Are we at the point in time where we’re dependent on a Youtuber to set the standard?
Apparently yes.
Enter MrBeast – the world’s most successful YouTuber – changing the way cocoa is sourced with his multimillion dollar chocolate company Feastables.
The “Big Chocolate” way:
- ❗Buying cocoa from middlemen leading to farmers being paid less (80% of investigated companies used suppliers that did not pay cocoa farmers enough to live on – report from Ethical Consumer)
- ❗Reliance on child and forced labor (46% particularly in West Africa farming where 70% of cocoa is produced)
- ❗Hiding behind weak third-party certifications like Rainforest Alliance to claim to be “ethically sourced”
His way:
- ✅ Help farmers and their families earn a living income
- ✅ Invest in local communities, in children’s education and their wellbeing
- ✅ Ensure farmers have access to skilled and mechanized labor to successfully operate their farms, without child labor
…and still reach $1bn in revenue while being profitable
After watching MrBeast in an interview with Steven Bartlett on a Diary of a CEO, I walked myself to the nearest grocery store to get a Feastable. Among a massive wall of chocolate options, I grabbed the blue packaged milk chocolate almond bar (dark chocolate wasn’t available unfortunately), went home, gave some to my partner and took a bite – it was good chocolate no complaints.
Unlike many other social enterprises, MrBeast is not banking solely on your empathy and kindness to sell chocolate. He makes a damn good product first and sells it at a competitive price point. The fact that your money is also helping eliminate child labor is an added bonus.
“A big part of it is we have to be profitable while doing it, so I can be like look, we achieved scale ethically and we’re making money, it’s not that you can’t do it, you just don’t want to.” – MrBeast
Nestle, Mondelez, Hershey’s, Mars – your move.
I write about businesses, technologies and people 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 the way we interact with the world. Follow me to learn more about social enterprises 💬
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