While Pure Chocolate Limited is still a young business, it is seeking to bring Jamaican chocolate to the world stage while empowering cocoa farmers and local artists to achieve their true potential.

The company founded by husband and wife Wouter Tjeertes and Rennae Johnson, which is entering its fifth year of operations, is looking to work with more local farmers as it grows its domestic market and builds its export profile. This is based on the three pillars of farmers, local communities and local artists which underpin the business.

“There are a lot of farmers who have abandoned their farms and started doing something else because the Government wasn’t paying them, [and] they couldn’t really to bother [to] plant anything new. We’re now identifying farms that are suitable for rehabilitation. We’d make everything work again, including fertilising it,” said Tjeertes in an April 7 call.

He also added, “We make a deal with the farmer saying, we do this for you, you’re going to farm again, we’re going to ferment and dry and make sure you get the same price as the farmer that we’re working with who is really happy.”

This would ensure that the farmer has a guaranteed customer and Tjeertes and Johnson have a happy farmer supplying them consistently with cocoa beans.

The business, which is focused on an artisanal chocolate made from tree to bar, has been working with a Mr Bodie in Portland since 2018 at a time when he was getting ready to exit the trade. The Dutch pastry chef highlighted that the Coconut Industry Board (CIB) managed the cocoa bean trade up to 2017, which didn’t auger well for the farmers who had to accept the price by the CIB for the beans and await the normal trade terms of 30 days.

However, Pure Chocolate has taken a different approach to farmers, ensuring they’re paid upfront for their work.

“We set a price with him that is above the market standard as we believe the market standard isn’t fair. That’s not a living wage for anybody. So, what we do is directly trade with the farmer and make sure he gets value for his product and paid upfront. We make sure that the farmer is treated right and in return, he can better take care of his farm as he has money to do it,” Tjeertes added.

He credits this approach and the work done with his wife Rennae for the company’s three awards at the 13th Academy of Chocolate Awards in London, England. The company secured a gold medal for its tree to bar flavoured 70 per cent pure dark chocolate with jerk seasoning and a bronze for its 70 per cent pure dark chocolate with cinnamon. The other bronze medal was for the tree-to-bar seasoned 68 per cent pure dark chocolate with slow-roasted cocoa nibs.

“That in return gives us better quality beans because the farmer is taken care of and the beans that come off the farm are of a better quality. That goes to show [that] if you treat your farmer right, you get better product, and everybody wins,” he explained.

The company isn’t resting on its laurels as it looks to expand its business further this year. Wouter drove to the airport at 4:00 am on the day of the interview to deliver his chocolate which was going to be exported to seven different countries in Europe.

“We’re hoping to also land a foot into the USA this year and we’re working on the UK. We want to export more, but also build out our local market because I think there is still more than enough to do locally. We’ve taken another big unit at Island Village where we do storage so that we can expand even further and be ready for whatever comes our way,” said the hopeful businessman.

The company receives the wet cocoa beans from the farmer before they’re fermented and dried in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. These beans are then sent to the studio in Ocho Rios, St Ann, where they’re moulded, wrapped and packaged for distribution. Visitors passing through the shop can now see the chocolate being made and also learn the process through a workshop as well.

“If anybody comes into the store now, you can actually look through the window and see the whole chocolate factory and everything going on. You can sign up for workshops now. So, people can come and do an experience, make their own chocolate. We’re really trying to use that part of our business as marketing but also as education so that people can learn Jamaica has amazing cocoa just like the Blue Mountain coffee,” Wouter explained.

While he’s thankful for the local community that supported the business through the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, he is also grateful to provide a platform to graduates from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. The packaging describes the social responsibility and where the cocoa beans are sourced, gives the artist’s biography, shows the process of how the bars are made and where they work across the country. Taj Francis and Kokab Zohoori-Dossa are the two artists they’ve worked with so far.

“We believe that there’s tremendous talent on the island that just needs a platform. Our packaging is all done by these artists, and we put their bio inside the packaging. If our customers like their artwork, they can go on their website and purchase it. So, every bar that we sell is business for the artist. We take it one step further because we also pay the artist commission on every bar that we sell,” Tjeertes noted.