Contrary to what you might think, cocoa pods aren't just a one-stop-shop for chocolate. They're transformed into several delicious ingredients that play an important role in your chocolate bar. They're the source of cocoa butter, cocoa powder, cocoa nibs and cocoa mass.

To make it a little easier to understand, check out the snappy visual we have below...

Step 1
Cocoa beans have a shell which is removed.

Step 2
The bean is then roasted and ground to form a mass, some of this is used as the basis f chocolate and gives it the flavour.

Step 3
The rest of the mass is then squeezed through fine filters at immense pressure, separating out the butter from the solids.

Step 4
The butter is used in chocolate to create that smooth, silky texture we all love.

Step 5
The solids are ground into cocoa powder, and provide that rich chocolate flavour to baking treats and drinks like hot cocoa.

Our story begins with sustainably sourced cocoa, the most delicious ingredient in our KitKat bars. But wait a minute, what does it actually mean?

Let’s break it down from the moment the cocoa pod starts growing on the tree to the final bite of your chocolate treat.

Since the Nestlé Cocoa Plan was launched in 2009, we’ve been working in collaboration with cocoa-farming families to implement practices that aim to improve livelihoods in cocoa-farming communities. This includes practices such as helping cocoa farmers improve yields and quality through training and resources, as well as helping communities thrive by empowering women and promoting greater access to education.

KitKat® was the first global brand at Nestlé to source all its cocoa from the Nestlé Cocoa Plan including certified farms*. This was the first step and paved the way for our sustainable cocoa supply chain today. But before going into more details, let’s focus on the cocoa pod.

* Cocoa sourced through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan includes volumes of Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa and Nestlé Cocoa Plan verified mass balance. Mass balance means that we purchased a volume of certified cocoa equivalent to the volume used in the product.

Glad you asked, time to get into the details. We’ve done a lot with the Nestlé Cocoa Plan since 2009 and of course, we’ve learnt a lot too. These solid foundations allowed us to launch the innovative income accelerator programme and our ambition is to improve the livelihoods of cocoa-farming families.

The program rewards cocoa-farming families not just for the quantity and quality of their cocoa beans, but also for practices that can benefit the environment and local community. So far, the program has been rolled out to 10,000 cocoa-farming families (and counting) in Côte d’Ivoire. It doesn’t stop there though! This is a step on the road with the ambition to expand the program’s reach even further. First by extending our coverage in Côte d’Ivoire and entering in Ghana and then aiming to reach 160,000 cocoa-farming families in our supply chain by 2030.

The cocoa mass we use in our “Breaks For Good” KitKat bars comes from the income accelerator programme and is traceable from the group of farmers right through to our KitKat factories in Hamburg and Sofia.

What does that mean?

This is the exciting part. One way to think of it is that the cocoa beans from the program are isolated from the other beans to guarantee full segregation. It is like if they were travelling with a sort of virtual passport, which gets stamped at every stage of the cocoa's journey. In this way we know that the cocoa mass in your KitKat bar has come from this innovative programme and can assure it has been sustainably sourced, including a Rainforest Alliance certification. This is a first step towards full segregation of our cocoa ingredients as we continue working with our suppliers to increase segregated volumes and building on the expansion of the income accelerator program.

In cocoa-farming communities, it’s still common for women to be completely financially dependent on their husbands. And unfortunately, there’s a wider gender equality imbalance that influences this. If women had the power to make decisions and support their families with secondary income, it wouldn’t just fortify households – it would also play a big part in tackling child labour.

So, here’s another way each Break for Good helps us supportthe 10,000 cocoa-farming families in Côte d’Ivoire. We’re empowering women in these communities with more opportunities to succeed.


We’re taking a holistic approach that falls into two main pillars: splitting incentives equally between the heads of each household, and providing training in gender equality and income diversification. We know, that’s a lot of long words.

The aim? To encourage gender equality, help partners share financial responsibilities and ultimately build more resilient households.

We’re training women to start small businesses or activities that bring in a second income for the family. These include beekeeping, raising livestock such as chickens, and selling vegetables from community-led gardens.

The income accelerator program then distributes a €100 incentive for diversifying incomes – a great launchpad for developing a new business idea. And these, again, are securely sent directly to the women.



But gender justice isn’t just a women’s issue. Employing the Gender Action Learning System methodology, we’re training women and men to recognise that they can achieve more and live a better life if they work together. A woman can farm. A man can help around the house. And together, they can make sure their kids are safe, fed, loved and educated.

We’ve also been helping set up Village Savings and Loans Associations within communities. Self-managed and selfcapitalised, these woman-focused schemes encourage saving, and provide loans for small business opportunities. With financial barriers broken down and self-confidence boosted, women can become changemakers in their communities. 



Here’s to new opportunities!