695,880 detour kilometres saved → 17 times around the world.
By skipping the detour we saved 130,000 KG CO2, which is the same as planting 5,200 trees in the Netherlands.
2 New Product Introductions with Johnny’s Inside: Lidl’s Way To Go Vegan Parmesan Cheese and IJsbaart.
Strong Future
• Working with 3 farmer cooperatives
• Another successful year with our processing plant partner Mama Cashew
• Cooperating with SFF to research improving working conditions at Mama Cashew and for farmers
We bought 9,131kg bits for a fair price. → $14,152.90 additional value compared to market price
Now, let's get into how we got here…
CASHEW
CHAPTER
The Cashew revolution A manifesto
THE PROBLEM
THE WAY NUTS ARE HARVESTED, SHELLED AND SHIPPED IS TOTALLY UNFAIR.
THE REASON
1. BIG CASHEW HAS THE POWER TO SET PRICES
2. DETOUR CASHEW CAUSES LOSS OF VALUE AND JOBS
our mission fair future for farm and factory.
how?
Johnny’s 5 chain principles
It’s about an end to business as usual; about making the world fairer and more sustainable. That conversation must invite everyone to speak, from academics and policy makers to entrepreneurs and farmers in the fields. We all need to examine how we impact the world. And when we look at the world of cashews, here’s what we see:
The way nuts are harvested, shelled, and shipped is totally unfair. Farmers live in poverty. When cashews aren’t peeled where they’re planted, local communities are robbed of jobs, social benefits, and community spending. When the aesthetic value of a whole, unbroken nut is worth more than the nutritional value of still-tasty broken cashews, communities are robbed of the full value of their crop.
Why are things this way? Because of Big Cashew, the giant corporations who buy most of the world’s crop and make most of the profit. Big Cashew doesn’t care about farmers or fairness, about waste, or where their nuts are grown. Big Cashew only cares about how much money Big Cashew can make. They’re big enough to make the rules and set the prices. Big enough to convince us that fairness is a nut too hard to crack.
We don’t buy that. And Johnny’s Nuts don’t buy that. Johnny’s Nuts—and that’s everyone else who is crazy about good nuts, from our staff to our customers to our supply chain partners to the farmers and pickers and peelers and everyone we work with—are on a mission to prove that’s proper nuts!
We not only believe these things, we live these beliefs. And we invite everyone who believes the same to join in the chewy challenge of making these principles a new kind of business-as-usual. We’re out to transform Big Cashew into Fair Cashew. To turn a simple snack food into a revolutionary reinvention of the way the world should work. Now that’s proper nuts! we believe...
in a fair future for farmers and factory workers; a fair future for everyone who picks, peels and packages our cashews.
that a farmer’s contributions to locking up carbon, feeding the world, and sustaining the soil is valuable and should be rewarded.
every producer of consumer goods should know where every aspect of their product comes from, and the ways in which ingredients are created, transported, and sold impact the communities and the individuals they touch.
that every purchase of a product is a vote for that product, and for the values which that product represents.
in a fair future for farmers and factory workers; when given a real choice, people choose fairness.
That monkey is our role model and mentor. The monkey saw a problem. The monkey cracked it. With contagious ingenuity. A monkey using a rock as a tool? That’s proper nuts! But it was exactly the kind of crazy, out-of-the-box thinking that they needed, and that we all need to tackle chewy challenges. So at Johnny Cashew, when we see problems - like a cashew that makes a 12,000 kilometer detour to get peeledour inner monkey thinks “that’s proper nuts!” and we partner up with a local peeling factory. When we see farmers being paid a pittance, and processing factories denied a fair price for 25% of their nuts because they’re a bit broken, we think “that’s proper nuts!”, and we pay for the whole crop, and at a fair price. And when we launched 3 of our classics in a handy one-portion pouch for on-the-go moments? Now that’s being more monkey. That’s proper nuts.
Where we’ve been, and where we’re going
A few thousand years ago or more, an enterprising capuchin monkey in the Amazon rainforest picked up a cashew, wrinkled its nose, and wondered what was inside. But it was hard and impossible to chew through, wouldn’t peel like a banana or squeeze open like a cupuaçu. The task seemed impossible. But next to the cashew was a rock. And the monkey had a crazy idea. This had never happened before: the monkey picked up the rock, put the nut on another rock, and smashed the nut. And like magic, there was a delicious treasure inside. Excited, the monkey taught the trick to its friends. Eventually, humans living in the rainforest spotted monkeys smashing cashews and eating the nuts, and a brand new food was introduced into the human diet. It was there, in the deepest forest and far reaches of time, that Johnny Cashew was born.
