Meet the maker
Kürzi Kacao
About Kürzi Kakao
Kürzi’s mission is to expand people’s perception of chocolate and help them experience it in a way they never have before. Whilst people often traditionally think of chocolate in three categories – milk, dark and white – the team behind Kürzi have set out to challenge this. People are often surprised to find that their range is entirely plant-based; rather than selling it as a vegan alternative, they aim to reveal how diverse, exciting and complex chocolate can be, looking beyond people’s expectations. They have a set range of classic bars, and an ever-evolving selection of varieties, changing with the seasons or depending on which beans they can source.
Their packaging has been designed in collaboration with a small, woman-owned design studio, with a box which shows the beautiful mould of the bar through a window, rather than covering it up. The design takes inspiration from traditional Swiss Scherenschnitt (paper cutting), reinterpreted using cutout shapes of cacao pods, cacao flowers, and cacao beans.
How they became makers
When Britta and Martin met in Asheville, NC in the USA, many of their first dates were at French Broad Chocolate Company – another great craft maker. After they moved to Martin’s native Switzerland in 2017, Britta was disappointed to find there were relatively few bean-to-bar makers in a country famed for its chocolate. As she adapted to her new home, her and her now husband Martin made a small chocolate factory in their spare room. At first, it was a hobby, but by 2019 their first few bars were launched at a Christmas market in Zürich.
Britta says ‘It started in a spare room of our 65 square meter apartment and had our first health inspection in that room. We now own a 360 square meter factory space where we welcome thousands of visitors each year and are a team of 6 passionate chocolate lovers.’
Kürzi Kakao’s Sourcing
Britta says that, when she first started making chocolate, she read a lot about Kokoa Kamili in Tanzania, and was able to get small quantities of beans fir her first attempts. They still use Kokoa Kamili beans today, alongside others through partners like Silva Cacao. They also sourced their first direct beans from Indonesia through a Swissco funded NGO project. It helps farmers transition from growing palm trees into growing cacao to reforest parts of the rainforest in Borneo by being a guaranteed buyer of their beans to minimize their risk entering the market.
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