Christina Fuchs
Christof Schmid
Mia Cantini
Dalhousie University
deryk stec
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Savage Chocolate is a sweet treat company founded by two friends from Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Jacob Hensler and Leon Kroher had a vision of creating a dessert that they believed to be missing from store shelves. Although the two founders are from the same city in Germany, they met in Canada where they had the idea to create this business together. Savage Chocolate specializes in the unique creation of dark chocolate and fruit jelly; a mix between a wine gum and chocolate. Jacob and Leon decided early on that they did not want to create a company to solely make profits, but wanted to instill social impact within their community. Savage Chocolate saw opportunities to implement multiple SDG’s including #10, Reduced Inequalities; #12, Responsible Consumption and Production; #13, Climate Action; and #17, Partnerships for the Goals.
There are multiple layers of innovation for this product. On the surface, Savage Chocolate creates a unique treat of mixed wine gum and chocolate, using vegan products, and fair-trade certified chocolate. Further, their product is packed by hand in sustainable packaging, and their regional production is done by a company and confectionery in the region around Freiburg with the goal of a reduced CO2 footprint.
The social innovation of the product comes in when discussing Savage Chocolates' partnership with Caritas - an organization that does charitable work with the goal to end poverty.
In both Canada and Germany, Jacob and Leon explained how they got bored by the same assortment of sweets in every store, so their idea was “to create a product much more diverse”. They had an idea to bring innovation in the sweets business. “We wanted to combine two big players in the sweets market” says Jacob, “those being chocolate and wine gum”.
The founders had a vision of social impact when creating their business, “we wanted to achieve a social-added value, and we did that by partnering with Caritas”. One of the fundamental parts of Savage Chocolate is that they are packed by hand in a social workshop, a workshop where disabled people and individuals who are experiencing tough times can work and earn some money.
With its new creation of a sweet, Savage Chocolate enriches the sweets assortment available to their customers, but the bigger impact is on the society and the environment. Big food manufacturers often ship their products when they move along the supply and production chain, whereas Savage Chocolate produces regionally, except for the import of their chocolate, but planting cocoa in central Europe would be difficult. The next best solution from growing those plants on their own is to import vegan bittersweet chocolate that is fair-trade certified. By restricting their products to being fair-trade, they pay the farmers fair prices for their products and help them to further develop their business.
As the two founders are eager to have a social impact, they buy their wine gum from a confectionery around Freiburg, which means that they support another local business and decrease the transportation needed, and, therefore, the CO2 emissions even further.
When it comes to their packaging, only sustainable material is used, as the founders think that there is too much plastic packaging on the market that is bad for our environment. For them, the planet is the most important stakeholder, followed by people, and lastly profit, which is why all their decisions are based on the environmental impact; reducing CO2 emissions and involving people with disabilities in their process.
What distinguished Savage Chocolate from its competitors is the unique combination of wine gum with chocolate. They offer their customers a unique flavor and an interesting new treat that cannot be bought elsewhere in the region. They want to be different from other big players in the sweets market by having sustainable packaging, local production, and a social impact as well. Their business can be an inspiration for others to start their own business and not only focus on profit, but have an overall good impact on society.
By collaborating with Caritas and using a social workshop for packing their products, Savage Chocolate offers people that struggle with everyday life, and would otherwise not be able to find jobs, the opportunity to earn money on their own. Earning money is not the only benefit they have from that work; they also have meaningful work with a purpose and can feel more included in society. The collaboration with Caritas Freiburg reduces some of the inequalities currently present.
As Savage Chocolate’s production is regional and the sustainable packaging is also done in the same area, products do not have to be shipped which reduces the CO2 emissions and supports other local business and initiatives at the same time. Long transportation might be a topic people do not think much about, but for Jacob and Leon it became an important criterion for their decision-making.
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Jacob Hensler, Founder
