"My dad makes chocolate" blurts out my 5 year old son to his school-mates at class assembly one morning.  I'm not sure if that makes me Willy Wonka or just a really cool dad.  But launching a brand new chocolate company is no walk in the park.

My friends are a little less enthusiastic; "aren't there enough chocolates already?"  Their assumption is that we're trying to compete with the Cadbury's and Lindt's of the world by making something cheaper.  Truth be known, there isn't any margin worth getting out of bed for in supermarket chocolates.

So what would make me think I have a snowball's chance in hell at making any profit at all in the chocolate game?

Cocoa industry experts are already raising concerns over the survival of some of the world's most prolific cocoa growing regions due to climate change (http://www.confectionerynews.com/Markets/No-magic-bullet-can-protect-cocoa-from-climate-change).  Finding new regions where cocoa can be grown is crucial.

10 years ago a group of forward-thinking folk in Australia formed the North Australia Cocoa Development Alliance and partnered with 3 State Governments and the Federal Government's Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation to explore the viability of growing cocoa commercially in Northern Australia. 

The program was a resounding success, demonstrating that higher yields than in most other cocoa regions could be achieved.  The proviso was that only a vertically integrated business model would be commercially viable due to the higher costs of business in Australia compared to traditional cocoa growing regions.  The resulting report remains one of the most comprehensive ever produced in the cocoa industry worldwide - download a free copy here (https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/09-092).

Several attempts over the past decade to kick start cocoa growing in Australia have fizzled into nothing.  But a staunch group of canefarmers in the Daintree Rainforest region of Tropical Far North Queensland refused to give up so easily.  Finally in 2010, Daintree Cocoa Pty Ltd was born, a unique vertically integrated business model where our cocoa growers are not only exclusive suppliers to the company, but also themselves shareholders and represented on the company board.

After much anticipation, Daintree Estates is finally about to launch the world's first commercially produced chocolate made from Australian grown cocoa and sugar from the magnificent Daintree Rainforest region (regarded as the oldest rainforest in the world).  It's a very exciting chapter in Australia's history, the birth of a new industry, and paving the way for the expansion of further development in the world's newest cocoa region.

I'm so excited to be a part of this remarkable journey (as are all my family and friends)!  Daintree Estates joins a very exclusive circle of ‘plantation to plate' chocolate makers, with complete control over every process from growing seedlings through to pod processing, fermenting and chocolate production.

Next year, Daintree Estates will be producing single plantation, single harvest chocolates to showcase the fascinating variances in flavour possible within just one region.  Chocolate is finally becoming sophisticated!

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Tim Davies

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• Daintree Estates: Chocolate from Down Under - October 24, 2011