We all know Nestle, whether it is for their KitKat, their Nesquik chocolate powder. Indeed, this big multinational is the world leader in the food industry.
In order to be aligned with their green and sustainable plans, the company has taken actions regarding their cocoa supply chain. Their goal is to significantly reduce (and even eliminate) their supply of cocoa coming from protected areas which are threatened by deforestation, in West Africa.
This choice was probably not the most economical one, nor the easiest in terms of logistics. However, the company decided to change their distribution network in order to be aligned with their customers’ needs. Indeed, nowadays customers are more and more careful and regarding on the origin of the product they are buying. They demand for more environmental-friendly products (for instance, when they shop for chocolate), produced in a more ethical way. It is for example one of the reason why more and more people are changing their diets to eat more organic and/or plant-based food.
Now that we understood the consumer’s point of view, let’s go back to Nestle’s supply chain ! Nestle has defined the “Nestle Cocoa Plan” to achieve their objectives. Here are the actions they announced a few days ago, that aim to tackle deforestation.
From my personal point of view and as a customer of Nestle, I highly appreciate the changes and efforts they are doing to make the world a better place. Even though these changes might be helping their marketing strategies and change their brand perception positively, I still appreciate the fact that they decide to start changing their distribution network from the root.
In addition to these supply chain adaptation, they also worked on the human aspect of the question by eliminating child labor from, but also giving access to education to these children, empower women and train farmers in Good Agricultural Practices.
If you are more interested by the topic, I recommend you to check out their Youtube channel dedicated to have a more ethical and sustainable cocoa supply chain: https://www.youtube.com/user/NestleCocoaPlan/videos
Sources:
The blog of Logistics at MGEPS at UPV 