Whittaker's Chocolate

Hi people at Whittaker's. I meant to write you this letter about 5 years ago.
It was when you had just introduce a few new varieties to your blocks of chocolate - the dark ghana, dark orange, Cocoa Nib etc.

The feedback was that it was awesome that you had a great range of vegan chocolate, and that's what gives you brand preference of Cadbury's. (As well as tasting better tbh).
At the time I would have suggested that you introduce a Fairtrade variety, as at the time I was going to Trade Aid to buy their blocks, but since then, both you and Cadbury's have! It's very inspiring to see.

So now:
Though I'm no longer vegan, it would be nice to have a Fair Trade dark block. I guess the problem for you is that increased cocoa content might mean too much increased costs for you. You could try making a smaller block, or charging more for a fairtrade dark (certainly I would pay the extra), but I'm guessing there alsorts of marketing impracticalities there.

Also: I've recently picked up a new hobby - baking chocolate brownie. But there is a definate lack of fairtrade cooking chocolate/cocoa at supermarkets. It would be awesome if you could jump in there. :)

Kind Regards

David.

David,
Thank you for your email and your comments about Whittaker's chocolate. We are always interested to hear from consumers. Whittaker's Creamy Milk 250g block, our biggest selling variety is Fairtrade certified. We may look to extending the Fairtrade certification to other varieties when we are certain about the continuity of supply of Fairtrade ingredients. We source our beans from Ghana because they are amongst the best quality beans in the world. We state on our block packaging that we only use Ghanaian cocoa beans (apart from the Madagascar variety). At present there is only one Fairtrade co-op in which can make the supply a little uncertain. Other co-ops are being developed which may help in the future. Also we have to source the sugar for Fairtrade products from Costa Rica which is a lot more difficult than sourcing from Australia.
I am not sure if you are aware of the work that is being conducted in Ghana by the World Cocoa Foundation to help improve the farming conditions. If you go to the website www.worldcocoafoundation.org this details the programmes that are being put in place. We are members of the WCF and fully support their initiatives.
Currently nobody can give a 100% guarantee that labour conditions are perfect but there are a number of organisations working to eliminate any abusive labour practices in Ghana.
Hope this is of help.
Best regards,
Philip Poole.