In a just released report titled “Chocolate’s Dark Secret,” Mighty Earth, a global environmental campaign organization, claimed that 90 percent of protected national parks in the Ivory Coast have been deforested for growing cocoa while Ghana was undergoing a similar process. 

Swiss chocolate and cocoa products manufacturer Barry Callebaut will acquire the ingredients division of Pennsylvania-based Gertrude Hawk Chocolates, allowing Barry Callebaut to expand its specialties and decorations business in North America.

In pointing out that the global business supply chain is “broken,” Mars CEO Grant Reid said business needs to lead “transformational change” in order to tackle the most urgent threats facing the planet and its people.

Want to know what’s coming around the corner? Take the time to digest these long-term shifts affecting consumers, retailers and manufacturers.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) announced last week that it had reached an incentive agreement with Haribo of America, the U.S. subsidiary of the German-based gummy manufacturer, tied to the construction of a 500,000-sq.-ft. plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.

Growing demand for natural ingredients amongst consumers has only stimulated price volatility onto an already tinder-box market. Is there no end in sight regarding price increases?

Weather men cried, our president snuck a peak without wearing glasses, and millions celebrated in a solar kumbaya fashion with festivals and traffic nightmares. And there were some who thought about simply cowering underneath their desks until order was restored. 

Mark Puch, ceo of Chicago-based Primrose Candy, died last Friday. He was 63 and is survived by his wife, Dawn (nee Castro) and children, Gia, Mark Jr. and Nina as well as his mother Lillian and brother, Jeff, and his wife, Mary.