Camino +B, Inspiring a Sustainable Gastronomy

República del Cacao was born with the purpose of creating Latin American fine aroma chocolate of excellence, through constant work hand in hand with communities in a sustainable way. Throughout the development of this brand, various practices have been strengthened, and have allowed us to develop a business ecosystem focused on positive social, environmental and economic impact. For this reason, we obtained the B Corp certification, in recognition of our efforts for the development of our value chain: from cacao beans, local ingredients, and our collaborators, to our strategic allies.

At República del Cacao we believe that to generate a positive impact in the world we must start with ourselves. We understand that the concept of sustainability does not have a starting and ending point, but it’s a constant path of learning, with challenges and improvements. The B Corp certification has been a transcendental tool for the strategic development of the company. We have been able to measure each of the areas of our company from governance management, our workers, our suppliers, to our clients; in order to understand with humility, coherence and vision, where we can improve to keep our business in constant evolution.

We have also learned about the power business can have in a global structural change. Today more than ever, business organizations lead resilience movements using their strength in internal and external decision-making to positively ignite economies. We see República del Cacao as a citizen brand; that can reflect the latent needs of our value chain, reactivating it from a transactional vision to a transformational vision. In this sense, we aim to build a global community of conscious producers, clients and allies, willing to develop their businesses in a more responsible and sustainable way.

We believe that the best way to create opportunities in a world of challenges is through knowledge exchange.Therefore, we have partnered with Sistema B Ecuador (allies in our B Corp certification) to create the CAMINO + B REPÚBLICA DEL CACAO project , a training program focused on evaluating and measuring the performance of organizations vis-à-vis sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals, using the most demanding tool on the market: the B Impact Assessment. Through this project we seek to multiply models of positive impact at a social, environmental and economic level together with the allies of our value chain.

During 2 weeks we developed 4 successful work modules together with 11 of our Chefs and ingredient supplier partners, who showed us the opportunities we have for our businesses in a changing world.

For Pachi Larrea, our Chef Partner in Spain, this workshop has been transcendental for its development, he shared his experience mentioning that “I learnt to measure my impact in order to strengthen my business model, I am motivated because I have tools that will allow me to position myself in a strong and coherent way in the market." In addition, Alejandra Espinoza, Corporate Chef at SOMOS Restaurant, shared her interest in "...knowing better sustainable practices, not only for the restaurant but also for the development of our team." Finally, among other participants, Adrián Escardó, Corporate Chef at Restaurante Cardó, highlighted the importance of these issues in a prosperous business model, mentioning that "if we do not understand these projects we will not get anywhere."

We continue forward, confident of the importance of this impact path that we are generating together, seeking "to change the world, one cacao bean at a time".

  - Maggie Crespo Mijares, Sustainable Business and Communication Manager