Christophe Eberhart, Rémi Roux and Stéphane Comar, the three founders of Ethiquable, are they the new Willy Wonka from Gers? The reference to the character of the novel Charlie and the chocolate factory written by Roald Dahl is not so preposterous. “We can say yes! “ Rémi Roux, co-manager of this cooperative production company (SCOP) specializing in fair trade, agrees, bursting into laughter. “On the other hand, there is no slide”, jokes M. Roux, from the small town of Fleurance (Gers). Or the smell of chocolate, for the moment. Because the tanks of the ecoconstructed chocolate factory in a few months are being cleaned. The machines will be tested in May and the production of organic and fair trade chocolate will start at the beginning of June.
With this new tool, the cooperative integrates the processes that it subcontracted until then. The cocoa mass, resulting from the roasting of the beans, is now melted on site, incorporated into milk and sugar, and crushed. The conching phase is then carried out, then the dough is molded. For what benefits? “Our medium-sized factory can produce small batches of chocolate and therefore process a flow of organic and ‘pure origin’ cocoa, understand by country”, argues Christophe Eberhart. “Because cocoa, like wine, reflects a terroir. “” We will also have a freer hand for testing, “ complete, pragmatic, Rémi Roux.
20 million tablets
Another advantage, not negligible: an increase in production capacity. No less than 1,300 tonnes of chocolate should leave the factory in 2021, i.e. 20 million bars, 2,500 tonnes the following year, or 25 million bars that will be put on sale in the 10,000 points of sale that account Ethiquable in large and medium-sized stores. In 2020, the Gers plant produced 2,000 tonnes of chocolate for 12 million bars subcontracted in Italy.
“I am amazed by this virtuous project from start to finish” Annabelle Viollet, Regional Director of the Banque des Territoires
Of course, the cooperative does not act alone. It relies on a network of 6,800 cocoa farmers, mainly located in around ten countries in South America and Africa. Grouped together in cooperatives, the farmers of small plots, whose surface area hardly exceeds five hectares, do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
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