What They Do
Chocolate bars. That’s it for the moment – a focused brand
Where They Do It
Ghana is the home of the Cocoa beans and the UK is the primary consumer market. However they also have a US, Netherlands and Scandanavian presence. Manufacturing is carried out in the EU although I could not see where on their site.
Who Are They
Unusually (and great to see) 45% of the ownership sits with the producer coop in Ghana. The MD of Divine is Sophi Tranchell.
The Ethical Bit?
As you saw above the producer co-op owns 45% of the shares in Divine and is strongly represented on the board. That Fair Trade ethos is the dominant ethical focus of the business and other elements such as organic are touched on but are not a core driver.
My Thoughts
Love this business and enjoy their products. Will this scale much beyond its turnover of £12M? Possibly not – the focused approach sees it do what it does really well and the goals of the business maybe achieved within the current operation.
Their website is full of relevant content and really informative – check out the timeline here for example. So many ethical food businesses forget to be open and complete about their operations – not through maliciousness but by not understanding the importance of communications to a brand.
Links To More
Interview with MD – www.smarta.com/advice/general/sophi-tranchell-divine-chocolate
/ keith
UPDATE 4th November – Sophi Tranchell is one of the key speakers at a Social Enterprise Conference in Bristol on 10th November 2012 – details here.
biabeag (small food) 