We’ve got some big ambitions for transforming the cashew industry, and a growing troop of crazy friends who are excited to be part of that transformation. And while there may be those who think a fair, transparent supply chain that treats farmers and the planet with respect seems impossible, we say this: Be More Monkey. There is no nut that’s too hard to crack.
So this is our impact report, an account of all the monkey mischief we’ve been up to in 2024 and all the change we’re making in the world together with our customers, our partners, our farmer friends and peeling pals and everyone in the industry who is nuts enough to believe they can change the world. If you bought a bag of our cashews, you’re one of Johnny’s Nuts. If you’ve shared our story, you’re one of Johnny’s Nuts. If you’re trying to find a way to make your business kinder or fairer or gentler on the planet, you’re one of Johnny’s Nuts.
And Nuts is what it takes to change the world.
Once UPON A TIME IN TANZANIA...
Johnny’s beginnings were on a beermat
The idea for Johnny Cashew started with Hayo. Hayo’s grandfather was a potato farmer who told his kids they should never be farmers. Because farmers weren’t treated fairly by a system that valued processing, packaging, distribution and marketing more than actually growing the food. “Farmers,” he warned his family, “are the bottom link of the chain.”
But Hayo followed his passion, and ended up working with farms and farmers around the world. While working with jatropha nut farmers in Tanzania, he bought cashews from sellers at the side of the road on his way to work. But when he found out that most of the cashew harvest - including a shell that weighed four times what the cashew did - was being shipped 12,000 kilometres to Asia for peeling, he wondered: why not peel it where it’s planted? Why not create local jobs to do that? And while we’re at it, can we pay these farmers a better price, buy their whole harvest (broken nuts and all), treat them better than his grandfather had been treated, and still have a profitable business?
“I basically designed the business on a beermat back in 2020,” says Hayo, and he called on his old friend Roel van de Weijer to crunch the numbers. “Roel’s superpower is to challenge me with Excel spreadsheets to prove me wrong. He couldn’t do it. It was a great day when I heard him say, “Fuck man, you might be on to something”.”
Hayo and Roel founded Johnny Cashew. But shaking up business as usual is a tough nut to crack. The Tanzanian government was focussed on export and had little interest in processing. They could make the business work in a spreadsheet, but could they bring it to life in the real world?
The tale of the cashew tree
How did we get to a point where the world needs Johnny Cashew? Let’s go back to the very beginning…
The cashew tree is native to Brazil, where clever monkeys and observant humans grew to love their delicious nuts - which, technically (pushing nerdy glasses up nose) are actually seeds. When Portuguese explorers *cough* colonisers *cough* arrived in the 16th century, they took this tasty tree along with them as they explored *cough* invaded *cough* the world. Thanks to their similar climates, the cashew tree soon took root in parts of Africa and India.
Fast-forward to the 20th century: the global appetite for cashews has skyrocketed, shifting their cultivation into high gear. During this initial boom, cashews were processed in the same countries where they were plantedMozambique, for example, was the world’s top cashew producer by the 1970s, and processed most of its own crop.
Enter the ‘Big Cashew’ Era
Cashews’ popularity grew even more, and in the 1980s, Asian demand for cashews surged. Thanks to expanding economies and booming populations, Asian countries like Vietnam seized the lead in cashew processing. They developed cutting-edge processing technology, provided skilled labour forces, and built supply chains efficient enough to handle global demand. Thus, the “detour cashew” was born: grown in one country, processed in another, and munched on worldwide.
For countries like Tanzania, however, this resulted in slowdown in cashew processing - a real blow to their local industry. The Tanzanian government tried to cope by prioritising unshelled cashew exports through tax breaks, which brought in foreign currency quickly. These cashews faced little to no export taxes, while shelled nuts were slapped with extra levies or missed out on subsidies. This discouraged local businesses from developing processing facilities, making it tough for Tanzanian nuts to compete internationally.
