Interview with Frederick Schilling from Dagoba Organic Chocolate

Dagoba Organic Chocolate, a company that grew rapidly from humble beginnings, has become one of the world’s most respected manufacturers of premium organic chocolate. Frederick Schilling, the driving force behind Dagoba, recently shared with us his views on chocolate, Dagoba, and life in general. It’s always inspiring to hear the thoughts and views of someone like Frederick. Clearly, he loves what he is doing. And like many within the organic community, Frederick has a real social conscience. Through the principles of fair trade and the careful development of mutually beneficial long-term relationships, Frederick is ensuring that those involved in articulating his dream are also able to share in the benefits of Dagoba’s hard-earned success.

Q: Could you briefly outline the origins of Dagoba chocolate.

A: I more or less started the company in 2000 while experimenting in my kitchen, in Boulder Colorado. The inspiration came from a multitude of sources that converged at the same time. I love food, I love religion (the historical social aspects of cacao), I consider myself a humanitarian (95% of the world’s cacao is grown by independent small family farms) and I love ecological (cacao being a rainforest tree).

All of these factors converged and inspiration for an idea was born. At the time I was experimenting with chocolate, the available organic chocolate on the market didn’t do much for my palate. The quality left me desiring more and the flavor infusions that existed at that time were pretty mundane. I started experimenting and creating flavor infusions that didn’t exist on the market; chai, lavender, xocolatl, mint-rosemary, roseberry…. And we were met with open hearts and open mouths.

All of my friends in boulder supported my idea and so I committed to doing it full time. I paid myself $500/month, ate rice, beans and chocolate and hand-poured and hand wrapped every bar for the first year and a half. That was 6.5 years ago.

Q: Approximately what percentage of international chocolate sales would depend on supplies obtained from organic producers?

A: Wow, I have no idea. My guess is 0.01%…. And that’s probably conservative. “They” estimate that the organic chocolate market world wide is about $200MMM. I’m not sure if this is correct, as 99% of organic chocolate companies are privately held and don’t necessarily share financial information.

Q: Over the past decade, scientific research has contributed to our appreciation of the beneficial and therapeutic properties of dark chocolate. To what extent is the popularity of your products influenced by the positive health reports published in contemporary media?

A: I have no idea. I think the positive health attributes do support our consumers desire to purchase our chocolate. Yet, we serve a customer base that supports social equity, environmental conservation/restoration, flavor exploration and high quality chocolate. I think our consumers support us because they like what we do and they like chocolate. The health benefits are just an added benefit.

Q: From the perspective of an established chocolate manufacturer, can you describe the most important qualities which will distinguish fine quality chocolate from the average?

A: Quality of the cacao beans, quality of the manufacturing process and the love of the people that make the product. The love and passion are probably the most important part of the ingredient equation. You can have the best beans and the most cutting edge equipment. But if you don’t have the love for what you do and life in general, the product won’t be inspiring to the tongue and soul. And chocolate is all about tongue and soul…

Q: Your company offers a unique and innovative range of chocolate products. When new concepts are developed, what levels of consumer based evaluation are undertaken before a general distribution?

A: None. I come up with an idea, I make a couple test batches. I place it in the employee lounge. Whichever batch disappears the quickest is the one we market.

Q: To what extent have you sought techniques or inspiration from specialist chocolatiers and others working within recognised culinary traditions?

A: I look outside my own industry for inspiration. I believe in the need for cross-pollination. If one looks within your own industry for inspiration, I feel you’ll end up being a follower and not a leader. In order to be a leader, one needs to look beyond familiar surroundings.

Q: What’s Dagoba’s philosophy on product packaging and presentation?

A: For our packaging material, we use the most environmentally friendly material available to us. Or presentation, ‘rustic elegance’ is the term I coined for what I like to create. Imperfections breathe life and in those imperfections, there is elegant beauty.

