Ethical Trade

The great majority of cacao farmers are underpaid and have little opportunity to improve their standard of living. We’re working to change this by being careful how we source our cocoa beans.

To give you a sense of how bleak working conditions are in some regions, there is documented child trafficking in the world’s largest cocoa producing nation, the Ivory Coast. The free online documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate does a good job reporting this.

We believe that all working people deserve a living wage, and we go to great lengths to engage in business practices designed to improve quality of life for the farmers who sell us cocoa beans. We do this by purchasing cocoa beans through a direct trade agreement that ensures the following:

* the cocoa farmers from whom we purchase cocoa beans receive at minimum $500 above market price per metric ton of cacao beans. This is a minimum of 17% above market rate.

* farms from which we buy cocoa are visited annually to guarantee fair labor practices and environmentally responsible farming practices.

Currently, we purchase beans which have been directly traded with La Red Guaconejo (a co-op of 160 family farms in Northern Dominican Republic), Hacienda Elvecia (an organic farm in Eastern Dominican Republic), and CIAAB (a co-op in Bolivia).

Raaka is a young grassroots company which began selling chocolate in September of 2010. In the future, we dream of developing new direct trade agreements with cocoa growing communities in places which stand to benefit most from socially conscious business relationships. We have our eye on the Ivory Coast, the Congo, Haiti, and Cameroon.

Respect for the Environment

Our packaging, designed by our friends at Loop, is printed with soy inks on FSC-certified, 100% post-consumer recycled, chlorine free processed paper that was made from wind-generated energy. We also source organic ingredients because they’re grown with sustainable farming practices that are better for mother nature.

A cocoa harvest in the Dominican Republic