Restaurants are deep in efforts towards change
Since official closures in March restaurants, cafes bars + have become a number of different formations of themselves, and for months their doors have been closed to diners and equally important closed to staff. When we heard about the situation facing local restaurants we took action. Many restaurants had set up fundraising sites for their furloughed employees and we wanted to help. Beginning in April we started collaborating with six restaurants in Boulder / Denver to produce a limited run specialty chocolate. Each team chose an ingredient readily available in their quarantine pantries, one that represented the spirit of their team. Since then we have been selling the co-branded chocolate on our website and donating 50% of sales to the furloughed team funds.
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Small Scale Cacao Farming Tradition
Once the cacao pods are harvested the small scale farmer has two options. First option is to empty the cacao beans into a central processing center, mixing their cacao with the cacao of their neighbors. Second they can process the cacao beans on site themselves. The second option allows the farmer to retain more value for their harvest and it requires an extra set of skills, typically these skills are shared through generations of farming. The benefit is a skill set perfected over thousands of years that adapts to changing local ecosystems and retains unique flavor based on the skill of small scale farmers.
Right now on our website we have a collection of 100% cacao products, there is a set of the three or you can purchase them individually. We have set aside a fund from the sales of these products to ensure a steady and equitable price for the cacao being grown by small scale farmers we work with in Mexico. The prices of cacao are extremely vulnerable to the fluctuations of international markets and small scale farmers are the first to be affected.
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Environmental Justice is Racial Justice
Environmental Justice is Racial Justice, and that is why we have been replacing all of our chocolate packaging with sustainable materials. We care about what happens after you eat our chocolate too, what impact do we have long after you have enjoyed a Fortuna product?
We are so proud to announce any product you order from our website is now wrapped with 100% compostable or 100% recyclable materials.
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Pine Ridge Reservation
Four months ago in the middle of March we began to donate 50% of all truffle sales to Conscious Alliance. They are a local organization that has been working creatively to get food to underserved communities across the country for the past 18 years. The very first community they reached out to was the Prisoner of War camp #334, or Pine Ridge Reservation. Their connection has grown and now each week they supply a food pantry to help support youth initiatives on the reservation.
Here are a few things everyone should know about Pine Ridge Reservation:
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