Behind the Brand, Behind the Hype ~ Digging Deeper

From the inception of the Craft Chocolate movement in 2005, branding, packaging, and labeling have all been bluntly recognized for their importance. In the first stages of consulting about starting a chocolate label, branding inevitably comes up and you are seriously warned to be ready with some cool shit. Mast brother, Askinosie, Patric, Taza, Woodblock, Omnom, Cocoanu, Cloudforest all have a strong brand and easily recognized label. Look them up if your are not familiar with them because they are stunning. Chocolate makers with less clear and approachable branding tend to fail if they do not work to improve and streamline their branding. Its a simple fact of the industry. When I worked with the cocoa distributor, I was the second person on-board with the company which was 6mos. old when I started and spent the next year and a half working on all front of production, sales, quality control, market research and re-branding to expand the company. When I left we were in the middle of rebranding and looking towards existing and successfully marketed direct trade chocolate and 3rd wave coffee companies. 

Packaging is so important in this industry that not only will it determine your success but when executed well it can quickly mask bad production and false claims. Label-stamping tends to have a wand-waving effect even for the more discerning and curious customers. Brands such as Alter Eco, Chocolove, Equal Exchange, Theo Chocolate, Dagoba, Green & Black, which are commonly found in whole foods and specialty grocers, use this technique of label/certification crowding and green-washing.  Dallasfood.org has recently done a 4-part expose on the Mast Brother chocolate label, and I think this marks an important awakening for American Craft Chocolate, which is "if you care, dig deeper." 

Here are links to each part: part 1(taste/texture), part 2 (equipment), part 3 (ingredients), part 4 (confession)

Another take on the current shade being thrown @ Mast Bros via

I think that parts of the expose cut deeper than necessary. Like I definitely doubt that Mast invented 2-bean chocolate, but that is not nearly as big a deal as faking being bean-bar from their inception. Calling them out publicly for lying and mislabeling early on is the most important piece and I hope it can cast a new light on all the success they are currently enjoying. I also hope this can mark a shift in the industry away from focusing on branding so strongly and give quality a more central role.