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By producing dark chocolate up with the highest quality in the world, Paccari Chocolate has brought stability and opportunity to more than 15,000 people in rural Ecuador. Cofounder Santiago Peralta shares how Paccari has built on direct, long-term partnerships with farmers. He pays them twice the market rate—AKA and efficiency wage—to ensure sustainability throughout the process.
Over the past 20 years, Paccari has released 70 flavors of dark chocolate, won more than 450 international awards, and expanded into products like healthy cereals and dairy-free ice cream. Although dark-chocolate production has increased around the world, Peralta says the biggest competitor remains ignorance: most people still choose chocolate from popular brands tied to harmful practices, such as the use of unhealthy ingredients or child labor.
Paccari, therefore, has not escalated only because of their quality. They have tied the farmers and their own story to the brand. The “Paccari Way” has earned global recognition from institutions like Harvard Business School and Technological Institute of Monterrey, and Forbes has praised the company for setting new ethical standards in business. As Peralta puts it, “You can be part of the problem or part of the solution. We have chosen to be part of the solution.”
Recommended Links
Follow Santiago Peralta on X.
Follow Paccari Chocolate on X.
“Yusuf Amdani on Third-World Business: Build a Nation within a Nation” by Fergus Hodgson.
World of Opportunity, by Yusuf Amdani.
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