nearly $110 billion (Pardomuan, Nicholson). I can honestly say that I will be one of the many people who contribute immensely to those massive quantities. Chocolate has always been one of my guilty pleasures, leading me to consider myself a “chocoholic.” After 20 years of eating chocolate, I learned there is more to chocolate than meets the eye. Many chemicals compose each delicious piece creating multiple psychological effects on the mind. With the knowledge of the chemical and psychological influences that chocolate has on the human mind and body and my own curiosity as to why I love it so much, this led me to ask: Why is chocolate considered such a pleasurable and craveable food?
Fair Trade is an organization that helps certify farmers get the right amount of money for their products. It was founded in 1992, the headquarters is in London, England, UK. Fair trade is a non profitable organisation. Without Fair Trade; the shops and the investors will get profit but the farmer won't. Fair Trade helps the farmers have a safe vision of the amount of profits they will get.
The recent product, liquor filled chocolates is a viable business that can sell if it is implemented professionally. This recent innovation should be able to acquire attention from the market owing to its combination of selling products. Put simply, the liquor-filled chocolates are chocolates that contain alcohol. According to Novellino (2011), Chocolate-candy sales summed up to $16 billion in 2008 in the U.S. Furthermore, the statistics on alcohol reveals that liquor sales hit $19.9 billion in 2011. What does the statistics reveal about the product? This reveals that the market for the two products is present and combining them will result in a profitable business. This paper is a report on targeting and segmenting the new liquor filled chocolates as a potential business.
Apparently, child slave labor has been out of hand in the chocolate industry for over fifteen years. In West Africa, children are forced to work on farms harvesting cocoa under inhumane conditions. They would be routinely beaten and would be given insufficient amounts of food. These children are stripped of their human rights. In July 2015, a report from Tulane University found a fifty-one percent increase in the number of children working in the cocoa industry from 2008/09 to 2013/14. In response to child slavery in West Africa, Hershey and other companies in the chocolate industry will invest $400 million by 2020 to increase the supply of certified cocoa and decrease questionable labor practices. They will educate farmers and their families of the dangers of child labor (“Lawsuit: Your Candy Bar Was Made By Child
Chocolate or cacao was first discovered by the Europeans as a New World plant, as the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. In Latin, Theobroma literally means: “food of the Gods” (Bugbee, Cacao and Chocolate: A Short History of Their Production and Use). Originally found and cultivated in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America, its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl, a Nahuatl word meaning “bitter water” (Grivetti; Howard-Yana, Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage). It was also a beverage in Mayan tradition that served a function as a ceremonial item. The cacao plant is g...
Chocolate companies changed from minimal production to massive manufacturing. Thus, targeting different market segments that weren’t possible to reach due to the high cost of the good. The market was able to shift because of the industrialization process that includes several innovations, such as van Houten’s process, this allowed a broad production and distribution of chocolate that spread around the globe.
Claire’s Chocolates has a mix of quality, hand make chocolate products sold individually, in varying sized gift packs, and boxed chocolate. As well, the organization sells a variety of hot chocolate drinks for the chocolate connoisseur, along with quality coffees and teas. Each hot beverage is accompanied by an individual chocolate product and this also allows the customer to taste and experience a unique chocolate product first, before potentially purchasing it at a later date.
Fair-trade is often the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about small coffee bean farmers and the coffee crisis. Fair-trade practices encourage the international trading community to use sustainable business practices that will ensure the livelihoods and development of small, independent coffee farmers (Utting 2009). Research shows that fair-trade efforts are attempting to alleviate the coffee crisis and have had little to no negative impact on Central American coffee farmers. Fair-trade practices are designed to provide farmers with a fair price for their produce. Coffee shops that sell fair-trade coffee beans charge extra but unfortunately the coffee farmers do not see the financial return from the fair-trade coffee (Sick 2009). There has been considerable media and hype of the ‘green’ or fair-trade coffee bean and how the collapse of the fair-trade coffee beans is the cause for the coffee industry. Consumer misconception has actually resulted in an oversupply of the coffee beans which only creates an even greater drop in coffee prices. But even consumer misconception about fair-trade coffee can be ruled out as a major cause for the crisis because Cent...
The aim of this report is to present and critically estimate the market strategies of an international and a local chocolate manufacturer in Austria. The analysis is carried out in three stages – macro-environment (PEST analysis), micro-environment (Porter’s Five Forces Model) and company comparison (SWOT analysis). In the end, recommendations are given for the local brand Wiener Schokolade König.
The 58 million pounds of chocolate eaten on chocolate the drenched holiday of Valentines Day is likely made from cocoa beans from West Africa. The Ivory Coast, also known as Cote D'ivoire in Africa is the source of about 35 percent of the world’s cocoa production. These cocoa beans were likely harvested by unpaid child workers that are being held captive on plantations as slaves. Chocolate companies use these cocoa plantations as their cocoa source for their chocolate products. And since the companies want to maximize their profit, they push plantation owners to lower prices, causing plantations to cut price any way possible (Philpott).
SHEILA KEARNS Chocolate & Confections will bring Honest Chocolate to the masses market by market while teaching chocolate enthusiast not to compromise on quality, and how to store perishable chocolates.
(Preview Speech) Chocolate goes through the harvesting of the cocoa bean, to the processing at the factory, to even more processes to finalize the product.