The Cashew Board of Tanzania, a government body overseeing the cashew industry, played a key role in pricing and exports. With its monopoly, the Board often restricted farmers from selling directly to local processors. Instead, farmers were required to auction their crops, which meant a large chunk of raw cashews went to foreign buyers supplying Asian processors. These auctions favoured big exporters who could outbid local processors who lacked the same financial muscle or distribution networks.
Turning the tide: The Cashew Industry Act of 2021
By 2021, Tanzania knew it was time to shake things up. The Cashew Industry Act of 2021 posed a series of reforms aimed at boosting the local cashew industry, including:
• Putting export duties on raw cashews (up to 20% in some cases) to encourage local processing
• Offering incentives for setting up processing plants, like lower taxes on machinery and access to financing through local banks
• Reserving a portion of the harvest for domestic processors, so they’re not outbid at auctions.
Tanzania is making moves to ensure that local communities can more fully benefit from cashew farming, and Johnny Cashew is proud to be part of this inspired, evolving ecosystem.
Johnny Cashew is born in Amsterdam from an idea sketched on a beermat: cashews grown in Tanzania and processed in Tanzania, cutting out the nutty detours Tanzanian cashews traditionally take to be processed a continent away.
Johnny Cashew’s founders, Hayo and Roel, needed to find a processing plant in Tanzania. By happy coincidence, they bumped into Maria and George, who were busy setting up the Mama Cashew processing plant. Mama Cashew wanted to offer employees a fair salary, job security, health insurance, and a bank account, and so did Johnny Cashew; thus, a beautiful partnership was born.
Johnny Cashew…
Next up? Our first customer! Pieter Pot, the Dutch brand specialising in zero-waste packaging, sold Johnny Cashew in handy, reusable jars. Lidl soon joined the fun, selling our nuts in the Netherlands under their sustainable, private label, Way To Go.
2023
Then Freek joined the company as investor and Cashew Captain. As former CFO of Tony Chocolonely, he knew how to get the cash(ew) rolling. With funding now in place, the Johnny Cashew team and brand could be built. We had two delicious products - see if you can spot the difference: salted cashews in a big pouch and salted cashews in a tin. Continuing the grand tradition of nutty primates, Gorillas (the groceries delivery app) helped us break into the consumer market as a brand in our own right.
Salted cashews are delicious, but predictable. We wanted to go proper nuts with it! We launched our Honey Sea Salt and Hot Chilli flavours, as well as our Unsalted, Raw, and Bio ranges. That caught the attention of more Dutch customers and supermarkets: Picnic, Albert Heijn and Ekoplaza also wanted a taste, and Lidl expanded the Way To Go cashew to eight European countries.
2024
Johnny Cashew was a busy little monkey in 2024: We welcomed three new investors - Goeie Grutten, People Planet Profit and Bill Kelly - to our nutty troop enabling us to scale our company. We started a major research project, hired three more employees, released our second impact report, and published the Dutch “Omreisgids” (a guide to goods that take unnecessary detours like the “detour cashew”). We launched one-portion pouches, perfect for a snack on the go. Johnny Cashew began appearing on shelves at Plus, Coop, Albert Heijn To Go, and the snack trolley on KLM Airlines. And with new listings at CLF, Epicurium, Snackfully, and Wholefood Ireland, we expanded our nutty troop to the UK and Ireland!
In these first years, Johnny Cashew avoided 1,808,107 kilometres of unnecessary transport. We added value to our supply chain by purchasing 15,448 kilograms of small or broken cashew pieces at fair prices. And we shared the love by paying EUR 126,389 in premiums directly to our cashew farmers!
And this is only the beginning of Jonny Cashew’s tale…
the cashew chain is a tough nut to crack
The problems in the cashew industry
chapter 2
“Unfair is fair” says Big Cashew
The way nuts are harvested, shelled and shipped is totally unfair
What does the current, traditional cashew supply chain look like? Well, it’s not pretty…
The status-quo
Big Cashew says unfair is fair game. They say profit comes before people or the planet. They say it doesn’t matter that farmers live in poverty. Or that local communities are robbed of factory processing jobs that can be done cheaper overseas. That the greenhouse gas emissions caused by unnecessary transports are a necessary cost of business.
