Kennedy’s Confection catches up with Pedro Martins Araújo, Founder of Vinte Vinte, a new ethically- produced and sustainably-sourced chocolate, created in Porto’s Cultural District.
Can you give us some background on Vinte Vinte – when did the idea start and how did it build into this new product?
I like to say that chocolate chose me. Cacao is complex with a depth of flavour and possibility. Culturally, it’s revered as something holy in Mexico and Guatemala where it’s enjoyed from a young age as a drink.
When I discovered an ingredient with such a level of sophistication and link with mankind, once I tasted it, and found it was so complex aromatically, I knew I’d found my holy grail. I had a desire to learn all about cacao, the chocolate making process and everything in between. After a few years I became a certified professional taster and began my journey with Vinte Vinte. I helped with the conceptualisation and construction of The Chocolate Story, a museum dedicated to the origins of cacao and the history of chocolate. After this, a fully operational chocolate factory was built and Vinte Vinte was created.
Our chocolate is produced at WOW, The New Cultural District, Porto which opened in July 2020. The museum development falls under the Fladgate Partnership, who traditionally specialise in the farming & production of port wine and distribution of wine and port. With the opening of The Cultural District, they discovered that the process to create chocolate is very similar to that of port, and it was a natural progression for Fladgate.
What does the name Vinte Vinte mean and why did you choose it?
Cacao is grown in a specific area of the planet, across an area called the ‘Cacao belt’, which sits precisely twenty degrees north and twenty degrees south of the Equatorial line. Vinte Vinte means ’Twenty Twenty’ in English, and plays homage to this axis, as well as the notion that twenty twenty is often associated with perfection. As a happy coincidence, WOW, The Cultural District in Porto where Vinte Vinte is produced also opened in 2020.
What trends are you seeing in chocolate at the moment?
Craft chocolate (Bean-to-bar) is certainly having a moment. There are more and more brands who are launching craft varieties, with an emphasis on sustainable and anti-slavery chocolates.
Another trend in bean to bar chocolate is the inclusion of different exquisite ingredients as toppings or infusions. We have incorporated this into the brand with our fusion range, which includes dark chocolate with chilli or white chocolate with berries.
Non dairy, ‘vegan’ chocolate is of course becoming more and more mainstream, with a rise in the number of people who are going plant based. If you think about it, pure dark chocolate is actually vegan by nature so is a more natural vegan chocolate.
“People often associate Switzerland and Belgium with the idea of the ‘best’ chocolate, but many other countries, including Portugal are forging a new path and the festival aims to bring attention to the blossoming Portuguese chocolate market”
Are consumers interested in trying flavours from around the world? Why do you think that is?
I believe that people are looking for authenticity and different experiences. Now more than ever, eating is an experience. Chocolate is following this trend by transforming a rather simple bar of chocolate into a real and true experience via different means. Whether by adding different ingredients, different roasting profiles, different percentages, different origins, etc. Aside from the ‘normal’ chocolate that we know and love, people are looking for new flavours, new experiences and concepts. Just to give you a few examples, our best sellers are the fusion dark chocolate with fleur du sel; dark chocolate with chilli; Peru 100% and the pairing box, these account for 60% of our sales.
Why are quality, artisan ingredients important to Vinte Vinte?
At Vinte Vinte we know that excellent chocolate depends on quality cacao. We try to do things differently to other chocolate producers. We take the time to carefully select our cacao, which has been specifically chosen for its high quality. We source only the best quality ingredients – I spent six months sourcing the precise mint used in our Dark Chocolate with Mint bar in the Fusion range. All of this careful selection allows us to have more control throughout the whole process. We can track every stage of our chocolate’s journey, from raw ingredients to finished product.
Is sustainability important to you and the business? How so?
Sustainability is incredibly important to both me and Vinte Vinte. A lot of the cocoa used in chocolate is sourced from areas that don’t harvest raw cocoa in a way that’s sustainable. At Vinte Vinte we are trying to combat this by only sourcing cocoa from small scale, local farmers who by nature are more sustainable than large corporate organisations. Our chocolate is also made in WOW, Porto’s Cultural District that produces all of its own water and puts a strong emphasis on sustainability.
Tell us more about the range you are launching and where you see the business going in the future?
Vinte Vinte comprises four different lines of chocolate, ‘Classic’, ‘Fusion’, ‘Cacao Intensity’ and ‘Grand Cru’. There is something for every level of chocolate connoisseur – the Classic range for chocolate purists, to the Fusion range with surprising flavours such as Extra Chilli and Fleur de Sal. The range also includes chocolate selection boxes, Bonbons, tins of Classic Truffles, Port Wine Truffles Cocoa Nibs, Cocoa Powder, classic Chocolate Bars and Vinte Vinte one of a kind product – Chocolate and Port Wine pairing gift boxes. As mentioned before, Vinte Vinte is produced in the Cultural District of Porto which falls under the Fladgate Partnership. Fladgate has a long history of making Port, and we believe that Port and chocolate are a perfect combination of flavours, hence our pairing gift boxes. We also run Port and chocolate tasting sessions at our chocolate factory in Porto, so that visitors can learn how they pair together for themselves. To launch in the UK, Vinte Vinte first exclusively partnered with Cocoa Runners. Through the Cocoa Runners website, you can shop the Grand Cru and Cacao Intensity ranges which are both ‘bean-to-bar’.
We are looking to make Porto a new hub for chocolate. We are in the early stages of a future chocolate festival in the city, to show that Portuguese chocolate is up and coming. People often associate Switzerland and Belgium with the idea of the ‘best’ chocolate, but many other countries, including Portugal are forging a new path and the festival aims to bring attention to the blossoming Portuguese chocolate market.
What does a typical day look like for you?
A typical day is difficult to describe, so I’ll share a typical week. This would include tasting new samples of cacao and all our batches of chocolate in house; meeting potential domestic and international customers, production meetings and forecasts, preparing for the upcoming season. We are always focused on people, the ones that produce the cacao (I regularly speak with most of our cacao producers), my colleagues at the factory who are responsible for making our chocolate; being the face of Vinte Vinte also means talking to customers, it is always about cacao and also about people. It is a never-ending cycle of hard work to be better at what we do and to teach people what real chocolate is, and this is only achieved by constantly talking to people, doing workshops, seminars, interviews such as this one.
What is the best advice you have received?
Throughout my life I have received a lot of excellent advice, too much to all be shared here but collectively, they would be: Be true to myself; never give up and respect the raw ingredients above everything – chocolate is all about cacao; invest time in talking to people, knowing them and what drives them and their culture – all of these things have hugely helped me in what I do.
I just want to add that chocolate is not a candy, chocolate is not about sugar, chocolate is not even about the percentage; chocolate is made of cacao which in turn is a fruit, a superfood, therefore, if respected and properly treated, chocolate will also be a superfood. I never ask for people to revere chocolate like I do, but I like to challenge people to taste real chocolate and I’m sure their life will change, just as mine did.
Editorial contact:
Editor: Kiran Grewal kgrewal@kennedys.co.uk
