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Chocolatier Radically Transforms Products & Packaging

A change in its product ingredients to become fully plant-based prompts craft chocolate maker TCHO to reinvent its packaging for consumer ease of use and greater storytelling.

On the front panel of the chocolate bar carton, Super Okay chose bold, bright color backgrounds that reflect the natural brilliance of cacao pods throughout the world.
On the front panel of the chocolate bar carton, Super Okay chose bold, bright color backgrounds that reflect the natural brilliance of cacao pods throughout the world.

For craft chocolate maker TCHO (“cho”), a radical transformation of its products required an equally dramatic change to its packaging. Since 2007, the Berkeley, Calif., company has been committed to crafting sustainably made chocolate bars and professional baking products through its TCHO Source sourcing program, whereby it partners with cacao farmers and scientists around the world to create a better cacao bean. Last year, the company achieved Certified B Corp status as a result of its work to improve the lives of its workers, customers, suppliers, and the local community.

In 2020, in an effort to create chocolate that further reflected its values, TCHO began the process of reformulating its products to be completely plant based. “Reducing our reliance on dairy is one of the quickest ways TCHO can lighten our impact on the environment. While this will not be an easy transition for us, we know it’s the right one,” shares Josh Mohr, Vice President of Marketing at TCHO. “From the beginning, TCHO has been committed to working with our farming partners in the field, improving farming techniques, bettering soil conditions, and doing what we can to help minimize deforestation—all of which speaks to a plant-based model.”


Read article   Read this story on how Nestle achieved paperization of its Smarties packaging.


The reformulation includes a simplification of the ingredient panel on all of TCHO’s dark chocolate bars and a move to sunflower lecithin from soy. For its milk chocolate bars, the company has replaced animal milk with oats, cashews, and coconut sugar. This now means that the entire TCHO retail line is Certified Fair Trade, Certified Organic, vegan, gluten free, and kosher, and is 100% made from  plants. The new selection includes four delectable dark chocolate varieties and three milk chocolate selections in unique flavors such as Choco Latté, Born Fruity, and Holy Fudge.

In early 2020, TCHO approached brand design firm Super Okay to help them create a completely new brand platform to communicate the changes to its bars and tell the story of its mission. Says Mohr, “We knew we wanted to break through the sea of sameness on the craft chocolate shelf. TCHO originally launched as a very design-forward brand in the late 2000s, and we wanted to get back to that simplicity. We also asked Super Okay to bring our personality to the forefront, captivating the consumer enough to stop and grab one to read the back of the package while in the aisle.”

TCHO's chocolate bar packaging BEFORE the redesign.TCHO's chocolate bar packaging BEFORE the redesign.Structurally, the existing chocolate bar packaging consisted of a foil wrapper and a paper envelope overwrap, which held a nine-square, 70-g bar. The transformation includes a switch to three individually wrapped, 0.83-oz, three-square bars packaged in a square, wallet-style carton that not only enables consumers to easily share and store the chocolate, but also provides an “immersive experience,” as well.

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