Barry Callebaut navigates cocoa volatility with pivot to compound and non-cocoa solutions

The Barry Callebaut Group has announced its full-year results for fiscal year 2024/25, confirming a sharp strategic focus on three key pillars: maintaining leadership in traditional chocolate, accelerating growth in cacao coatings (compound solutions), and rapidly advancing its non-cocoa portfolio to build long-term business resilience against unprecedented raw material volatility.

The Group’s strategic clarity comes as the sector grapples with exceptional market disruption, which led to a Group sales volume decrease of 6.8% for the year, including a 5.3% decline in Global Chocolate and a -12.8% drop in global cocoa. Despite the volume pressures, significant cocoa-linked pricing supported a +49.0% increase in sales revenue, hitting CHF 14.8 billion in local currencies.

CEO Peter Feld confirmed the Group’s forward strategy, designed to future-proof the business and manage price risk for customers, including:

• Leading in chocolate: maintaining its core strength in premium and traditional chocolate solutions, supported by innovations and strong customer relationships.
• Growing in cacao coatings (compound solutions): focusing investment on compound coatings, which provide cost-effective and flexible alternatives for manufacturers in high-volume applications like confectionery, bakery, and snack bars.
• Launching non-cocoa solutions: aggressively entering the alternative ingredients space to offer breakthrough solutions independent of the cocoa market.

To execute the third pillar, Barry Callebaut announced a commercial long-term partnership with Planet A Foods (ChoViva), a leader in cocoa-free chocolate alternatives. This move provides manufacturers with access to a chocolate-like solution made from locally available crops, without compromising on quality or taste.

“Our way forward is clear: We will be leading in chocolate, growing in cacao coatings (compound solutions), and launching non-cocoa solutions, for example with our today announced partnership with Planet A Foods (ChoViva), which will strengthen our resilience even furth1er,” said Peter Feld, CEO of Barry Callebaut Group.

The Group’s commitment to its cost-plus pricing model and the ongoing BC Next Level transformation program provided financial buffers during the volatile year.

Operating profit (EBIT) recurring increased by +6.4% in local currencies, despite lower volumes, demonstrating the effectiveness of the cost-plus model, cost savings, and a strong second-half performance.

The global cocoa segment’s volume reduction was a result of “prioritisation of volume towards higher return segments” within the business.

Decisive actions taken in the second half of the year significantly reduced leverage, with the Group generating a strong CHF 1,802 million in free cash flow in H2.

For fiscal year 2025/26, the Group is focused on continuing its deleveraging process and preparing for a return to growth. While volume is expected to remain pressured in the near term, the focus remains on driving higher margins through the disciplined execution of the three-pillar strategy. The Group expects low to mid single-digit recurring EBIT growth in local currencies.

Barry Callebaut partners with Planet A Foods

In a separate move, Barry Callebaut formalised a commercial long-term partnership with German food-tech firm Planet A Foods to industrialise and scale ChoViva, a cocoa-free chocolate alternative.

This strategic alliance is a proactive manufacturing play designed to diversify the ingredient supply base, enhancing Barry Callebaut’s resilience against the unprecedented volatility in the traditional cocoa commodity market. The move leverages the Group’s massive production footprint and R&D capabilities to scale a viable, sustainable alternative.

ChoViva offers a chocolate-like experience crafted from locally available crops, such as sunflower seeds, circumventing the price fluctuations and supply chain complexities associated with West African cocoa. This shift to locally sourced, non-cocoa ingredients supports a broader strategy for sustainable manufacturing.

Dries Roekaerts, president customer experience at Barry Callebaut, positioned the alternative as a crucial new portfolio component: “This partnership marks a key milestone in diversifying our portfolio and capturing the exciting opportunities in chocolate alternatives without cocoa. These non-cocoa innovations are not meant to replace traditional chocolate but to complement it, expanding our portfolio to meet growing customer and consumer demand. Together with Planet A Foods, we can scale the production of irresistible chocolate-like creations that broaden choice without compromising on taste, quality and our commitment to the planet.”

The alternative ingredient aligns with global sustainability goals by inherently shortening supply chains and contributing to a lower environmental footprint across the value chain.

For Planet A Foods, the partnership provides an immediate platform for responsible global scale-up, combining its innovative platform technology with Barry Callebaut’s deep expertise in food processing and global customer network. The collaboration will jointly focus on strengthening European presence while accelerating expansion to a global manufacturing footprint.

Dr Maximilian Marquart, CEO and co-founder at Planet A Foods, highlighted the manufacturing benefit: “Our goal has always been to scale ChoViva into a global ingredient platform – and this equal partnership helps us do just that. By combining Barry Callebaut’s global footprint and capabilities with our innovation, we can scale responsibly and bring more products to markets worldwide, faster than ever.”

The collaboration ensures that manufacturers will have access to a solution that delivers a genuine chocolate-like experience, crafted from 100% natural ingredients, providing an avenue for product innovation without compromising on processing consistency or flavour profile.