Holding chocolate cost stable through a cocoa price spike
Chocolate & confectionery
The challenge
A compound-chocolate producer saw cocoa butter costs jump mid-quarter, threatening margins on a filled-bar line that couldn't absorb a price increase without losing retail listings.
What we did
1Trio's technical team reviewed the existing recipe and line parameters (tempering, enrobing speed, target snap).
2A lauric CBS filling grade was proposed as a drop-in for a portion of the cocoa butter, with lecithin dosage adjusted to hold viscosity.
3Samples were produced and shipped for trial within two business days; the line ran a validation batch without equipment changes.
The outcome
Recipe cost was decoupled from the cocoa butter market for the affected SKUs.
Snap and gloss on the finished bar were judged acceptable against the original spec in the client's own sensory panel.
No line changes or downtime were required to switch fat systems.
“When cocoa prices jumped, Trio moved us to the right CBS without changing our line. They sent samples in two days and held our cost.”
Cocoa productsWest Africa / Asia
EmulsifiersEU / South America