Why France’s Salpa Bought Two Cocoa Fields In Ecuador
Salpa’s President Jean-Paul Burrus and Neil Chiquet, head of Salpa’s Ecuadorian operations, are tapping into chocolate’s roots with two plantations, which supply cocoa to the company’s flagship confectionery brands.
It’s been about two years since Salpa’s President Jean-Paul Burrus bought a cocoa plantation in Ecuador. And about a year and a half since he bought a second one.
It hasn’t exactly been an easy road for the Swiss ceo though, who’s in his early 60’s and embarking on a new journey, with his company.
Aside from the South American country’s all-encompassing humidity, the seven-hour time difference and the language barriers, there’s also the fact that it takes at least three years for a cocoa tree to even produce usable pods.
And now, when Salpa needs chocolate, they have to do a lot more than call a supplier and request a shipment. When using supplies they grow themselves, they have to plan out at least three months in advance.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Burrus regrets his decision to invest in cocoa plantations for even a second. In fact, when asked if there was a moment he knew he made the right decision to purchase the fields, he says, 100 percent of every single day.
“I’m 62, and to have a new project like this, it’s very exciting,” he says.
Plus, he just wears hats in the fields to fight the sun, he sleeps well on planes so the jet lag doesn’t bother him, and his wife is fluent in Spanish. As for the cocoa, well he’s willing to wait three years for usable pods if it means he gets total control over the entire process.
“It’s very exciting because we control the quality of the bean,” Burrus says.