Cycle of poverty
To make a living income in Tanzania, cashew farmers in our chain currently need to earn 7,817 Tanzanian Shilling per person, per day. 80% of that income should be cashew-related, and (as cashews are a seasonal product) 20% needs to come from other sources. This is the bare minimum of what’s needed for a decent standard of living for themselves and their households. But low cashew prices, set by Big Cashew, lead to farmer incomes of at least 10% less than the Living Income. This traps farmers in a cycle of poverty they have no way to break out of.
No traceability, but lots of emissions
Robbed of value
Out of the 29 cashew grades (industry-speak for “shapes and sizes”), most buyers will only take whole nuts. But up to 25% of the nuts crack during shelling (that’s a lot!), and end up being bought at a deep discount, robbing the processing factories of value, despite these broken nuts being delicious and useful.
Unfair prices
Big Cashew prioritises cheap nuts over proper nuts. And, surprise surprise, that’s not particularly beneficial to the people at the base of the supply chain. In Tanzania, these major companies buy their nuts at auction. Big Cashew is so big they can even force a market price by withholding bids, as happened in 2018: they tried to impose such an unfeasibly low price that the Tanzanian government had to step in to buy the entire harvest at a fairer price.
Once Big Cashew has bought their nuts, shells and all, no matter where they’re coming from, they’re put on container ships. Those ships belch carbon all the way to Asia to be peeled. No matter which farm - or even which continent they come from - they’re all thrown into one big heap for processing. Traceability is impossible. In fact, about 85% of African cashews are shipped to Asia to be shelled! A shelled cashew nut is worth five times more than an unshelled cashew. Because of political circumstances like those mentioned earlier, it’s extremely hard for local processing plants to win the bidding wars on auctions of unshelled cashew. Big Cashew wins again.
Business UNusual!
When Big Cashew zigs, Johnny Cashew zags
In contrast, Johnny Cashew exists to crack the tough nut that is the traditional cashew industry—and show all similar supply chains that there is a fairer way.
Pioneering a transparent, sustainable chain
When you open a bag of our tasty nuts, you’re opening a bag that’s better for the world than a cashew from today’s “Business as Usual” industry. And we mean better at every step, from farm to that fistful of delicious crunchiness you pop into your mouth. We’re pioneering a contagious idea: that the only way to deliver truly sustainable cashews— or truly sustainable anything—is to have a 100% transparent and sustainable supply chain.
living income
At Johnny Cashew, we respect and prioritise the right of cashew farmers to be able to earn “a decent standard of living for all members of their households” (Living Income Community of Practice, 2020). While we work to change the market mindset around the price paid ‘at the farm gate’, Johnny Cashew ensures our farmers already earn a fair income. We pay the farm-gate price that all cashews sell for, plus a fair trade premium, plus a Johnny Cashew premium. The traceability of our supply chain is valuable to us, and we share that value with the farmers.
We’ve done the research into the living income reference price (LIRP) for their crop, which puts value on sustainable yields and does common sense things like count trees instead of acreage in calculating a farm’s potential value. Learn more about Johnny Cashew’s LIRP in chapter 3.3.
Stronger relationships
Johnny Cashew believes in people; in relationships built on trust and respect. We’re committed to a long-term supply agreement with the Tanzanian farmers’ cooperatives Zima-Ding’Wida and Muutango, giving those farmers a secure income. That security means savings can be set aside for school and training, for investments in a farm’s future, and to help open secondary income streams.
Buying the whole harvest
It’s what’s inside that counts: small or broken cashews are still tasty and nutritious! We buy them as part of the whole harvest, maintaining their economic and nutritional value. We include some pieces in our Johnny Cashew bags, and transform the rest into delicious treats like vegan cheeses or ice creams.
Peeling where it’s planted
By peeling cashews in their country of origin, local processing plants can finally avail of the nut’s full economic potential, and benefit from opportunities for job creation. In Tanzania, our cashews make a short trip down the road to the Mama Cashew peeling factory, where 600 people—mostly women—have wellpaid jobs that return value to their local communities.
The delicious taste of a fairer future!
From Mama Cashew we bring our nuts to the Netherlands where we roast, season, and package them. By skipping the detour to Asia for nuts bound for the European market, they’ve already saved 57% of the carbon compared to nuts coming from an Asian processing plant. And, of course, we offset the carbon we have to use to ship cashews from Mtwara to Rotterdam.
