FREE GROUND SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $25 (continental US only)
Honorable Sourcing Icon

Honorable Sourcing

Partnering with stakeholders within our supply chain is key to sourcing sustainable ingredients, obtaining impactful certifications, and developing our Cultivate BetterTM Cocoa program. Diving deep into the relationships and practices within our supply chain is an ongoing journey and one that we continue to develop and foster over time and through crucial partnerships and new collaborations. We believe that the end product is only as good as the ingredients that go into it. And by good, we mean not only flavor but also social integrity.

Cultivate Better Cocoa is our premium-based program designed to create a positive impact at the supply chain level, benefiting the farmers and communities we work with. Through Cultivate Better Cocoa, we engage with cooperatives and development partners to create innovative, comprehensive programs that drive positive change for farmers, communities, and the environment.

The funds we receive through this program are directly allocated to supporting farm-level productivity, quality and flavor investments, gender equality, income diversification, health, nutrition, and agroforestry initiatives.

2020 Partner Program

2021 Cultivate Better Cocoa Annual Report

Ingredient Sourcing

Where we get our ingredients and the social conditions under which they are grown are central to our work—and integral to our definition of quality.

Certified Cocoa
Certified Cocoa

Certifiers play a crucial role in ensuring essential practices on the farm level. They also hold implementation and coops accountable for efforts being made while setting industry standards for training in good agricultural practices, cooperative governance and community engagement. Cocoa from our Cultivate Better Cocoa programs come from farms, coops or farmer organizations that are UTZ/Rainforest Alliance and/or Fair Trade Certified. Our commitment to certification goes beyond just third-party certification; in addition to our retail product line carrying Fair Trade USA certification, we also offer UTZ/Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade certifications for our customers that feel certification is the right sustainability approach for their business. Our Fair Trade program is one that we’ve developed since 2007, when we introduced our first Fair Trade Certified product; since then, we’ve continued a robust and committed relationship with the organization and their farmer groups through our Beneficiary Coop Model.

Our Other Ingredients

RBGH Free
Dairy

RBGH Free Dairy

We’re fortunate to work with dairy suppliers who are committed to sustainable agriculture and dairy production and who don’t use growth hormones such as rBGH.

Non GMO
Sugar

Non GMO Sugar

Our domestic and overseas sugar farmers and suppliers use sustainable agricultural practices, enabling them to reduce the environmental footprint of growing and refining sugar without growing GMO crops.

Sunflower
Lecithin

Sunflower Lecithin

We use sunflower lecithin in all of our chocolate and chocolate products. While lecithin itself is a minor ingredient in our final product, sunflower lecithin provides an added health and wellness benefit.

Sustainable
Palm Oil

Sustainable Palm Oil

In 2017 Guittard joined as a member of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the leading organization dedicated to addressing the challenges around palm oil production.