Together with their customers, San Churro is helping to build a fairer future for cocoa farmers in developing countries by offering a choice of chocolate indulgences now made with Fairtrade certified cocoa.
From October 2015, San Churro becomes the first national chocolate café chain in Australia to commit to purchasing cocoa under the new Fairtrade Cocoa Program. The move to Fairtrade cocoa coincides with San Churro’s new menu launch, with all 48 cafés proudly using chocolate made from Fairtrade certified cocoa across a wide range of the new menu items.
Thanks to the new Fairtrade cocoa certification, customers can now feel even better knowing that their San Churro chocolate indulgence can help improve a cocoa farmer’s livelihood, through a stable source of income and a Fairtrade Premium to invest in community projects of their choice.
San Churro Founder, Giro Maurici, commented “Our mission is to serve the best chocolate in the most delightful way. For us, this is not only about creating happiness for our customers but also assisting the farmers who grow our cocoa in breaking the poverty cycle and improving the living conditions within their communities. As such, we are proud and excited to now offer a Fairtrade option to our customers.”
Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand CEO, Molly Harriss Olson, is also delighted about San Churro’s support of the Program, “Currently 90% of the world’s cocoa is grown on small-scale family farms, but only 1.2% of this is sold on Fairtrade terms; so it’s fantastic to see San Churro leading the way as the first chocolate café chain in Australia to give its customers a fair choice by serving desserts made using Fairtrade certified cocoa.
“Fairtrade is all about doing business better and fairer. In the case of our Fairtrade Cocoa Program, it’s also a good excuse to eat more of what you love, and feel good about it!” Molly continued.
Approximately 70% of the dark, milk and white chocolate menu items served at San Churro are now created using Fairtrade cocoa. These items feature the same iconic couverture chocolate imported from Spain, but now carry the added Fairtrade cocoa certification. San Churro’s Fairtrade cocoa doesn’t currently extend to their retail offering.
San Churro’s commitment to Fairtrade began in 2010, when the brand became the first national café chain to serve Fairtrade organic coffee across all their cafés. Five years later, San Churro is also proud to be the first national café chain to use Fairtrade cocoa in their menu.
“Our Fairtrade commitment is long term” says Giro Maurici, “this is just the beginning for us, we are currently working hard with all our suppliers to extend the use of Fairtrade cocoa to all areas of our chocolate offering.”
To celebrate the launch, San Churro is spreading the Fairtrade message by encouraging customers to share an image to Instagram that depicts why they #choosefair in their everyday lives; for the chance to win a year’s supply of San Churro’s Fairtrade chocolate menu.*
*San Churro’s #choosefair competition will run from 4-30 November 2015.