So when you open a Johnny Cashew bag, you’re opening a zero-carbon snack that’s providing a living income to a farmer, a better life for a factory worker, and an outrageously delicious dazzle for your tongue. Shouldn’t that be the story of every cashew?
New supply chain regulation
Of course, while Johnny is already busting moves and cracking nuts, the rest of the world is gradually reaching a turning point for global supply chains, including cashews. Between the European Parliament’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and new demands from Dutch retail organizations like the Centraal Bureau Levensmiddelenhandel (CBL), the food industry is facing significant regulatory changes. It’s time for brands throughout the EU to take a leaf from our cashew tree: soon, everyone will be required to do the due diligence we’ve built into Johnny Cashew’s DNA.
What is the CSDDD?
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty: Set to take effect in 2027, the CSDDD requires companies to identify, address, and report social and environmental risks in their supply chains. The European Parliament’s goal? Fairer, transparent, sustainable systems. This directly impacts commodities like cashews, whose production often involves poor labour conditions, low wages, and environmental harm.
Impact on the Dutch cashew market
On a national level, last year the CBL announced that by 2030, all private-label cashews in Dutch supermarkets must earn sustainable certification, like those offered by the Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade International. These certifications ensure better social and environmental practices throughout the supply chain.
The challenge there, of course, is that the cashew supply chain is notoriously complex. Most cashews are grown by small-scale farmers in countries lacking traceability. We’ve literally founded our entire brand around the issue! That’s why we’re excited to see CBL’s commitment to supply chain transparency—the first step towards sustainable, systemic solutions.
Gathering more Nuts to our mission
These advances in legislation will help bring new allies to Johnny Cashew’s efforts: retailers now need to collaborate more closely with suppliers, invest in supply chain tracing technologies, and adopt sustainable certification processes. This also creates demand for locally processed cashews—like ours—since local processing offers greater transparency and easier monitoring. Johnny Cashew predicts that “peel it where it’s planted” will become an evermore popular requirement!
Gamechangers for the industry
It’s clear that a new standard for the cashew trade is emerging. If you’re a company that fails to adapt, you risk higher costs, or even market exclusion. For farmers and workers in cashew-producing countries, this shift is lifechanging, bringing the potential of improved living conditions and stable incomes. Johnny Cashew is ready to take advantage of this industry tipping point and help accelerate progress towards fairer cashews, benefitting every link in the supply chain. Come with us as we walk through how we’ve made progress so far…
Our Three-Rock Mission Method
So how do we, Johnny’s Nuts, go about making Johnny Cashew’s supply chain the new normal? Well, remember our friend the capuchin monkey who first figured out how to crack open a cashew nut with a rock? That’s our role model of contagious ingenuity. Here are our three rocks—three different ways we go about our mission and crack the hardest nuts:
Raise awareness: Make some monkey noise
Monkeys don’t whisper—when they spot a juicy opportunity or a lurking threat, they screech loud enough for the whole forest to hear, and get their friends to screech along. We’re out to create some monkey mayhem so loud that Big Cashew, policy makers, supermarket customers—EVERYONE has to pay attention. Awareness is the first step to change, to choosing fair and transparent sources.
Ways we proved it in 2024: Our Stupid, right? Campaign: Amsterdam was full of frustrating detours for cyclists in 2024 as the city struggled to revamp roads and tram tracks. So we, cheeky monkeys that we are, turned up on street corners to sympathise with rush-hour commuters over stupid detours, hand out sample packs, and share the story of the 12,000 kilometers detour most cashews take. It made a peddle of a few blocks seem less burdensome, and turned frustration into satisfied smiles.
Work together: Leverage the awesome power of Johnny’s Nuts
Monkeys don’t survive solo—they thrive by working as a troop. And that’s where Johnny’s Nuts get in on the action. Johnny’s Nuts are the people who believe in our mission enough to be ambassadors of our message; they share our story on social media, choose fairer brands like Johnny Cashew, Tony Chocolonely, and Holie’s. They’re Sunday snackers and Monday munchers. Some of Johnny’s Nuts may even have infiltrated Big Cashew. Because Johnny’s Nuts are everywhere. They’re a troop of changemakers!
