International Business and Marketing Professor Sandra Graça’s Sustainable Marketing students toured Tony’s Chocolonely in London to learn more about the company’s unique mission among chocolatiers. Photos courtesy of Sandra Graça
From the moment she read about it, Sandra Graça, DBA, professor of international business and marketing at Eckerd College, knew her students had to learn the story behind the Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate shops sprinkled throughout Europe and the United States. And what better way to do it than to visit one.
“My Marketing Sustainability students from the Eckerd College London [Study] Centre visited the most amazing chocolate company in the world,” she says. “Tony’s Chocolonely and their staff live and breathe their mission, which is that together, we’ll end exploitation in the cocoa industry. They also happen to make delicious chocolate.
“Since I started my marketing sustainability journey, which involves researching and teaching about it, I have met many like-minded individuals with a passion for people and the planet,” Graça adds. “At Tony’s Chocolonely, they walk the walk. We could feel the love and care from the minute we walked in the door. The Eckerd College personalized chocolate bars with sweet messages on them touched our hearts.
“Most of all, Tony’s Chocolonely’s story has renewed my hope that together we can strive for a more just world. My students and I left there inspired by their story and determined to do what we can to help make this world a better place.”
The company made the students a custom product to welcome them.
That story began in 2003, when Dutch television producer and journalist Teun van de Keuken began producing programs about child exploitation and slavery in the commercial cocoa industry. After two years without meaningful change, he decided to start producing chocolate bars himself. The brand was called Tony’s Chocolonely, a nod to van de Keuken’s feeling that he was the only person in the industry interested in eradicating slavery. He sold 20,000 bars in two days.
“There’s an unfair distribution of value and power in the chocolate industry,” the Tony’s Chocolonely website explains.
“Its supply chain starts with the millions of farmers who produce cocoa and ends with the billions of consumers who enjoy chocolate. But what about the bit in the middle? This in-between part is dominated by a group of chocolate giants that profit from keeping the cocoa purchasing price as low as possible. As a result, farmers are forced to live in poverty, leading to child labor and forced labor.”
Graça emphasizes that van de Keuken didn’t set out to make chocolate. “He wanted to continue to shine a light on this important issue—and that social sustainability is just as important to companies and marketers as environmental sustainability.”
So for two hours one afternoon in November, Graça and her nine students toured the facility near London and spoke with members of the staff. “We talked about slavery in West Africa and child labor,” Graça says. “It was amazing to see a company that isn’t concerned primarily with profits.
“I hope the students learned that one person can make a difference. That was really key. To see ourselves as problem solvers who can make a difference. Several students said they wanted to work for a company like Tony’s, one that had this kind of passion to do good in the world.”
That message wasn’t lost on Sloane Sims, a junior marketing student from Topeka, Kansas, and a member of Graça’s class. “Too often, businesses are viewing the world through a narrow lens,” Sloane says. “We no longer need to do business as usual. I think Tony’s capitalizes on this and is advocating for being the change that will hopefully cause bigger brands to follow them.
“What stood out most to me was that a company with such a busy schedule took the time to speak with us students. They weren’t promoting a facade; they were genuinely sharing the good they’re working to accomplish. That transparency helped us see that their mission is authentic.
“Tony’s solidifies the idea that meaningful change can begin with just one person willing to fight hard enough to challenge the system,” Sloane adds. “From that fight, grew a company that now serves as a blueprint for other companies. Their work inspires students like us to consider these values when we buy products, apply for jobs, and choose our own fight to make a better world.”
Although Graça’s Marketing Sustainability course was based in London this fall, she says she’d like to offer it on Eckerd’s campus in the coming year with a focus on local businesses.
