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 dried with diesel-powered machinery. Nordic Chocolate
imports the cocoa directly to Umeå and maintains long-term collaborations with the
farmers. 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 excess friction heat is
re-used instead of relying on external heating. Also fruit and berries are dried in a
proprietary fossil-free dryer that uses 30–50% 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 gives fruits and berries the chocolate a shelf life of up to
20 years, 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 non-fossil based 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 materials
from cocoa shell fibers.
All packaging materials are reused in the chocolate factory: cardboard boxes are
shredded into bulk 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 have
been long-term unemployed or are 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”.