Leaders in European Premium Private Label Chocolate Expand to North America

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May 18, 2010

Farm-to-bar producer of award-winning natural chocolate for leading European retailers, ICAM S.p.A. is expanding its private label chocolate manufacturing program to North America.

The new North American sales office operating under the brand Agostoni Chocolate, will be located in Los Angeles where the sales team will “work directly with retailers and consumer brand companies to develop premium chocolate products based on a proven private label service model that offers a wide range of stock and custom options,” the company said in a statement.

Owned by the Agostoni family since it was founded in 1946, ICAM is a leader in organic cocoa processing (approximately 20 percent of global supplies), with an eco-sustainable state-of-the-art cocoa processing facility and a commitment to producing premium product from responsibly grown and sourced raw cocoa.

"Our recent North American projects confirm retailers there are leveraging premium private label chocolates that emphasize organic farming or unique cocoa origins to create a positive halo effect for top private label brand families,” said Carla Baroni, head of export for the company.

In 2009, the Agostoni factory produced nearly 7000 tons of private label product, the equivalent of 70 million 100g chocolate bars. The family's approach to value-added private label chocolate making is rooted in its commitment to in-house production of all the cocoa-related ingredients in its finished chocolate.

Starting in the early 1980s, ICAM' began developing the company's Equal Partner Direct Buying program, to secure a reliable supply of high quality fermented cocoa beans by respecting the rights of farmers to a fair price and an independent livelihood, the company said.

In addition to the Dominican Republic, the Agostoni family has Equal Partner relationships in key cocoa-sourcing countries such as Ecuador and Peru.

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