Beyond Good
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Beyond Good formerly Madécasse, is a
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
-based chocolate and vanilla company established in 2006 by two
Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...
volunteers who served in
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...
. The company sells a range of single origin chocolate bars and vanilla products, sourced from the island of Madagascar, and introduced a new line of
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...
n chocolate bars in early 2020. All of the cocoa is certified
direct trade Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), ...
and is sourced directly from Malagasy and Ugandan cocoa farmers. For several years, Beyond Good worked with a local chocolate producer in
Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "A ...
before moving production to its own facility in Madagascar as well as in Europe.


History

Founders Brett Beach and Tim McCollum met while serving as Peace Corps volunteers in Madagascar. After spending a combined eight years on the island, McCollum and Beach recognized the need for a business model that worked towards impactful social and environmental change. Cocoa had always been a major export of Madagascar but very little chocolate was being produced on the island, much like the rest of Africa. Even though the continent was growing over 65% of the world's cocoa, less than 1% of the world's chocolate was being produced there.Watkins, Tat
"Cuckoo for Cocoa Processing: Making Chocolate—Not Just Picking It—Helps Madagascar Develop"
''Good Business'' 7 February 2012.
Beach and McCollum were determined to have an impact on the island, and came up with a business model to produce chocolate on the island so that the majority of the economic benefit would stay within the country.Follmer, Ma
"Madecasse Takes Bitter out of Chocolate Sweetness"
, ''Take Part '' March 1, 2011
They reunited back in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and started the company at Beach's residence in
Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...
. They partnered with cocoa farmers of the Ezaka Cooperative, from a remote area of Madagascar."Creating Change through Chocolate"
''PCC Natural Markets''
The company initially had trouble meeting the quality standards of the United States, as the cocoa beans needed more fermentation and drying. McCollum said, “You have farmers farming cocoa who have never eaten chocolate.” The farmers received training, equipment was purchased, and a bonus program for the company was developed. Since the company established a consistent process for producing high quality cocoa, it has received critical acclaim for its chocolates. According to Malagasy-born Michaël Chauveau, Director of Operations in Madagascar, Beyond Good partnered with a factory on the island that has steadily increased their production outcome. As the company expanded, it ventured out and partnered with more farming cooperatives in order to meet the rising demand. There was room for growth in other markets besides chocolate, as Madagascar provided 60% of the world's vanilla beans. Beyond Good exports vanilla beans and extract from Madagascar to replicate the effect that they have with their chocolate bars in the vanilla sector. Currently, Beyond Good has offices in Brooklyn, managed by McCollum, and Madagascar. In January 2020, the company officially changed its name from Madécasse to Beyond Good.


Recognition

In 2010, Beyond Good made its way to the 40 Under 40 list of people changing the way Americans eat and drink by
Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...
. In 2011, it was listed as one of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies by ''
Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
''. Beyond Good was named a Leader of Global Change in 2012 by the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
and Foundation for Social Change. In the same year, the brand also won the Good Food Award in the Chocolate category. In 2022, it received the Good Egg Award on the 202
Chocolate Scorecard
for its work with human rights and environmental issues such as traceability and transparency, living income, child labour, deforestation and climate,
agroforestry Agroforestry is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. Trees produce a wide range of useful and marketable products from fruits/nuts, medicines, wood products, etc. This intentional ...
and
agrochemical An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides ( pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicides) a ...
management.


References

{{reflist American chocolate companies Manufacturing companies based in New York City Agriculture in Madagascar Companies based in Brooklyn