Colruyt Group launches fairer Santa chocolate with Tony’s Open Chain

For the first time, Colruyt Group is launching its own brand of chocolate made from fair trade cocoa from Tony’s Open Chain program. In the coming years, the retailer will switch its entire range of Boni chocolate to cocoa that complies with the “living income” principle.

“Making an impact faster”

Three new Saint Nicholas figures are now available at Colruyt, Spar, Okay, and Comarkt/Comarché. The packaging features the Lekker Bezig, Tony’s Open Chain, and Fairtrade labels. By 2026 and 2027, all chocolate bars and seasonal products from the Boni private label will meet these standards. The initiative complements the Boni Living Income project that the retailer launched in Ivory Coast in 2020: since then, all standard 100- and 200-gram Boni Selection chocolate bars have contributed to a living income for cocoa farmers.

“To have even more and faster impact, we decided to join Tony’s Open Chain,” says sustainability expert Jasmien Wildemeersch of Colruyt Group. “That program didn’t exist when we started our own chain collaboration in Ivory Coast, but it’s a strong ecosystem and we can definitely learn from each other. In both cases, it’s a long-term commitment. Three years for the Boni chocolate bars and five years for the Boni seasonal chocolate. That’s the only way we can tackle the challenges structurally.”

Tony’s Open Chain is the platform founded by Tony’s Chocolonely, where chocolate makers, supermarkets, and cocoa farmers work together to ensure that cocoa farmers earn a living income, child labor is eliminated, and forests are protected. Ahold Delhaize, Aldi, Hema, and Jumbo, among others, also collaborate with it.