About Montanos Chocolate

• Company status: Limited
• Year of registration: 2018
• Number of employees: 11 employees, of which 8 are women and 4 youth (all under the age of 40).
• Business sector: Agro-processing

Elizabeth Montano has experience working in teaching, guidance counselling real estate, artist management, and business development and management. Showcased by this experience that includes 20 years as a teacher, Elizabeth is dedicated to teaching, working with young people, contributing to positive development, and-supporting her family, community and nation.

At present, she is the director of Montanos Chocolate Company (MCCL) with her successful leadership being rewarded when she was named a finalist for the Entrepreneurship award in the 2021 Champions of

Business Awards organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Elizabeth also manages the Machel Montano Foundation and some of the other Montano’s Group of Companies. She is also an author of the international award-winning biography “King of Soca”.

In 2018, at the age of 68, Elizabeth graduated from The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad with a Master of Philosophy Degree in Cultural Studies.

Background

MCCL is a three-generational family-owned and -operated company that produces high quality chocolate. In 2014, the company entered the cocoa and chocolate industries with a 50g chocolate bar sold under the name “Happy Nation”. This limited edition bar had been created through joint collaboration between Machel Montano, the famous Trinidadian Soca music artist and Elizabeth’s son, and a local natural food processing company. To further commercialise the cocoa and chocolate supply chains in Trinidad and Tobago, the company invested in local cocoa industry to produce cocoa and chocolate products, with a strong focus on building their community, protecting the environment and amplifying the role of youth and women. Over the years, the MCCL product range has grown and includes nowadays the signature Machel Montano Bar, as well as cocoa nibs, butter and powder.

MCCL’s chocolates are ranked as one of the best indigenous dark chocolate bars in Trinidad and Tobago.

Relationships with the community

MCCL supplies its award winning Trinitario beans mainly from La Reunion Estate and the Cocoa Development Company of Trinidad & Tobago Limited (CDCTTL) which is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries of Trinidad and home to the Cocoa Research Section of the Ministry of Food Production.

Moreover, MCCL supports the local communities and farmers’ activities by investing in cocoa producing and processing communities. The company contributes to improving the income and -in turn- livelihoods of those communities through the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness. They provide soft loans for machinery and facilitate training sessions in six rural communities to develop the skills necessary to enter local retail markets. Most of these communities are now self-sufficient.

Mission: To contribute to the successful revitalization of the local cocoa industry. Leading Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean into the world cocoa revolution, where MCCL rightly claims their place among the flavour giants.

Vision: Using the highly flavoured Trinitario bean, MCCL envisions providing high quality, natural cocoa and chocolate products to the world, doing this with the same passion and dynamism as their brand ambassador, Machel Montano, did with Soca music.

Main products

The Machel Montano 60% dark chocolate bar – the flagship product – is handmade from Trinitario cocoa beans and has three all natural ingredients: sun dried cocoa nibs, cocoa butter and Demerara brown sugar. The chocolate bar is a healthy and vegan choice as it contains no dairy, nuts, preservatives, emulsifiers or mold inhibitors. It is available in regular size (25g) and as a miniature version which is referred to as the “Mini” bar (6,25g). MCCL also produces cocoa nibs, cocoa butter and cocoa.

Main markets

MCCL’s products are sold on the local market in groceries, gourmet shops and pharmacies nationwide. Small amounts of the 60% dark chocolate bar are exported to Canada and the United States. The miniature version of their chocolate is offered to First Class passengers on the national air carrier Caribbean Airlines.

The company is currently in the process of securing new clients within Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries starting with Guyana.

Certifications

MCCL prides itself for Good Manufacturing Practices as they observe all health and safety guidelines strictly.

They strive to maintain a very clean sanitised environment at all times, with emphasis in the manufacturing and packaging areas.

The company is in the process of becoming HACCP-certified as many of the recommendations and regulations have been implemented in their daily practices and manufacturing.

Moreover, the company recently established its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) number to be able to serve clients based in the United States (US).

Milestones

MCCL entered the local market in 2014 with a single, limited product: a 50g chocolate bar named “Happy Nation” as a promotion of Carnival and Valentine’s day. Though this first business step had a limited financial outcome, it was key to understand and test the local market for chocolate. Throughout the next years, additional market research was undertaken and efforts in marketing were made with a new name and packaging. By 2018, the new chocolate snack was available for sales in units of 25g. The product was sourced from local chocolate manufacturers in which MCCL had invested.

While the company continued to invest in the chocolate and cocoa industries, in 2021 they began producing a variety of chocolate products themselves. This was made possible with MCCL building its own chocolate processing factory with the support from Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Trade and Industry who funded 50% of the equipment’s costs.

Need for upscaling

MCCL desires to continue raising the profile of their product, and in doing so, they are looking forward to building their capacity and developing further financially to reach more markets. While they have encountered several opportunities to sell on markets in the US, Canada and India, they are running into challenges with trade barriers and acquiring of the main raw material cocoa beans. With each country having their own specific requirements, it can be difficult to obtain each of these obligations for each of them. As of now, they are involved in training to satisfy these needs.

MCCL is also seeking partnerships for the consolidation of their products to fill up a full refrigerated container and ensure the full value of their export. Additionally, MCCL is keen to build strong relationships within the CARICOM region. Through regional collaboration, they want to combine their products with others in this region to gain collective access to a higher end, international market. Working together with an export group, they have facilitated research to find that four CARICOM countries, Guyana, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados, have matched the demand for their products.

The company is also in need of further funding, investors and buyers, to continue to invest into the necessary equipment and to go on international missions to advertise their products.

Success factors and lessons learned

Since almost their inception, MCCL has been prepping for the export market including by participating in trade missions. The company has been invited to attend several trade missions by the National Export Facilitation Organization of Trinidad and Tobago (ExporTT). During these, the company has been able to make international connections but also to create local linkages with other participating companies, including to explore other local offerings. MCCL seeks to develop its address book while working on becoming export-ready and -certified in order to be able to start exporting to those contacts as soon as possible. MCCL has participated in many missions within the Caribbean and across the globe, notably to business forums such as LAC Flavors (in Panama, Colombia and South Korea) and Expocomer 2023 (in Panama). It also attended the 4^th CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum in Germany with the support of Caribbean Export, the regional trade and investment promotion agency. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic MCCL has continued to promote their products and develop their network as some missions were done virtually.

MCCL is committed to contributing to the national economy through diversification, revitalisation and earning foreign exchange by adding value to Trinitario cocoa, one of the most flavourful cocoa beans worldwide.

The company, via the Machel Montano Foundation for Greatness, provides support to community members in acquiring machinery by offering soft loans and the skills necessary to enter local retail markets by organising trainings. Through these processes, more members of these communities can own and operate a sustainable cocoa business, and as a result, more income and employment is generated within the community. MCCL also offers opportunity to farmers and chocolatiers to use the facilities and amenities to assist in their production of their products.

The company’s investment into rural development is extended through their work with the Alliance of Rural Communities. Since 2014, this partnership has been dedicated to transforming cocoa producing communities and building connections between cocoa producers and consumers through conducting workshops and samplings. MCCL also led and participated in community training on World Cocoa and Chocolate Day, a session held by the Cocoa Research Center of Trinidad and Tobago. Elizabeth has made several presentations representing the chocolate industry in Trinidad and Tobago.

Moreover, as part of their efforts to revitalise Trinidad and Tobago’s cocoa industry, MCCL ‘arranges visits to cocoa growing communities to build and strengthen their networks, while also exchanging knowledge between the company and those who grow cocoa.

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