Britain's fast-growing organic chocolate maker Green & Black's, a unit of Cadbury, is persuading cocoa growers to switch to organic from conventional afarming in order to sustain its expansion plans.
Green & Black's is the UK's leading organic chocolate maker, having multiplied annual sales almost tenfold in recent years to 30 million pounds as tastes have shifted towards premium confectionery, its marketing director Mark Palmer said.
Green & Black's, which began as a small family-owned concern 14 years ago, estimates it now has a 6.4 percent share of large-block chocolate bars sold in the UK.
"We believe we are using a quarter of the world's organic beans," Palmer said on Tuesday at a two-day chocolate and confectionery conference on organised by Agra Informa Ltd.
"To meet our growth target will be impossible unless we persuade farmers to convert to organic," he added.
In producing regions the conversion process would take four years.
"We have to source the beans. It means giving the farmers longer-term security," he added, referring to the increased incomes farmers would receive from organic beans.
He said the recent acquisition of Green & Black's by Cadbury would give the company long-term stability of ownership as it sought to boost supplies of organic beans.
Organic chocolate demand has surged in Britain as consumers increasingly favour foods perceived as free of chemical inputs such as pesticides.
Green & Black's has devised a strategy to target consumers most likely to pay a premium for its product.
It identifies four customer segments - those with a taste for adventurous foods; those who have little time but seek quality fare; those who appreciate luxury in their daily lives; and those who buy foods because it is organic.
Green & Black's has developed close ties with UK supermarket chain Waitrose as both companies seek to be identified as providers of premium foods.
Some 30 percent of Green & Black's chocolate bars are sold in Waitrose stores, Palmer said.