Bean-to-bar chocolate maker Kocoatrait has revealed the cost breakup of each of their chocolate bars for consumers to access easily on their website, with an aim to improve its transparency.

The breakup includes cost of raw materials, manufacturing process, packaging and printing, artisan wages, operational/administrative overheads, producer/retailer margin and GST.

For a 70% dark chocolate, which costs Rs 235, raw material cost stood at Rs 37 whereas manufacturing and packaging/printing costs were roughly Rs 19 and Rs 23.5 respectively. Wages and other overheads stood at Rs 19 and Rs 28 respectively. Producer/retailer margin accounted for Rs 73 whereas the GST was Rs 26.

Kocoatrait, in a press release shared with WhatPackaging?, stated, “At Kocoatrait, we have come to firmly believe that transparency is a key component and commitment in the pursuit of sustainable growth and an answer to the climate change crisis. Kocoatrait has experienced that being transparent solves a lot of business problems quite easily and helps to focus on priority issues that concern climate change.”

Kocoatrait, which claims itself as a zero waste, paper/plastic-free, handcrafted, single origin, sustainable luxury and India's first bean to bar chocolate, announced consumer price transparency for the “first time in the history of bean-to-bar chocolate”.

L Nitin Chordia, India's first certified chocolate taster and co-founder of Kocoatrait said, "As bean-to-bar chocolate makers, we are totally committed towards being fair, transparent and an open book to our farmers and consumers. Our consumers trust us to produce high quality and planet friendly chocolates and we would like to set a precedent in this growing bean to bar industry globally".

According to Kocoatrait, it approached this extreme transparency initiative as a very logical step towards building trust/loyalty among consumers, an incentive for new bean to bar entrepreneurs in India and a driving force to propel the pace of the nascent but fast-growing bean to bar chocolate industry in India.

Poonam Chordia, co-founder, Kocoatrait said, "We dwelled over this for weeks and we realise the potential downside to this and the insecurities this causes in a traditional business mindset. However, the pros outweigh the cons and as a forward-thinking sustainable brand, we decided that this kind of transparency is necessary to remain relevant to the evolving consumer needs and business environment.”

“We decided to keep the consumer needs as priority. This is an industry first effort, and the aim is to respond to consumers seeking to lead a sustainable, eco/planet friendly and zero/low waste lifestyle" she added.

According to Nitin, trust helps us build consumer loyalty and makes it easier for businesses to focus on other priority issues. “We would like to give consumers enough reasons to trust and recommend us. This fits into our strategy quite easily," he said.

Kocoatrait has already published in its website the amount (in kgs) of single use plastic its consumers have helped them save from being deposited into landfills by patronising their chocolate brand and the cost breakup is an extension of their efforts.