The Me to We chocolate bar will retail for $4.99 per bar. Although great chocolates are made around the world, the highest quality cacao beans come from Ecuador. The farmers there, though, don’t always benefit as much as they should from producing the beans, says Elizabeth Frank.YURIKO NAKAO/Reuters
After working for years in the delicious business of chocolate, Elizabeth Frank wondered: What if something that tastes good can also do good?
She's about to find out.
"This year, at We Day Toronto on Sept. 28, we will be launching Me to We chocolate to this passionate audience and they will be the first Canadians to try it," says Ms. Frank, who left Nestlé SA after more than 15 years in the cacao craft to launch her own strategic consulting company.
The Toronto woman got to work on developing a taste treat that We could market and which, unlike many conventional chocolate products, would treat cacao farmers fairly. The idea was to make sure that farmers receive good prices for their hard work and not-so-secret ingredient, cacao.
Although great chocolates are made around the world, the highest quality cacao beans, known as fino de aroma, come from Ecuador, and the farmers there don't always benefit as much as they should from producing the beans.
"Conventionally, the market approach is to buy cacao at the lowest-possible price and generate the highest possible profit. Cacao farmers often find themselves at the bottom rung of a long profit-driven ladder, where they receive the least benefit from one of the world's highest volume and loved treats," Ms. Frank says.
"Many farmers struggle to keep their children in school and to provide them with the necessities of life."
We chocolates can make a difference, Ms. Frank says. True, it fetches a premium price, retailing at $4.99 for a chocolate bar. "But it is no ordinary chocolate bar," Ms. Frank says.
"It is among the highest quality chocolate in the world. The percentage of cacao in fine chocolate is much higher than in an ordinary candy bar," Ms. Frank explains.
Another plus is the impact that comes from buying and enjoying a We chocolate bar.
"Whether you evaluate it based on the pure enjoyment of the taste, or on the way it puts the cacao farmers first, it is the best bar out there," Ms. Frank says.
"This chocolate changes lives. It is no ordinary chocolate bar. And it also happens to taste really great. And it delivers a tangible impact that gives back to the community.
"The way it works is that, Me to We chocolate employs our own local, direct trade model developed through our social enterprise. We call this 'closed loop,' " Ms. Frank explains.
"We have identified and partnered with cacao farmers in coastal Ecuador. The cacao farmers, and their families in the surrounding communities the We organization works with, directly benefit from each purchase," she says.
"The profits that we return to the cacao farming community mean that with every bite of chocolate, you are giving back life-changing education, health care, clean water, food and opportunity in Ecuador."
Ms. Frank says that the advantage of closed loop production is that it "puts the producer first, not just by paying the farmers a fair price for their cacao, but also by returning profits directly back to the communities in which they live."
Profits go directly into the We Villages program – for education, clean water, health care, food and other economic opportunities.
Another great aspect to Me to We's chocolate program is that We Day participants can be involved on many levels.
"First, they will be the first consumers to try the chocolate when we launch it at We Day 2017.
"Secondly, within our We Schools curriculum, students will learn about the change we are delivering in Ecuador. And they will have the opportunity to see the life-changing impact first-hand on our experiential volunteer trips to Ecuador," Ms. Frank says.
"Not only does each bite of Me to We chocolate change a life – it also delivers a creamy, rich, complex flavour hit that we think is pretty special."