We do not consider fair trade to be a marketing project, but part of our family philosophy.

Unfortunately, cocoa farming is the weakest link in the supply chain. We take the view that hard work of this kind should be fairly rewarded, however, so in 2017, we decided to enter into a partnership with Fairtrade Austria. At that time, we set ourselves the goal of switching our entire range of pralines and chocolates to Fairtrade cocoa. Two years later, it was time for us to take the next step: we converted 200 of our products, and 15 different suppliers across Europe were convinced by our decision. With the full conversion of our range of pralines and chocolates to Fairtrade cocoa, we therefore became the biggest partner of Fairtrade Austria in this area.

With the marketing of our products in more than 100 countries worldwide, the Fairtrade logo is shown on 40 million packets each year. In this way, many people hear about Fairtrade for the first time. We are pleased that Fairtrade recognises us as an important ambassador in this context.

We pay the additional costs of roughly 1 million euros per year. We do not want to pass the extra cost of our products onto our customers, though. We would much rather set an example in this area for a sense of responsibility and fairness.

Hartwig Kirner (director of Fairtrade Austria), Simone Gunz, Anne-Marie Yao (Fairtrade West Africa) and founder of Gunz, Werner Gunz

The conversion of

200 praline and chocolate products

with 1,850 tonnes of

Fairtrade cocoa and more than

1 million euros per year in

additional costs, which we pay for,

benefits 1,000 farming families consisting

of approximately 15,000 people.

These families cultivate

an area of 3,700 hectares.