Frequently asked questions

Over 60% of all cocoa produced worldwide comes from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The cocoa farmers in these two countries are part of one of the worst supply chains in the world, as inequality and exploitation persist in the cocoa industry. Consequently, majority of cocoa farmers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire earn less than $1.23 per day which is significantly less than a living income. This leads to issues like illegal labour and deforestation. In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, 1,56 million children work illegally on cocoa plantations, there are about 30.000 people who can be considered to be in forced labour. In these two countries, 80-95% of the forest cover disappeared over the last 60 years: one third of that is the result of cocoa production.

Because we advocate for systemic change, we exclusively source our cocoa from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the two largest cocoa producing countries, where the biggest cocoa issues are also the most prevalent.

In 2012, Tony’s Chocolonely started buying its cocoa directly from two partner cooperatives: Abocfa in Ghana and Kapatchiva in Côte d’Ivoire.

Tony’s Open Chain now sources from 11 partner cooperatives, according to Tony’s 5 Sourcing Principles : three in Ghana (Abocfa, Asunafo, Asetenapa) and eight in Côte d’Ivoire (Kapatchiva, Ecam, Ecojad, Socoopacdi, Escopag, Cayat, Coobadi, Coopaza). Our long-term relationship with our partner cooperatives means that we know them well and build a trustful and stable relationship, together.

As the volumes of cocoa we source keep growing, we are nearly doubling the number of partner cooperatives we source cocoa from for the 2024/25 season, with 8 new co-ops coming aboard: seven in Côte d’Ivoire (Soca2pd, Ahonto, Socada, Scawod, Sicopag, Socasib, Djouman) and one in Ghana (Kukoum).

Tony’s Chocolonely exists to end exploitation in cocoa together. In order to achieve their mission, they want to collaborate with other cocoa brands and therefore have decided to actively share their way of working. This is how Tony’s Open Chain started in 2018/19.

Tony’s Open Chain is an industry-led, collaborative initiative that allows companies to source cocoa beans for their products. By using this initiative, companies can transform their cocoa supply chains and become sustainability frontrunners.

Tony's Open Chain beans are sourced according to Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles. This means Tony’s Open Chain goes beyond certification by working directly with the cocoa co-ops and farmers in order to solve the structural issues they face (lack of living income, child labour and deforestation). The goal of Tony’s Open Chain is to increase the number of Mission Allies (companies) that source cocoa through the initiative. The more cocoa beans are bought according to Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles, the more impact we make to achieve structural change industry-wide.

None of the existing sustainability programs or cocoa product certifications apply all Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles. In our impact model, there is no cherry-picking – every bean sourced via Tony’s Open Chain has the 5 Sourcing Principles applied and we go far beyond many sustainability programs and certifications that mainly focus on increasing productivity.

We also have a unique co-op centric approach: we believe co-ops are the best vehicle for change because they are farmer owned and have the farmers’ interest at the heart of their business. Our partner cooperatives take ownership of the on-the-ground programs and data. They are responsible for implementing Tony’s 5 Sourcing Principles and decide how to invest premiums to create the biggest impact, in consultation with their communities.

Tony’s 5 Sourcing Principles and our West-Africa forward business model is brought  Tony’s Open Chain industry recognition as the best-in-class impact model to address poverty (+62% contribution to net cocoa household income vs industry average), drive down child labour (<4.4% prevalence rate vs 46.7% industry average), and protect the planet (100% farms GPS mapped and assessed against deforestation risk).

All beans sourced through Tony’s Open Chain supply chain are Fairtrade certified (the Fairtrade is included in our Living Income Reference Price calculations).

Tony’s Open Chain also offers the option for Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa beans.

Tony’s 5 Sourcing Principles are an integrated approach that aims to end structural poverty at the very beginning of the cocoa supply chain by building equal business relationships with our partner cooperatives in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to directly benefit the cocoa farming communities.

Traceable cocoa beans All beans of Tony's Open Chain Mission Allies are 100% traceable from the partner cooperatives to the doorstep of our partner Processors.

Higher price Paying a living income premium on top of the – certified – cocoa beans price that enables farmers to earn a living income and run their farm sustainably.

