On our final day here in Amsterdam we attended a lecture by Tony Chocolonely and visited their superstore in the downtown area. The lecture from Tony Chocolonely’s representative joke, was extremely insightful. She specifically described the company’s goal that was to produce top level chocolate while avoiding child labor and practicing sustainable production. Joke also described how the company forms partnerships with other chocolate companies to follow their sustainable and child labor free business model. She described this morning how Tony Chocolonely has already worked with large companies such as Ben and Jerry’s and local Dutch chocolate companies to follow their business model. Even though the company has found success convincing other brands to join the shared goal, many of the large chocolate brand companies will not acknowledge their goal until Tony Chocolonely grows to five percent of the total chocolate global market. Therefore, Joke described how the company is working without these larger companies to accomplish their goals. She explained how Tony Chocolonely creates programs that send people into the homes of their co-op farms in the Ivory Coast. The purpose of these visits is to ensure the farms are child labor free, and to have remedial steps taken if child labor is found. As a result of this, the company has reduced child labor to zero in their production. Joke and Tony Chocolonely also work with local governments to reduce deforestation in cocoa farming.

Our second part of the day saw us visit the Tony Chocolonely superstore in the central part of Amsterdam. I found it extremely interesting that the store did not do a lot to advertise itself. There were no signs outside the store, and you had to walk into their hallway to see any sign of Tony Chocolonely candy bars. However, the superstore itself was very impressive. They had an assortment of products that were not just chocolate. They sold all sorts of products such as books, clothing, cups, and other merchandise. This shows how many different companies contribute to Tony Chocolony on their model of concept to customer. They have a wide variety of products they sell besides chocolate which means that they get goods from many different producers to bring to the consumer. I also found their self-serving chocolate station to be extremely impressive. They had employees creating bars through an assembly line that was completely customizable. Ultimately, the venture was very informative and entertaining.

Finally, we all traveled to an Indonesian restaurant for our final dinner before departure tomorrow morning. It was extremely helpful to recap our trip during this lunch to recall on the many fond memories that we developed throughout our time in the Netherlands. All in all, the Netherlands trip this year was a success.