• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » World’s Largest Chocolate Maker Eyes U.S. Supply Deals

World’s Largest Chocolate Maker Eyes U.S. Supply Deals

Chocolate
June 3, 2019
Bloomberg

The world’s largest bulk-chocolate maker is eyeing supply deals in the U.S. as the market consolidates and consumer tastes change.

Barry Callebaut AG sees supplying chocolate directly to consumer brands, or outsourcing, as an important driver of the company’s U.S. growth, said Peter Boone, the Swiss company’s president for the Americas region. Changing consumer tastes are also an opportunity for the Zurich-based firm, which launched its ruby chocolate in the U.S. and Canada earlier this month.

The American snacks market has been challenging for companies like Nestle SA, which sold its U.S. confectionery unit to Ferrero SpA. The Italian confectioner also agreed to buy Kellogg Co.’s cookies and fruit-snack brands including Keebler and Famous Amos. In January, Barry Callebaut said consolidation in the U.S. market would provide opportunities to fuel growth in the region.

“We love to partner up with the big players, and we are always ready to accept a call when one of the big players wants to partner up and outsource chocolate to us,” Boone said in an interview at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago last month. “We always see that as an important driver of our growth.”

Boone said there are always ongoing outsourcing discussions, but he declined to provide further details. Still, Barry Callebaut said in an investor presentation last month that it planned to add an average 30,000 to 40,000 metric tons a year of outsourcing to its books globally over the next two years.

Offering new products to meet changing tastes can also be an important growth driver for Barry Callebaut, Boone said.

The company announced the invention of ruby chocolate in September 2017. The naturally pink, berry-flavored chocolate was the first new kind since white bars started being sold in the 1930s. Barry Callebaut has started supplying it in the U.S. and Canada after making a splash in Asia and selling it in Europe.

Millennial consumers have turned against sugar and are increasingly focused on sustainably-sourced products that are also innovative and tasty. That’s pushed chocolate makers to innovate. Barry Callebaut is now the top producer of reduced-sugar chocolate products. The company also makes dairy-free chocolate, a form adopted by Unilever in its vegan Magnum ice cream.

“This part of our business is really flying, so I see it as a growth opportunity,” TJ Mulvihill, vice president of marketing for Barry Callebaut in the Americas, said in the same interview. “Based on consumers’ choice and lifestyle, whether that’s something that they are required to consume differently or they are just making a lifestyle choice, we have an opportunity to step in.”

Barry Callebaut, which buys one in every four beans, is keeping its ruby chocolate recipe secret, but Boone said it’s all about understanding the 10,000 compounds in the cocoa that drive taste, color and other characteristics. The company also says it has more than enough “ruby beans” to supply clients and that it knows what farms are most likely to have more supplies. The beans come from Ecuador, Brazil and Ivory Coast, he said.

“I’m absolutely sure that if we need, we will find other countries that we can source from as well,” Boone said.

It will take some time before some of the big American brands adopt the ruby variety as they need to familiarize themselves with the product, Boone said. The product also still needs approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be sold labeled as chocolate. Early trials are being marketed under the name ruby cacao.

Volumes for industry-wide chocolate sales expanded globally for eight consecutive quarters through January, rebounding after declines in 2017, Barry Callebaut said in April, citing figures from analytics firm Nielsen. Volume in North America will probably keep growing at a rate of about 1 percent annually, in line with population growth. The value of products sold will likely see an acceleration, with growth at 3 percent to 4 percent, Boone said.

To keep up with demand, Barry Callebaut says it’s investing in its footprint across North America, Boone said. While he declined to provide details, he said there are always “two, three or four lines going into our network.”

“We want to grow far beyond the market, and we need to keep in front of that,” Boone said. “That’s why we need capacity. That’s why we need factories that are ready to take it up.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Sourcing/Procurement/SRM Business Strategy Alignment Food & Beverage North America
KEYWORDS Food and Beverage Sourcing/Procurement/SCM
  • Related Articles

    Largest Entertainment Retailer in the U.K. Streamlines Promotions, Commercial Deals

    Global Logistics Renovation: How a U.S. Furniture Maker Rebuilt Its Supply Chain

Bloomberg

As Retail Sales Improved, Inventories Rose Less in February Than Expected

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: Biden Sees Shots Widely Available by Spring; Third of Staffs Will Work From Home Permanently

    Coronavirus
  • Car Industry

    A Year of Poor Planning Led to Carmakers’ Massive Chip Shortage

    Technology
  • U.S. Vaccine Rollout Hindered by Faulty Coordination, Messaging

    WHO Fumes at Western Drugmakers As China Fills Vaccine Void

    Coronavirus
  • Third-Party Cybersecurity

    What Vaccine Supply Chains Must Do to Protect Against Cyberattack

    Coronavirus
  • California Trucker

    Why One Southern California Trucker Stays Independent

    Logistics

Digital Edition

Scb home issue 27

2020 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

  • LSP Wows Global Client, Quickly Advances to Become End-to-End Provider

Visit Our Sponsors

6 River Systems ArcBest Armada
aThingz BluJay Burris Logistics
DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) DHL Resilience360
Genpact GEP Honeywell Intelligrated
Infor Logility Magnitude Software
MPO Old Dominion Oliver Wight
OpenSky Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
TGW Systems Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam Yang Ming
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing