We believe very strongly in business being fair and environmentally sound. Having worked in environment and development sectors for many years, we know how easy that is to say, but how complex and difficult it is to achieve. We feel that our best strategy to achieve this is to be informed and as we hope for transparency in the industry supply chains, so we should be as equally open with information about our own business.

There are a range of questions that we ask whenever we make a decision:

We tend to be pragmatic about our sourcing though: we weigh up the above factors and make a decision taking all these into consideration. It is unrealistic to think that we can achieve all of these with any one ingredient and so have to compromise on one thing over another. However, suppliers are sourcing more and more ingredients with these factors in mind and so what we may not be able to source now, might well be available next year and so we are constantly reviewing these choices

Fairtrade:
Our local town Aberfeldy is a Fairtrade Town – Scotland’s first infact, and when we started the business we assumed that we would use Fairtrade chocolate and that we could carry the Fairtrade logo. In fact, on investigation this turned out to be a little more involved than we had thought and so, slightly compromised, we carried on with non-Fairtrade chocolate. Anyone who ever asks us whether we use Fairtrade had probably wished they hadn’t – I for one had a terrible habit of giving ridiculously detailed explanations! My fear has been that unless I was very careful people would think that I was complaining about the situation and I absolutely am not. Chocolate (and other commodities) are cut throat international businesses and to sustain the quality of the Fairtrade mark, the supply chains need to be tightly managed. This takes money, and the Fairtrade Foundation has a huge task on limited resources to keep everything as it should be.

I have found the Fairtrade Foundation hugely helpful over the years in my quest to work a way through the maze. In a recent discussion with Fairtrade Foundation about whether it is worth my registering as a Fairtrade producer (and so bear the Fairtrade mark) we agreed that for the scale of my business the administration required would be cumbersome for both ourselves and the Fairtrade Foundation. They commented that the Fairtrademark is a shortcut consumer mark that large producers are able to use to communicate about Fairtrade, and argued that as I am very close to my customers I can communicate directly to them about my ethical trading policies and so do not need to fall back on the short cut of the Fairtrade mark. So, hence this web-page

Chocolate
When we started one of the practical barriers to using Fairtrade chocolate was that it only seemed to be available in 1 tonne lots! Thankfully it is now available in 20kg lots and therefore much more manageable for our small outfit. I have started to use this now for the shells of all the chocolates, and the white and milk ganache fillings. The chocolate is manufactured by Barry Callebaut, and is also certified organic by the Soil Association
We will continue to explore other sources of chocolate that have well-documented and regulated supply chains

Cream and butter:
Not all the ingredients have a Fairtrade Standard; dairy products are an example that do not. We mainly buy cream and butter (used for the sea salt caramels and brownies) from the Co-operative (we have a good local Co-operative in Aberfeldy).

Sugar:
We use sugar in sea salt caramels, brownies and occasionally in the ganache fillings. It is always Fairtrade sugar; either from the Co-operative (their own brand) or from Traidcraft.

Oranges and lemons:
The Co-operative sell wonderful Fairtrade oranges and lemons and if they have them in stock when we need them then those are what we use. They don’t always have them and as the next Co-operative is 20 miles away, we might have to buy non Fairtrade rather than drive to find long distances to find them

Spices:
Some spices have Fairtrade Standards and if I can source these locally I will do so.

Some useful links:

Fairtrade Foundation, http://www.fairtrade.org.uk

The Co-operative, http://www.co-operative.coop

The Co-operative Bank, http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk

Blue Box Design, 2a Broadleys Industrial Park, Kerse Road, Stirling
FK7 7LQ. Tel 01786 446098

Barry Callebaut, http://www.barry-callebaut.com

Scottish Wild Harvest Association, http://www.scottishwildharvests.org.uk