Nordic Chocolate is a Swedish chocolate producer based in Umeå, founded by Jenny Berg in 2013. The company operates with a strong focus on sustainability, circularity, and social responsibility throughout the entire value chain – from cocoa cultivation to the finished product.

Direct import and fair partnerships

The cocoa beans come from organically certified farms in South America, where the cocoa is sun-dried instead of processed using diesel-powered machinery. Nordic Chocolate imports the cocoa directly to Umeå and maintains long-term collaborations with the growers. The company pays prices that exceed Fairtrade levels and makes regular visits to the plantations to ensure good working conditions. On the farms, cocoa is intercropped with fruits such as mango, banana, and orange, which enhances biodiversity and provides ingredients also used in the company’s products.

Climate-smart transportation

The company actively works to reduce emissions from transport. Purchases are coordinated to optimize load capacity, air freight is completely avoided, and Nordic Chocolate is developing solutions to transport cocoa to Europe by sailing ships as an even more climate-friendly option.

Energy-efficient and resource-smart production

Nordic Chocolate continuously develops new methods to reduce energy use and raw material waste. In the factory, cocoa is stone-ground while the friction heat is reused. Also fruit and berries are dried in a proprietary fossil-free dryer that uses 30–60% less energy than traditional freeze dryers. The company has applied for a patent for this technology.

The production process is designed to be circular. Cocoa bean shells—often regarded as waste—are recovered and sold as soil enhancers or reused in other products, including liqueur production. Surplus chocolate and ingredients are used to make truffles, sold as baking chocolate, or handled in collaboration with the municipality’s daily activity centers, for example by baking cakes for internal use. Nothing goes to waste!

Local ingredients and the use of surplus harvest

For flavoring, Nordic Chocolate uses Swedish sugar, gluten-free oats milled on-site, and local plants and berries such as angelica, meadowsweet, arctic bramble, blueberries, cloudberries, and saskatoon berries. The company also accepts surplus produce from private gardens—for example rhubarb, apples, and herbs such as lovage.
The freeze-drying process for fruits and berries gives the chocolate a shelf life of up to 20 years, even with added plants and flavors, while also preserving nutrients. Through these collaborations, the products are closely connected to the local ecosystem and cultural traditions.

Sustainable packaging and circular material flows

Nordic Chocolate uses no fossilbased plastic packaging. All packaging consists of recycled paper or bioplastics based on cellulose from sources such as potatoes and beets. The company is also exploring the possibility of producing packaging from cocoa shell fibers.

All packaging materials are reused in the chocolate factory: cardboard boxes are shredded into gift packaging material (e.g., for liqueur bottles), paper can be turned into postcards, and jute sacks from cocoa transport are transformed into bags and gift pouches through collaborations with seamstresses. Customers can also choose a refill system to reduce packaging waste even further.

Social sustainability and inclusion

The factory serves as a workplace where people who are far from the labor market are given opportunities for employment, community, and skill development. Employees gain work experience and an active daily routine, whether they were long-term unemployed or receiving their first-ever job. People from different backgrounds meet and grow together, creating a workplace where everyone is meant to feel valued and meaningful.

Nordic Chocolate also collaborates with municipal daily activity centers to make use of surplus chocolate, where participants produce baked goods, which are sometimes bought back by Nordic Chocolate for employee coffee breaks, so called swedish “fika”.