Sustainability doesn’t work without transparency

Transparency is at the core of our commitments at Kocoatrait. With the belief that the right and required information should be easily accessable to our consumers, we have decided to publish the Price per gram of the product in readable font size next to the price of our product. On the face of it, this might seem a bold and futuristic move. However, we deeply evaluated the risk of this piece of information becoming intimidating upon a consumer while making his/her purchase decision as it may lead to realisations that he/she is spending a lot of money for our chocolates (since bean to bar chocolates do not come cheap!). We decided that being honest would be easier than trick the consumer into making our product look cheaper (or bigger) than it actually is to influence a buying decision. This is the 1st such initiative undertaken by any chocolate brand across the world and adds to the previous transparency efforts of displaying the price breakup of chocolates to the consumers on their website last month.

“We need consumers to be at a heightened state of awareness while making his/her purchase decision and making him/her realise the amount of money being invested.” clarifies L Nitin Chordia, Co-founder of Kocoatrait sustainable chocolates and India’s 1st chocolate taster. “Everyone works hard for the money that they earn and we think that consumers will be able to make the right and an informed decision and as a result wholeheartedly reward this transparency and our honesty.” believes Poonam Chordia, Co-founder fo Kocoatrait. “Honesty is always the best policy! This might mean that consumers may decide not to buy our product on every occasion. We realise that and we are ok with our consumers behaving rationally.” adds L Nitin Chordia. “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 precedence in this growing bean to bar industry globally” says L Nitin Chordia, India’s 1st certified chocolate taster and Co-Founder of Kocoatrait.

PS: This disclosure will soon become mandatory for all packaged good manufacturers (as per FSSAI draft regulations published last month) and we decided to make an early start with our 200gms plum chocolate bar.

Kocoatrait has 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.

“We dwelled over this for many 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 1st effort and the aim is to respond to consumers seeking to lead a sustainable, eco/planet friendly and zero/low waste lifestyle” says Poonam Chordia, Co-Founder, Kocoatrait.

“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” says L Nitin Chordia. On our website, Kocoatrait already published the amount (in kgs) of single use plastic our consumers have helped them save from being deposited into landfills by patronising their chocolate brand and this cost break up is an extension of their efforts.