EMKAO Foods produces premium quality, traceable and sustainable cocoa ingredients. These include Vegan 70% Dark Chocolate Chips, Natural Cocoa Powder, Cocoa Husk Tea, Cocoa Nibs, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Liquor, and Raw Cocoa Beans. They source their beans from villages located in Cameroon, Equatorial Africa, where they work with smallholder farmers to harvest the best quality cocoa beans.
Their story dates back to 1892 when cacao was brought to Cameroon from the tropical regions of South America. Over a century later, Cameroon’s 5,000 small-scale farmers make the country the world’s fifth-largest producer of cacao. For generations, their family has been refining the art of growing, harvesting, and fermenting cocoa at Kotou Farm, located in the Méfou-et-Afamba region of Cameroon. As they perfected their process and reached the highest standards of sustainable and ethical cocoa production, they decided to share the rich, unique flavours of the cacao with North American chocolatiers.
When founder and CEO, Ayissi, arrived in Canada in 2013, she harnessed her love of chocolate and marketing background to launch EMKAO Foods. EMKAO brings cocoa beans from Kotou Farm to Mission, BC, where they are processed, into chocolate ingredients for customers seeking premium quality and directly traceable products.
Today, their teams in Cameroon and B.C. share a vision of elevating communities – and chocolate – through traceable and sustainable products.
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: EMKAO Foods supplies premium cocoa ingredients to several small and locally owned businesses throughout the lower mainland.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: EMKAO Foods provides comprehensive training to all staff and hires youth and adult employees. EMKAO has run multiple charitable events. iKareKao was a charity initiative that consisted of donation hampers delivered to front-line health care workers during the pandemic. Our most recent charity event was our Chocolate for a Cause workshop. This workshop hosted 8 guests who joined us for 2 hours to learn about, eat, and make chocolate. All proceeds from the tickets were donated to the Abbotsford Community Foundation to assist in flood relief. EMKAO sources all of our cocoa from Ayissi’s family farm in Cameroon. The farm is UTZ certified, which means the most sustainable and ethical practices are in place. EMKAO has supported Saccomaniacs Agriculture for Autism since 2014.
Our cocoa is sourced with the most environmental and sustainable practices in place. Our farmers are paid more than industry standards. We use and sell every part of the cocoa bean therefore we create no waste when producing our cocoa products.
EMKAO Foods is striving to change the cocoa industry. EMKAO offers premium quality cocoa while protecting the environment and supporting our farmers.
Winnow or Roast raw cocoa beans, we offer Tours and Workshops at the factory.
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