Good Honest Chocolate

The ingredients in our chocolate change depending on the type of chocolate and flavour combination. You can find the full list of ingredients and nutritional information for each of our delicious treats on our product pages. 

Around 96% of our raw materials, excluding cocoa beans and cocoa butter, are purchased from Kiwi suppliers. As a New Zealand-owned company we are committed to supporting local. As it happens, we have some of the best ingredients in the world right on our doorstep!

Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance are both working towards the same goals of improving conditions for cocoa farmers and protecting the environment, so it's a matter of choosing one or the other. We are proud to have been an early partner to Fairtrade, but have now chosen to build a partnership with the Rainforest Alliance to extend our commitment to ethical sourcing across our entire range of 116 products that are made with Ghanaian cocoa.

This is because the Rainforest Alliance certification model best suits our focus on sourcing cocoa beans only from Ghana (apart from a small amount of speciality beans from Samoa) and means we can have more impact there specifically. 

We pay our farmers fair premiums for the beans they produce and build strong relationships with local community leaders who support and speak on behalf of our farmers. We also look for additional ways we can help make a difference. For example, in Samoa, we established the Whittaker's Cocoa Improvement Programme to provide education and equipment to cocoa farmers. In Ghana, we recently built two washrooms for local schools and provided PPE support for COVID-19. 

We source a small amount of specialty beans from Samoa. We have a close relationship with the cocoa plantations and their community and can trace the supply route without assistance. In Ghana the cocoa industry is more complex, so we partner with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure that all our Ghanaian cocoa beans are sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. Thanks to investments we made in geo-mapping the cocoa farms we source from in Ghana, we can trace all of our beans from farm to factory.

80.74% of our total packaging weight is currently designed to be recyclable. But we know we can do even better. Follow our journey to transition to circular packaging as soon as possible.

We source a small amount of specialty beans from Samoa. We have a close relationship with the cocoa plantations and their community, and can trace the supply route without assistance. In Ghana the cocoa industry is more complex, so we partner with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure that all our Ghana cocoa beans are sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms. 

Our Mini Slab and Artisan Squares are individually wrapped to maintain food safety and quality. But we know there are improvements to make in the materials we use. We have been testing packaging alternatives that are better for the environment and are on a journey to transition to circular packaging as soon as possible.

We support a range of charities, schools and events by donating chocolate. To apply for sponsorship please send your proposal to reception@whittakers.co.nz and tell us what you're planning!

If you're interested in applying for sponsorship, please let us know:

• What the sponsorship is for
• How many people it relates to (for example, an individual or a team)
• How you would like to use our chocolate as part of it

Then our team will review your proposal and get back to you as soon as we can!

There are many incredible organisations making a big difference to our communities, so we like to help out where we can. To order one of our delicious fundraising packs visit our friends at the House of Fundraising or call them on freephone 0800 806 542.