Q: The conventional cocoa trade has on occassions been associated with unfortunate levels of economic and environmental exploitation. In view of these historical patterns, how difficult is it for ethical companies to establish beneficial commercial relationships with cocoa farmers?

A: Cocoa trade, as with any product, is directly linked with supply and demand. As demand increases, prices increase. As demand diminishes, prices drop. If supply is tight, prices increase. If supply is plenty, prices drop. This is true for organic or conventional, plastic or agriculture.

It is unfortunate that the cacao trade is a very fragmented network and relies on a network of collectors and traders in order to get the cacao to the manufacturer and to the end user. Of course there are instances where a manufacturer will buy directly from a grower and the manufacturer will sell directly to the consumer; but this is an extremely rare occasion.

99% of the world’s cacao is grown by small independent family farms scattered throughout the world around the equatorial rainforest belt. Many, many, many of these farmers that grow cacao on there farms, along with many other crops, are miles and miles away from anything that we in the US would call a large town. And many, many, many of these farmers don’t own vehicles which would allow them to transport their cacao or any of their crops to the town in order to sell for larger consolidation, which in turn would be brought to a larger town or city for further consolidation, which in turn would be brought to another larger city or the port in order to be shipped out to the manufacturer.

Therefore, in order for these farmers to sell their crops, they depend on collectors that drive around once a week and buy the farmers cacao. They in turn bring it back to the village and consolidate. Then he/she sells to another collector/consolidator that comes from a larger town 100 miles away and that collector consolidates the cacao from many villages and sells to an even larger collector that will bring it to port. So there are many hands often in the supply chain of not only cacao, but many commodities.

This is true for organic or conventional commodities. And of course, there are always exceptions, for organic or conventional companies. And this is most often the case for lower economic returns for farmers, whether it’s cacao, cashews, coffee, bananas, maté, acai or spices.

In order to work around this system that has been established over centuries, it can be a difficult task. The most logic step would be to work direct with a farmer or farmer group. Well, this takes time, money and a great deal of effort. Therefore, it makes it very hard for a small company and especially a start-up. Because cacao is grown in the tropics, it takes a lot of time for someone from a US manufacturer to travel the world and locate cacao that is appropriate for their product. While it may seem fun, it’s a lot of work. Therefore, the easiest thing to do is work with a broker or supplier of cacao with whom you have a good relationship with and trust, who already has developed a relationship with origin countries and farming groups.

Q: From your organisation’s experience and knowledge of the international cocoa trade, which are the most significant barriers which confront regional cocoa farmers who might consider a conversion to organic production?

A: 50% of the worlds cacao is probably organic by default. A lot of farmers simply can’t afford agricultural chemical inputs. So, I think the largest barrier is simply demand for organic cacao. If the demand is there, the price for the farmer to certify the farm as organic is often times cost prohibitive. $3,000 for a farmer in a developing country could be a year’s income. The cost structure for organic certification is unjust in this way…. There is just too much cost involved for the poor farmers in developing countries that supply the organic industries products.

The farmers that do get certification most often belong to a cooperative that was probably subsidized and assisted in many ways by an international NGO or governmental agency to get certified organic. It’s not as black and white as most consumers think.

And again, this is the same for most if not all organic commodities coming out of the tropics.

Q: Our readers have been known to request the occasional chocolate recipe. Do you have a favorite which can be shared here?

A: I do. It’s not a standard recipe, such as our flourless chocolate torte. Nor is it complex.

One of my most favorite chocolate dishes is this: a fresh baguette, our lavender chocolate bar and blue cheese. Simply make a sandwich. And if your a honey fan like myself, drizzle honey on the inside of the bread.

I love this! I really, really do. It may sound odd, yet it’s actually a really good picnic food or even hiking food. Or, if you have a bottle of red wine and it happens to be Friday night, dinner is served!

Organic Guide wishes to thank Frederick Schilling for generously sharing his time and insights. To find out more about Frederick and his team of dedicated chocolatiers, please visit Dagoba Organic Chocolate.