Big Interview “I never ask for people
to revere chocolate like I do, but I like to challenge people to taste real chocolate and I’m sure
their life will change, just as mine did”
quality cacao. We try to do things differently to other chocolate producers. We take the time to carefully select our cacao, which has been specifi cally chosen for its high quality. We source only the best quality ingredients - I spent six months sourcing the precise mint used in our Dark Chocolate with Mint bar in the Fusion range. All of this careful selection allows us to have more control throughout the whole process. We can track every stage of our chocolate’s journey, from raw ingredients to fi nished product.
Is sustainability important to you and the business? How so?
Sustainability is incredibly important to both me and Vinte Vinte. A lot of the cocoa used in chocolate is sourced from areas that don’t harvest raw cocoa in a way that’s sustainable. At Vinte Vinte we are trying to combat this by only sourcing cocoa from small scale, local farmers who by nature are more sustainable than large corporate organisations. Our chocolate is also made in WOW, Porto’s Cultural District that produces all of its own water and puts a strong emphasis on sustainability.
Tell us more about the range you are launching and where you see the business going in the future? Vinte Vinte comprises four different lines of chocolate, ‘Classic’, ‘Fusion’, ‘Cacao Intensity’ and ‘Grand Cru’. There is something for every level of chocolate connoisseur – the Classic range for chocolate purists, to the Fusion range with surprising fl avours such as Extra Chilli and Fleur de Sal. The range also includes chocolate selection boxes, Bonbons, tins of Classic Truffl es, Port Wine Truffl es Cocoa Nibs, Cocoa Powder, classic Chocolate Bars and Vinte Vinte one of a kind product - Chocolate and Port Wine pairing gift boxes. As mentioned before, Vinte Vinte is produced in the Cultural District of Porto which falls under the Fladgate
8 Kennedy’s Confection August/September 2022
Partnership. Fladgate has a long history of making Port, and we believe that Port and chocolate are a perfect combination of fl avours, hence our pairing gift boxes. We also run Port and chocolate tasting sessions at our chocolate factory in Porto, so that visitors can learn how they pair together for themselves. To launch in the UK, Vinte Vinte fi rst exclusively partnered with Cocoa Runners. Through the Cocoa Runners website, you can shop the Grand Cru and Cacao Intensity ranges which are both ‘bean-to-bar’. We are looking to make Porto a new hub for chocolate. We are in the early stages of a future chocolate festival in the city, to show that Portuguese chocolate is up and coming. People often associate Switzerland and Belgium with the idea of the ‘best’ chocolate, but many other countries, including Portugal are forging a new path and the festival aims to bring attention to the blossoming Portuguese chocolate market.
What does a typical day look like for you? A typical day is diffi cult to describe, so I’ll share a typical week. This would include tasting new samples of cacao and all our batches of chocolate in house; meeting potential domestic and international customers, production meetings and forecasts, preparing for the upcoming season. We are always focused on people, the ones that produce the cacao (I regularly speak with most of our cacao producers), my
KennedysConfection.com
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