Butlers Chocolates
Membership Status:
Approved until 31 May 2021
Sector:
Confectionery/Snacks
About the company
Established in 1932, Butlers Chocolates is Ireland’s premier family-owned chocolatier. Butlers Chocolates are available in 30 countries and 60 airports around the globe, with a world-class reputation that continues to grow.
The company supplies a wide range of sustainably sourced chocolate products including; award-winning premium chocolate assortments, gourmet solid and filled chocolate bars in various sizes, chocolate collections with alcohol, souvenir gifts and travel retail exclusives.
Butlers is known and loved throughout Ireland and beyond for their eponymous retail concept - Butlers Chocolate Café, an innovative experience personifying the Butlers brand, now open in over 30 locations worldwide including South Asia and Dubai. Butlers Chocolates have won over 30 Great Taste Awards as well as numerous Irish Food Awards and Quality Irish Food Awards.
Key Sustainability Commitments
Committed to Responsible Sourcing
Butlers Chocolates is committed to the ethical sourcing of ingredients. Butlers Chocolates is a member of Cocoa Horizons, a programme which seeks to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their communities. The coffee used in Butlers Chocolate Cafés is Fairtrade certified and ethically sourced.
Focused on Renewable Energy
The company installed a 420,000kWh solar rooftop unit atop its Dublin factory; the biggest installation of its kind on an industrial premises in the Republic of Ireland. The installation of the unit meets approximately 14% of the company’s annual energy demand with over 350,000kWh of electricity generated each year.
Support Communities at Home and Abroad
Butlers pride themselves on being a socially responsible company and frequently support local, national and international charity and social projects that are of benefit to the wider community. They support the Hope Foundation – a Cork-based charity that works to feed and educate street children in Calcutta and produces bespoke chocolate bars for the Hope Foundation, which they sell on to raise funds.
Social Media Links
Exemplary Performance Target Areas
Minimum Origin Green Targets Required Annually = 6
Spotlight Target Area: Raw Material Sourcing
The environment and Butler’s impact upon it has always been central to the company’s thought process, striving to build sustainability into its business practices at every opportunity. This is reflected in the strong performance from the company throughout 2019.
Within the area of Raw Material Sourcing, Butlers primary raw materials are cocoa and coffee beans, commodities which have complex supply chains. In recognising this, Butlers established a target in 2018 to source 80% of its cocoa from Cocoa Horizons suppliers by 2022.
Cocoa Horizons is an independently verified initiative working to support the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their families in West Africa. In 2019, the company surpassed this target by sourcing a total of 98% from Cocoa Horizons suppliers.
Butlers also supports Cocoa Horizon Projects in the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Tanzania. The Cocoa Horizons Foundation helps to create thriving communities where farmers are trained in best practice methods, enabling them to grow cocoa sustainably and responsibly, increase yields and improve farmer family livelihoods.
Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing
Butlers also pays a premium which directly increases income to farmers so they can invest in their farms and communities. In 2019, the company paid towards the Cocoa Horizons foundation, with this amount having increased by over 16% since 2018.
Butlers also set out to source 80% of its coffee beans from a Fair Trade coffee supplier by 2022. The Butlers team met this target earlier than expected in 2019. Again, 100% of the coffee used in Butlers Chocolate Cafés now comes from Fair Trade sources, a well-known badge of sustainability and ethical sourcing.
“An integral part of our philosophy is our underlying commitment to all those with whom we engage – our customers, suppliers, staff and the local community. At all levels of our company, we endeavour to treat everyone with fairness and respect and to consider and protect the environment. The future is important to us and we are all going to play our part in nurturing and safeguarding it.”
Mairead Sorensen, Chairman
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