Cocoa with purpose:
Our mission-driven approach

The St Vincent Cocoa Company (SVCC) is 100% Vincentian, registered in St Vincent, operated by Vincentians and employing Vincentians. SVCC is the only cocoa Company operating in St Vincent.

We are creating a cocoa industry in St Vincent because it has nigh on perfect conditions for cocoa production. As well as building a great business, we firmly believe that we can make a real difference to the lives of many Vincentians.

Growing, processing and exporting premium cocoa to very exact and strict criteria is a meticulous process requiring significant resources and logistical standards and this goes hand in hand with doing this in the right way; sustainably and ethically.

We operate on approximately 700 acres, of which 60% are owned by the company and the remainder is leased. The majority of these lands had been left idle for years after banana farming ceased to be profitable.

During the initialization of the company we took cuttings from the best ‘mother’ trees in St Vincent and with additional stock from the International Cocoa Centre, we established a gene bank to form the bedrock of our stock - as a result we have an impressive collection of genetic varieties, carefully curated and stored in our state-of-the-art Gene Bank.

In close proximity to our Gene Bank is our Nursery, where young cocoa plants are grown and grafted before they are taken out to the mountains for planting.

In the 1950s and 1960s, cocoa was widely grown in St. Vincent before bananas. Most of the root stock was imported from Trinidad, where the Trinitario cocoa variety was developed. Today, the company buys cocoa from local farmers who continue to grow this cocoa. This benefits the farmers as most are now subsistence farmers with limited access to regional/international markets. Additionally, the company buys cocoa to supplement its own supplies. As the company's yield grows, it continues to buy from farmers as their cocoa is integral to achieving our goals.

From processing to perfection: How our company brings you the finest cocoa products

All the cocoa we produce is processed by us, including what we buy in from local farmers. This takes place at our purpose-built facility at Perseverance, near Georgetown, which is on the North-east coast.

Each week, the following takes place:

• Ripe pods are hand-picked from trees

• These pods are split, and the cacao beans taken same day to Perseverance

• The husks are left on the Farms, composted and used later as organic fertilizer

• Beans are fermented for about a week during which time the flavour of chocolate develops.

• Drying takes place in our solar driers.

• After a two-day period to allow the cocoa to cool off and its moisture content to stabilize before it is bagged up and stored in our temperature-controlled building.

When cocoa is put in a fermentation box, we know its origin and weight. It is assigned a ‘Wet Batch Number’ and a ‘Lot Number’. A Wet Batch can include multiple lots depending on what we’re attempting to achieve. The lot number follows this lot throughout its processing. A ‘Dry Batch Number’ is later assigned to the batch for additional flexibility and traceability.

Our entire facility is labeled, so we know what fermentation boxes, drying tables, drying station (solar dryer, polytunnel or artificial dryer), and storeroom our cocoa is placed and when.
For each of these areas, conditions such as temperature and humidity are recorded daily to ensure ideal conditions. Once weighed and bagged, we assign each bag a unique number along with the relevant lot number. This is what allows us to pick any random bag and know everything about the cocoa in that bag.

Quality Control is an integral part of everything we do.  We treat our cocoa as food from the moment pods are cut from a tree.  We constantly monitor its condition throughout processing to ensure perfect condition; keeping it free from mould is a constant challenge. The most important check is the bean cut test.  Samples of every batch are analysed and then assessed on the internationally recognised system for grading.

As an integral part of our quality control, a small quantity of beans is sent to our chocolate kitchen in Kingstown for making into a small amount of chocolate where it is assessed and checked for any off-flavours. These samples are retained for future reference.

At the St Vincent Cocoa Company we are 100% committed to Transparency and our facilities are open to visits by the public. If you are interested in visiting please contact the main office below.