Strong farmers Partner cooperatives are integral mission partners for Tony’s Open Chain, as they are the implementors of Tony’s 5 Sourcing Principles, actively delivering positive impact to cocoa farmers. Through ongoing collaboration, Tony's Open Chain and the partner cooperatives collectively tackle challenges, openly sharing successes and failures. The united efforts establish a credible, scalable, and replicable operational model built upon equal business relationships.

Long-term We engage in 5-year commitments with partner cooperatives to facilitate investments. It is important to work together on an equal footing and to do this for a significant amount of time to allow for improvements. It ensures that cocoa farmers and cooperatives get at least five years’ sales for TOC sourced beans at a higher price, giving them income security and enabling them to make informed choices with regard to investments and recouping costs.

Productivity & Quality In collaboration with partner cooperatives, Tony's Open Chain invests in agricultural knowledge and resources to professionalize farming activities. We have a 3-step approach to professional farming which starts with a farm assessment followed by an individual development plan for the farm which is then passed onto the co-op for data-driven decision-making.

Various tools, data governance, processes and control systems for Tony’s 5 Sourcing Principles are carried out by Tony’s Open Chain and third parties.

Overview of tools and control systems per Sourcing Principle

Traceable cocoa beans

• Beantracker: Our own bean-tracking software system, built using ChainPoint technology. It is our main tool to ensure 100% operational traceability on origin (farm), flow (supply chain actors), and bean quantities (yield). Follow-up checklists and reconciliation are implemented by various members of the Tony’s Open Chain team.

• GPS mapping: All farms are GPS mapped, so we can keep track of farm sizes, farmer delivery quota and indicate whether farms are located in protected areas (tackle deforestation). Tony’s Open Chain works together with multiple implementing parties (ie Satelligence) and with the cooperatives to ensure GPS mapping. 

• CLMRS (Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System): Tony’s Open Chain implementation CLMRS is what sets us apart from other ICI members also using this program. 100% of our supply chain, including every household within each partner cooperatives, is covered by the CLMRS. We aim for a visit to every household every single year to ensure timely follow-up when identifying cases of child labour. Our partner cooperatives are the owner of their CLMRS system and are responsible for its effectiveness, with support from TOC and ICI field teams.

A higher price

• Living Income model: We adopted this holistic cocoa pricing framework developed by Fairtrade to determine, year on year, the additional premium needed to close the gap to the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP), on top of the farmgate price and Fairtrade premium (our cocoa is certified).  Third-party audits of the living income premium payments from Mission Allies to Tony’s Chocolonely Open Chain B.V. to the partner cooperatives are conducted. Payment of the premium in cash by the cooperative to the farmer is audited by another third party: Flo-cert.

Strong farmers

• To facilitate the growth and professionalization of partner cooperatives and their members, and improve their financial and organizational management, we partnered with TechnoServe: a non-profit providing business-enhancing information and guidance on professionalization.  JLB Expertise also support the co-ops in implementing the best and most transparent practices for the distribution of premiums. Once a year, each partner cooperative organizes an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to review the results of the past year, and explain allocation of the premium for the upcoming year: all farmer members can attend, ask questions and voice their opinion during this meeting.

The long term

• 5-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU): We commit to 5-year partnerships with our partner cooperatives to further enable them to set up viable and robust businesses. Income security and long-term financial planning enable cocoa households to structurally move out poverty.

• Strategic development plan: Aside from our 5-year commitment, co-ops also develop 5-year strategic plans. These plans contain a clear mission, vision, and strategy for the coming years. The 5-year plans are owned by the co-ops, an excellent basis for the annual plans and a great gauge for keeping an eye on how things are going.

Quality and Productivity

• Individual Farm Development Plans: Farming coaches are assigned to individual farms and jointly develop Individual Farm Development Plans (IFDPs) with the farmers to elevate yields, hence securing living income for the farmers. Initial assessments provide data and information to set priorities and needs per farmer, and understand how resources can be pooled at co-op levels to alleviate the farming burden from the farmers.

Additionally, various non-financial KPIs, assigned to our cocoa impact focus areas, are annually tracked, and assured by PwC.

Overview of audited cocoa KPIs

Note: detailed explanation of all KPIs can be found in the appendices of Tony’s Open Chain Impact Report.

