Waitrose has expanded its partnership with Tony’s Open Chain, increasing the amount of cocoa beans it purchases through the ethical sourcing initiative by 53 per cent.
It said more than half of its seasonal chocolate products will now source cocoa through Tony’s Open Chain’s Mass Balance model, as it widens the partnership across its seasonal and boxed chocolate ranges.
Waitrose will also use the scheme’s ‘Bean to Machine‘ mass-balance sourcing model for its own-label boxed chocolates for the first time, alongside its existing Fairtrade-certified cocoa sourcing.
The supermarket’s partnership with Tony’s Open Chain launched in 2024, when Waitrose became the first UK-based grocery retailer to join the initiative as a ‘Mission Ally’.
The initial rollout covered six Waitrose own-brand chocolate bars and three Cook’s Ingredients bars using segregated cocoa.
Waitrose said it has increased the total volume of cocoa beans purchased through the programme by 53 per cent since the 2023/24 cocoa season.
Under Tony’s Open Chain model, participating businesses commit to measures including traceable cocoa beans, paying a higher price designed to help farmers reach a living income, investing in farming cooperatives and entering into longer-term supplier agreements.
John Lewis Partnership director of ethics and sustainability Marija Rompani said: “We’re proud to extend our partnership with Tony’s Chocolonely through Tony’s Open Chain.
“Enhancing our responsible sourcing standards is an essential part of building resilient supply chains that deliver the high-quality ethically sourced products our customers expect, both now and in the future.
“By broadening our sourcing of cocoa through Tony’s Open Chain, we hope to show what’s possible and to encourage other retailers and brands to join in its shared mission to help end exploitation in the cocoa supply chain once and for all.”
The company pays an additional premium on top of the Fairtrade-certified cocoa bean price to reach Fairtrade International’s Living Income Reference Price, which is designed to help close the income gap for cocoa farmers.
Under the new mass-balance arrangement, cocoa purchased from participating farms is kept separate until the first processing stage but can then be mixed with cocoa from other sources during manufacturing.
As a result, the cocoa in an individual finished product may not be physically traceable back to Tony’s Open Chain farms, although Waitrose purchases the equivalent required volume through the scheme and pays the associated farmer premiums.
Tony’s Open Chain general manager Rianne van Doeveren said the expansion represented a “practical change”, with more cocoa moving through a supply chain that commits to higher long-term prices, bean traceability and investment in cocoa-growing communities in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
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