Why Corporations Are Ditching Cacao, And Why We Won’t

Over the last decade, the global chocolate industry has been quietly shifting. Many large corporations are reducing the amount of real cacao they use, or replacing it altogether with cheaper substitutes. It’s not that they don’t value cacao, it’s that the true cost of producing high-quality cacao no longer fits the scale or margins they’re trying to maintain.

Cacao has become an expensive ingredient for several reasons. Climate change is placing huge pressure on growing regions. Cacao trees are sensitive to temperature, rainfall, and disease, and even small environmental shifts can reduce yields. When production drops, the price naturally rises.

At the same time, years of low global prices have pushed many farmers out of cacao altogether. When farmers can’t afford to maintain their land or support their families, they move to more stable crops, and the supply of high-quality beans shrinks even further.

Ethical and sustainable production adds another layer of cost. Paying farmers fairly, maintaining healthy soil, fermenting and drying beans properly, and protecting biodiversity all require time, labour, and investment.

Cheap chocolate depends on cutting corners, while  responsible cacao does not. Add to this a long, fragile supply chain that involves hand-harvesting, fermentation, drying, shipping, and processing, and cacao becomes one of the most labour-intensive ingredients in the food world.

To keep products affordable and profits high, many corporations are now shifting towards cocoa flavourings, cheaper blends of low-grade beans, added oils, extra sugar, and engineered substitutes that mimic the taste of chocolate. It allows them to sell familiar products without relying on an ingredient that is becoming increasingly scarce and costly.

Small cacao companies, like Ritual Cacao, take a different approach. Instead of treating cacao as a commodity, we work directly with the farmers who grow it.

We pay above market prices because we want cacao farming to remain a viable livelihood, not a race to the bottom. When farmers are supported properly, they can care for their land, maintain healthy trees, and invest in the future of their farms.

This direct relationship also protects the cultural knowledge that has shaped cacao for generations. True cacao requires skilled fermentation, careful drying, and a deep understanding of the land.

These practices cannot be replicated by industrial systems; they survive only when people value them. By choosing to work with small-scale growers who use regenerative and biodiverse farming methods, we help make sure those traditions are not lost.

All of this means that high-quality cacao remains available, even as big corporations move in the opposite direction. When you choose Ritual Cacao, you are supporting farmers, protecting ecosystems, and keeping a long lineage of agricultural and cultural knowledge alive.

You’re choosing a future where cacao is grown with integrity, rather than being replaced by cheaper, diluted alternatives.

To us, cacao is more than an ingredient. It is a Plant Medicine Spirit, a livelihood, a tradition, and a relationship between the earth, the farmers, and the people who honour it.