CLMRS
Cf ‘Traceable cocoa beans’ in table above
(focus area: driving down child labour)

• KPI 3 # of participants in CLMRS awareness raising sessions conducted in cocoa communities of Tony’s Open Chain partner cooperatives.

• KPI 10 # of cocoa growing households who participate in the CLMRS.

• KPI 11.1 # of child labour cases detected at Tony’s Open Chain partner cooperatives with the CLMRS.

• KPI 11.2 # of child labour cases closed at Tony’s Open Chain partner cooperatives with the CLMRS

Volumes, traceability and farmers
Cf ‘Traceable cocoa beans, ‘A higher price’ and ‘The long-term’ in table above
(focus areas: addressing poverty and protecting the planet)

• KPI 4 # of farmers supplying to Tony’s Open Chain who receive additional premiums (Fairtrade + Living Income)

• KPI 13 # metric tons of beans purchased through Tony’s Open Chain

• KPI 8.2 % of cocoa in Tony’s Open Chain couvertures/liquid chocolate and cocoa powder for our Mission Allies traceable up to Tony’s Open Chain partner cooperatives

• KPI 15 Amount of premium paid (per metric ton of cocoa) to reach the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP). 

• KPI 14 % of farms in the supply chain GPS mapped and assessed against protected areas.

• KPI 5 # of cooperatives with whom Tony’s Open Chain has committed to a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding. 

• KPI 16 # of Tony’s Open Chain Mission Allies (MAs) and # of Tony’s Open Chain conversations with Potential Mission Allies (PMAs).

We are all in this together and we believe ending exploitation in the cocoa supply chain is a shared responsibility, between farmers, consumers, and all the links in between. We believe in collaborating on cocoa even when we are competing on chocolate. 

Partnering with Tony’s Open Chain means you are joining a best-in-class and future-proofed program via Tony’s 5 Sourcing Principles with proven results of our positive impact on cocoa’s main issues. As a Mission Ally, you will have access to a community of cocoa experts, benefit from Tony’s Open Chain and other Mission Allies’ brand reputation 

Tony’s Open Chain also offers different solutions, catering to the different cocoa needs of their Mission Allies. You can hop-on and you are ready-set-go to make impact!

Mission Allies are companies joining Tony’s Open Chain in the fight to end exploitation in cocoa together, by committing to and adopting the Tony’s Open Chain model: Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles. All five, no cherry picking and no ‘one offs’.  

Mission Allies go 'beyond certification' and believe in direct, equal relationships throughout the entire cocoa chain. In doing so,, a Mission Ally actively becomes part of the solution to the main issues that occur in the cocoa value chain and commits to taking ownership and responsibility.

A Processor is a company that uses cocoa beans and manufactures them into several cocoa products such as couverture, cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and cocoa powder.  

Currently, Tony's Open Chain has onboarded three partner Processors: Barry Callebaut, Baronie/Cémoi and Natra.  

All Processors that we work with offer our Mission Allies all Tony’s Open Chain processing models.

If you decide to join Tony’s Open Chain, any processor of choice could process your Tony’s Open Chain beans into Tony’s Open Chain cocoa products (e.g. chocolate), theoretically. Currently, we have contracts with three Processors: Barry Callebaut, Baronie/Cémoi and Natra. If you would like to work with a different processor, we're happy to look into option to onboard them as well, but this would take a few more months, and may delay the sourcing of Tony’s Open Chain cocoa beans for your products.

It is completely up to you! The key actors in the Tony’s Open Chain supply network are the partner cooperatives in West Africa and our partner processors (highlighted above).  When you decide which co-manufacturer you would like to work with (or already work with), we will be on hand in supporting you to ensure that co-manufacturers understand how the TOC model works, but you keep the existing flexibility you already have on who you want to work with.

Tony’s Open Chain provides Mission Allies with two  distinct models for processing  beans, within its processor network. Mission Allies then have the flexibility to choose the model that best suits their needs.  One important point, is that regardless of which model is chosen, all beans sourced via Tony’s Open Chain are 100% traceable.  Mission Allies have flexibility regarding how the beans are processed, but there is no compromise on the traceability of the beans sourced.  However Mission Allies choose to process their beans, the impact for farmers in the TOC network is the same. 

