Tony's Chocolonely to raise prices of chocolate bars due to high cocoa costs

Tony’s Chocolonely CEO Douglas Lamont has warned that price increases should be expected for the company’s chocolate bars if the price of cocoa continues to rise. Cocoa became more expensive than ever last year due to disappointing harvests in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Those increased prices have already been partly passed on in the prices of Tony's bars and the company will probably not be able to avoid doing the same this year, said Lamont.

Tony’s turnover grew by 33 percent last year to over 200 million euros. This was mainly due to an increase in sales of chocolate bars for the company. The company grew significantly in the United States last year. This was mainly due to their chocolate bars being sold in large US grocery store chains like Walmart and also in Starbucks stores throughout the country during the holidays.

The company did not make a profit. The loss that Tony's booked under the line has more than doubled to 6.8 million euros. According to Lamont, this is because the company continues to invest heavily in order to be able to continue growing. A loss of 2.7 million euros was recorded in 2023.

Tony’s is going to move a part of their liquid chocolate production to a location in the US to continue their growth. Lamont did add that the plans made by the US president Donald Trump to enforce high import tariffs does create uncertainty.

The company currently makes about half of its bars for the U.S. market in that country. "That gives us some protection," Lamont said.

Tony’s also announced that Albert Heijn is going to buy all its cocoa from Tony’s Open Chain. This is an initiative to purchase cocoa together with other companies, and would lead to cocoa farmers receiving better pay.

The company has tried since it’s foundation in 2005 to prove that chocolate can be made without child labor, illegal labor, or exploitation. According to Tony's own figures, last year was already better than the year before and the percentage of illegal child labor among cocoa farmers with whom the company has been working for a long time is well below the industry average.

Tony’s is not the only chocolate manufacturing company that will raise its prices. Lindt recently reported that they will also have to raise prices for the luxury chocolate due to the sharp increase in cocoa prices.