CHOCOLATE-MAKING operation One One Cacao has shifted its business model from not only providing dark chocolate bars to discerning consumers, but supplying dark chocolate to be used for baking by catering businesses and restaurants in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK).

As such, founder and operator Nick Davis is focused on sourcing high-quality cacao from farmers around Jamaica while working closely with them to create a premium and bespoke product.

The strategy has found new, upscale customers for the company’s exports.

“We have sold chocolate from Australia to Norway and Sweden, across to the UK and Spain, USA, Canada, France and Italy — so we have done a lot of exports but they have been just individual [chocolate] bars,” Davis disclosed.

“Our push at the moment is to capitalise on the high-end chefs around the world who want a really unique flavour for their chocolate for whatever chocolate desserts they are making. In fact, our chocolate was used by two Michelin star restaurants on either side of the Atlantic,” he added.

The manufacturer, however, still supplies chocolate bars to local hotels and selected stores.

While exports have always challenged One One Cacao — as the high cost of air freighting the bars requires substantial orders (around 43 or more items) to make a profit above wholesale prices — online sales, Davis said, are more favourable because all the money comes directly to the company.

However, he admitted that export still allows for more reasonable fees and delivery times.

The new direction of the business involves selling bigger blocks of chocolate to specialised users such as restaurants, caterers or chocolate makers via air freight. The shipping cost is significantly higher due to the size and weight of the blocks (from 1 kg to 5 kg), but customers who buy the bigger blocks are willing to pay more because they are receiving a bespoke product tailored to their specific needs.

“We can do a specific blend for a specific chocolate-maker or a specific pastry chef wherever they are, anywhere in the world,” Davis said, explaining the unique value of the product.

This sets One One Cacao apart from larger chocolate companies that have higher minimum order amounts, and according to the entrepreneur the value offered by his products is considered great by both local and overseas customers.

The form of the chocolate depends on clients’ preferences and usage.

“So, one of the places we supply in New York, for them it’s all about batons,” Davis elaborated. “If you’re making, let’s say a panel, you want a long baton of chocolate to be able to literally go into the middle of your dough. That doesn’t necessarily work if you’re Stush In The Bush, which is another one of our clients [in Jamaica]. They love being able to have these big blocks because they can use them to go into their creations in a much different way. The end use dictates which form it is in,” he explained.

Davis acknowledged that while there is an even wider variety of forms that can be produced, such as chocolate chips, producing them would demand a substantial investment of time and resources — something the company is currently unable to undertake. Therefore, One One Cacao concentrates on producing simple chocolate blocks and shapes tailored to chefs’ needs, perfecting the flavours of the blocks to align with their preferences.

“They want the flavour, that’s all they care about,” he insisted. “They want chocolate which [will] literally [make] people say, ‘That is amazing, where does that come from?’ And they say, ‘Jamaica’ and it’s like, ‘Oh wow, I’ve heard of great chocolate coming from Peru or Dominican Republic or Ecuador, I didn’t know Jamaica produced chocolate at this level.’ That is when I know that I’m doing my job.”

Davis further explained One One Cacao’s mission, relating that during the COVID-19 pandemic the company focused on evangelising Jamaican cocoa by collaborating with Airbnb to create an artisanal chocolate experience of how the product is made. According to the chocolate-maker the venture, which is still ongoing, received recognition from Condé Nast for being among the top 10 online experiences.

“That only happens because of the connection we have with chocolate,” Davis reflected. “People feel the passion. They understand what we’re trying to do, they get the mission — and that’s where a lot of our orders came from. That’s why we got so many international orders because people were at home and they wanted to taste this chocolate which was coming from Jamaica, and we just built upon that.”

With a staff of only three people, including himself, the focus is almost entirely on selling a more expensive, high-quality product. This business model allows them the time to work closely with the cocoa beans and curate their chocolate.

One One Cacao is now involved in the entire process from tree to bar, which includes working with farmers in communities across Jamaica — from Clarendon to St Thomas, Portland, and St Mary — fermenting cocoa and processing it into finished chocolate.

The stated goal is not only to make chocolate but also to contribute to the resurrection of the chocolate industry by supporting and connecting with more farmers to ensure a sustainable cocoa supply.

Davis related that the company’s emphasis on exporting chocolate to high-end users has led to increased recognition and opportunities internationally, drawing attention to the high-quality cocoa beans and the farms and farmers they work with in Jamaica, using their chocolate as a means to promote Jamaican cocoa as a whole.

He recently hosted speciality discussions as a lead spokesman at the Chocoa festival in Holland, in the company of other chocolate-makers, buyers, and sellers from around the world.

“That happened because of the inroads I have made with the industry at that level,” he affirmed.

In summing up One One Cacao’s new business model, which emphasises a simple product offering value to high-end users, Davis said, “I think there’s space for every level of chocolate within Jamaica, you know, but for me, I’m pushing for flavour in dark chocolate.”

“I’ll put it as far as this,” he declared. “Other people are doing other things with their chocolates. I’m not a chocolatier; chocolatiers are people who make things with chocolate. I am a chocolate-maker, and for me the chocolate-making involves every stage of taking that fruit and transforming it into, hopefully, the most amazing chocolate or the most amazing flavours that people can find in the chocolate itself.”