175 years of industry innovation

Callebaut^® - our Finest Belgian Chocolate brand - becomes the first company to produce liquid chocolate couverture. Using a revolutionary process invented by Frans Callebaut, the liquid Belgian chocolate couverture (high-quality confectioners’ chocolate made with a high percentage of cocoa butter) helped lower the cost of chocolate by eliminating the need for chocolate to be solidified first in blocks, tablets or bars.

Cacao Barry^® - our French gourmet chocolate brand - becomes the first chocolate brand to offer personalized assistance and support for food professionals. The world-famous Academy Cacao Barry, led by trained technical advisors, provided culinary professionals with information on the latest trends, recipes and techniques. Today, the tradition continues at the over 20 CHOCOLATE ACADEMY™ centres of the Barry Callebaut Group throughout the world, and through an e-learning platform for chocolate professionals (CHOCOLATE ACADEMY™ online) launched in November 2018.

Callebaut^® starts offering easy to measure Callets™. Small, flat discs of chocolate, Callets™, are a unique product that comes pretempered (heated and cooled to the right temperature in order to use for coating or dipping). They can be easily measured and melted, saving chefs from having to chop large bars or chunks of chocolate into smaller pieces.

Cacao Barry^® introduces single-origin chocolate. Thanks to its presence in Africa, Cacao Barry is able to bring distinct single-origin chocolates (fine chocolate made with a single cocoa bean variety grown and harvested in a specific region of the world) to the global market place.

Barry Callebaut develops a new, healthier type of sugar-reduced chocolate. While many sugar-reduced or sugar-free products replace sugar with polyols (sugar alcohols) - which can have a laxative effect - Barry Callebaut’s sugar-reduced chocolate replaces part of the sugar with plant-based dietary fibers. These fibers offer many health-related benefits in comparison to sucrose, such as a lower caloric content, an improved digestive effect, and reduced risk of dental cavities.

No dairy added chocolate - Barry Callebaut is the first to bring a plant-based alternative to milk chocolate into the market - offering the same color and similar smooth taste of milk chocolate, yet without any milk ingredients added. This innovation is a valuable alternative for the increasing number of people excluding dairy or dairy ingredients from their diet like vegans or vegetarians, or for those being lactose intolerant.

Barry Callebaut gets EU approval for the health claim on ACTICOA^® products. Based on over 20 human clinical studies, we received the right of using the health claim on our ACTICOA^® cocoa powders and dark chocolates that “cocoa flavanols help maintain the elasticity of blood vessels, which contributes to normal blood flow”. This was the first such health claim in the cocoa and chocolate industry. Barry Callebaut's ACTICOA^® process preserves up to 80% of the cocoa flavanols which would otherwise be destroyed for the most part during the conventional chocolate-making process.

Barry Callebaut launches the perennial project COMETA. To strengthen our leadership position, we expanded the cooperation with the Jacobs University in Bremen to work on the COMETA project. The project is aimed at precisely analyzing and classifying the 20,000 molecules of the cocoa bean, one of the most complex foodstuff on earth. The knowledge gained will be used to develop new quality tests for cocoa.

Barry Callebaut develops a toolbox to make chocolate and compounds more thermo-tolerant for different applications. By optimizing the use of ingredients and production processes, a solution matrix was created to make chocolate thermo-tolerant to an additional 4°C rise in temperature without the loss of taste, workability and applicability. This opens new possibilities for clients to use chocolate and compounds in warmer areas.

Ruby chocolate, unveiled in Shanghai on September 5, 2017, is widely considered by KOFs, artisans and industry players as the biggest discovery in chocolate making over the past 80 years. Ruby chocolate has a fresh berry-fruity taste and characteristic color. Ruby chocolate is made from the ruby cocoa bean. No berries, berry flavor nor color are added. Ruby is already available in about 40 markets worldwide.

Addressing consumers’ need for tasty, nutritious, honest food Barry Callebaut unleashes the full power of the cacaofruit in next-gen food & drink category: 'Cacaofruit Experience' is an innovative range of products that celebrates the fresh, fruity taste and natural richness of the cacaofruit. As part of ‘Cacaofruit Experience’, we also presented the artisan world with the delicious WholeFruit chocolate, a fresh, fruity delight made from 100% pure cacaofruit.