Lindt & Sprüngli is recognised as a leader in the market for premium quality chocolate, offering a large selection of products in more than 120 countries around the world. During almost 175 years of Lindt & Sprüngli's existence, it has become known as one of the most innovative and creative companies making premium chocolate.
Today, quality chocolate products by Lindt & Sprüngli are manufactured at 11 of its own production sites in Europe and the USA. They are distributed by 28 subsidiaries and branches in around 500 of its own shops and through a network of over 100 independent distributors around the globe. With over 13,500 employees, the Lindt & Sprüngli Group achieved sales of CHF 4.02 billion in 2020. Lindt & Sprüngli developed their own sustainability program for cocoa beans: the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. The Program strives for ecologically and socially responsible cultivation and supports farmers, their families, and their communities.
Earthworm Foundation is supporting Lindt & Sprüngli through a transformation journey of its cocoa bean supply chain, especially in the countries they supply from, by:
Earthworm Foundation's work with Lindt & Sprüngli aims at meeting the three objectives listed above.
1. To consolidate the strong roots initiated via the Farming Program, we:
Visit different suppliers (as of 2023, 11 in total) to understand and evaluate the Farming Program's impact in specific contexts
provide recommendations and monitor implementation regularly.
2. To accelerate transformation in the supply chain, we:
Work to deepen implementation of Lindt & Sprüngli's Supplier Code of Conduct by different suppliers
Per each supplier, conducting coaching sessions at the end of visits to co-design recommendations and to give sufficient background knowledge to allow recommendations to be implemented,
Evaluate the progress made by suppliers since the beginning of the transformation,
3. To spur innovation so that Lindt & Sprüngli can take a lead role in the cocoa industry in the implementation of No Deforestation commitments, we:
Support a Starling pilot, a satellite monitoring project
Support Lindt & Sprüngli in reaching their No-Deforestation and agroforestry commitments