Luker Chocolate, Colombian B4B (business-for-business) chocolate manufacturer and leader in sustainability, announced today the unveiling of several new capabilities at Expo West 2024 in March. The sustainable chocolate leader shared additional impact data, offering a deeper insight into Luker's sustainability efforts through The Chocolate Dream.
Luker Chocolate offered booth visitors the opportunity to be among the first to check out Luker’s newest capabilities including dairy-free offerings, protein chocolate, and organic chocolate all of which align with Luker’s longstanding commitment to crafting at origin and using Fino de Aroma Cocoa. Attendees also learned more about the recent sustainability impact data.
“Luker has been built on human connection, sustainability, and innovation as evidenced by the new offerings we are debuting at Expo West,” says Camilo Romero, chief executive officer at Luker Chocolate. “We look forward to seeing 2024 unfold and remain committed to the goal of helping all stakeholders in cocoa production to work towards more profitable cocoa farms and more sustainable production methods.”
Luker has continued to innovate new products and customer offerings over the past several decades to stay ahead of the competition and stay in tune with what consumers want. In addition to their expanded private label capabilities, some of Luker’s newest offerings include:
New Protein Chocolate: Luker’s newest product is a 44% dark chocolate formulated with pea protein that contains 5g of protein in a 25g serving of chocolate.
Dairy-Free Oat M!lk Chocolate: Luker is putting a plant-based twist on their current chocolate offerings with a dairy-free
Organic Chocolate: Luker sources organic cocoa from areas where it implements the company’s The Chocolate Dream sustainability plan, focusing on healthy cocoa growth without relying on daily chemical inputs. Luker’s organic dark chocolate is now available in 72%, 70%, 58%, and 54%.
Sustainability report findings
Luker goes beyond conventional sustainability standards, aiming for a truly transformative impact. To consistently create sustainable products and maintain a transparent supply chain and mutually beneficial farmer relationships, in late 2023 Luker conducted a sustainability audit to find areas of progress within their sustainability efforts companywide.
Some new goals for the company based on report findings include:
Luker plans to increase 1,500 cocoa farmers’ income by 20% by 2027 and improve the social well-being and quality of life for 5,000 families by that time as well.
The chocolate pioneer is encouraging environmentally positive practices across yf9,000 hectares of land with a keen focus on sustainability, biodiversity enhancement, water conservation, and forest protection by 2027.
Working toward their Net Zero goal, Luker has a goal of reaching a reduction of 28% in carbon emissions in the energy and industrial emissions space, compared to Luker’s baseline year of 2021.
Some key sustainability findings include:
Luker maintains a passionate position when it comes to keeping farmer relationships mutually beneficial. To that end, the chocolate supplier found that in 2023, 1.058 cocoa families saw an increase in income (through entrepreneurship, income diversification, and productivity enhancement projects) and 3.933 families saw an overall improved quality of life.
Throughout 2023, Luker encouraged environmentally friendly practices across 11,945 hectares of land with a focus on sustainability, enhancing biodiversity, water conservation, and forest protection.
The sustainability report found that in 2023, Luker saw a 20% reduction in direct carbon emissions.