In the Bean-to-Brand model, all cocoa beans are in a segregated flow  from TOC partner cooperatives all the way up to end product level.  This means that the beans are also segregated during the processing stage of the supply chain, so a Mission Ally uses those specific beans in their end product. 

In the Bean-to-Machine model, all cocoa beans are segregated from TOC partner cooperatives up to the doorstep of the processors. This means that the beans are not segregated during the processing stage, and Tony’s Open Chain beans  may mix with alternative beans during processing. When choosing this model, Mission Allies’ sourced bean volume matches the total cocoa volume that is needed for their TOC-sourced products.  

These different processing models then mean that there are distinctive, on-pack claims that Mission Allies may use for raising awareness of Tony’s Open Chain, and to educate consumers.

Our goal is to make it easy for you, which is why we have standardized operating models in place with several Processors. After signing your 5 year Mission Ally Agreement with Tony's Open Chain, you will be part of our annual forecasting & planning process which forms one of the biggest commitments being a Mission Ally. 

In a nutshell, here's what that looks like: 

• In April, we ask for your non-binding volume forecast for the upcoming cocoa season. You will create that forecast in cooperation with the Processor you prefer to work with and sometimes your co-manufacturer is involved as well. 

• We use that information to have a first look at how we can divide volumes over co-ops, start sourcing and add new co-ops if necessary. 

• By the end of July you submit your  binding volume,thereby confirming the volume of cocoa beans that you want us to source for you in the upcoming cocoa season. Again, you closely cooperate with your Processor in this process, and w e will assist you with every step of the way.  .  If you would like more information on this or other topics related to becoming a Mission Ally, please reach out!

Cocoa is a crop that is harvested on a yearly basis. The crop season starts in October with what is known as the maincrop which spans from October – March. The harvest continues with what is called the midcrop from April – September, before the next cocoa harvest starts once again in October.  

Tony’s Open Chain works closely with the cooperatives we have a memorandum of understanding within Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Tony’s Open Chain to source cocoa beans exclusively from its portfolio of partner cooperatives, while co-ops remain free to choose to sell to Tony’s Open Chain, or another party. Every year we commit to buying a certain bean volume from each of these partner cooperatives, and we need to do so before the harvesting season starts, which is why the binding volume of Mission Allies is so important to be submitted in July.  

Pre-season buying agreements means: 

• Certainty of a dedicated buyer year on year, for growing volumes and at a higher price (with the Living Income premium) for the co-ops  

• Certainty of co-ops selling their cocoa beans to Tony’s Open Chain’s partner processors on behalf of Mission Allies.  

By receiving your binding orders by the end of July, we have enough time to finalize the orderbook towards the co-ops, allowing us to communicate our volume commitments to them before the new cocoa season starts. 

This commitment for growing volumes also helps us getting closer to our mission of ending exploitation in cocoa, together.

By joining in, all Tony's Open Chain Mission Allies are paying the same premiums for their cocoa beans, proportionally to the volumes of their purchase order. 

- Living income premium: the additional premium needed to close the gap to the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP). 

- Program costs: costs to run the programmes of the 5 Sourcing Principles on the ground (e.g. TOC staff in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, co-op Management fee, GPS mapping, farmer coaching, CLMRS, Auditing, Beantracker, LBC fee) 

- Governance costs: costs to run Tony's Open Chain from the head office (e.g. TOC staff in Amsterdam, IT costs and legal costs)  

- Risk Margin: Buffer for unexpected costs that arise throughout the cocoa season

This really depends on the composition and recipe of your end product (the percentage of cocoa you need in your product), as well as the agreements that are in place between you and the processor.  If you would like to understand this in more detail, please reach out!

Thank you for your interest in Tony’s Open Chain. We advise you read our latest Tony’s Open Chain Impact Report which presents a comprehensive overview of the collective progress made over the past cocoa season by Tony’s Open Chain, its Mission Allies and supply chain partners towards ending exploitation in the cocoa industry.

Are you a company sourcing cocoa for their products? A chocolate processor? A cocoa cooperative located in Ghana or Côte d’Ivoire? Fill in the Join Tony’s Open Chain form and Tony’s Open Chain Acquisition Team will reach out shortly. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept open applications at the moment. But we are a growing company and we regularly share new vacancies on Tony’s Chocolonely career page. Make sure you visit it regularly to not miss out on the next job opening on our Team.