CEO offers tips on being an ethical business owner

Seattle Chocolate CEO shows what it means to be a ethical business owner

What you probably already know: As chocolate companies face the shortfalls from farms whose crops have been decimated by climate change-related diseases and weather, some are stepping in to try to change the dynamic. A study by NOAA found that in the two countries where the vast majority of cocoa is grown, dry weather could wipe out 90% of crops by 2050.

Why? Companies like Seattle Chocolate have decided to try to do something about this before it’s too late. Jean Thompson, owner and CEO of Seattle Chocolate, decided recently to work with an NGO out of Belgium called Rikolto to install wells and seedling nurseries at several women-owned farms in Ghana. Thompson’s company doesn’t buy chocolate from these farms — her product is mostly from South America — but she wanted to do something to help. The idea, she said, is to help the farmers deal with climate change, while also diversifying their farms so they can be sustainable year-round. “It’s super exciting that we’re able to help those farmers who we don’t actually buy beans from. We might someday, but we know somebody does, and now their lives are better and so we feel better,” she said.

What it means: Anyone who eats chocolate should be concerned about cocoa farmers, Thompson said, and about the environment. That concern has prompted Seattle Chocolate to shift to a carbon-neutral company, something that is very difficult for a business that buys cocoa from farmers halfway around the globe. The company buys carbon off-sets, uses compostable packaging, and even the personal protective equipment in the factory gets recycled.

What happens now? Working with African farmers, using compostable packaging, and recycling everything in the factory is, of course, more expensive, but that’s part of being a responsible business owner, Thompson said.“ I need to provide my consumers with an earth-friendly, sustainable, ethical product,” she added. “That’s my job.”