Ways we proved it in 2024:
We get invited places to talk about innovation, ways to create a more transparent supply chain, and how to make products fairer and more sustainable. We gave “Johnny Talks” to audiences at Rabobank, Tony Chocolonely, and other places where Nuts are welcome. Our founder and Cashew Revolutionary Hayo cracked open the doors of the Dutch Parliament (the “Tweede Kamer”) when he was invited to chat with the Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Committee. Turns out, even Parliament has a few Nuts who think we’re on to something!
Invite innovation: Find more rocks!
Capuchins are our OG nutcrackers, turning hard-shelled challenges into tasty rewards. That’s the meaning of “Be More Monkey” at Johnny Cashew: we break through the tough stuff so others can follow. Whether it’s pioneering local cashew processing or crafting a blueprint for a sustainable supply chain, we’re solving problems and sharing solutions. Every nut we crack paves the way for a fairer, smarter, and more sustainable future. But to succeed, our innovation needs to be contagious. We share our monkey methods and invite others to get involved in cracking their own particular tough nut!
Ways we proved it in 2024:
We launched Johnny’s Inside, a blueprint for companies to source cashews responsibly. Once a company becomes part of Johnny’s Inside, they’ll also automatically comply with upcoming EU legislation for cashew sourcing. Already Lidl, with its Way To Go brand, and Ijsbaart have joined in the monkey mischief.
JOHNNY’S CHAIN PRINCIPLES
Sharing the secret of proper nuts
Johnny Cashew took a long, hard look at the global cashew supply chain, and there was no way to avoid the tough truth: it’s proper nuts! We knew that for our three-rock mission method to crack open such deeply entrenched nutjobbery, we’d need strong principles to guide us towards a fairer, greener—and ultimately, shorter—supply chain:
1. Fair Price
Johnny Cashew defines a fair price as covering the costs of a decent living. That’s why we pay farmers a premium to meet what we call the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP), which Fairtrade International helped us develop. The LIRP calculates how much a harvest must sell for to ensure that an average household can enjoy a sustainable economic existence. Johnny Cashew is currently the only cashew buyer in the world that pays this fair price!
With the LIRP, our farmers have been able to make a significant step towards economic sustainability. Through the extra premium, we can work towards a better existence for every household. By being totally transparent about our pricing process, we’re showing other producers that paying a fair price for fair labour is good for everyone.
We pay per kilogram of unshelled nuts. For a kilo of edible cashews, you need 4.5 to 5 kilograms of unshelled nuts (those shells are heavy!). Through the extra Johnny Cashew premium, the LIRP is paid to our partner farming cooperatives, and each farmer gets an additional USD$0.87 per kilogram of cashews.
2. Traceability
How can you be sure that cashew in your lunch box hasn’t taken an unnecessary, carboncostly trip around the world? Or that the price you pay is fairly distributed amongst the people who got those nuts to you? How do you know if you’re crunching on pure Tanzanian cashew, or a mix from who-knows-where? The answer lies in a transparent, traceable supply chain, able to track the product from tree to table.
Our cashews are 100% physically traceable. Our Fairtrade certification guarantees this. From farmer to transport to storage to processing, every step of the supply chain can be physically followed. We do this to make sure we pay farmers and factories fairly, and are aware of all potential influences on our supply chain. It also means we’re already compliant with the EU’s new Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and pioneers of a better path for the cashew industry!
4. Whole Harvest
Up to a quarter of the cashew harvest can crack during the shelling process, but most buyers refuse anything but whole nuts. That’s proper nuts, considering broken nuts are just as tasty, and smaller leftovers can be used for delicious cheese or delightful ice cream! That’s why we buy the whole harvest at a fair price, ensuring that processing factories earn full value for their product.
3. no detour
Peel it where you plant it! That’s what the cashew industry needs to do. By skipping the unnecessary detours to foreign factories and instead, shelling cashews locally, we can add value in the country of origin and create jobs at processing plants.
In our case, ditching the 12,000 kilometer detour for our Europe-destined cashews reduces our carbon emissions by 57%. Whatever we cannot reduce, we compensate, which makes our cashew completely carbon neutral!
We work to enable farmers and our factory to be independent and self-sufficient, even without Johnny Cashew’s premiums. We look for long-term partners, striving to provide them with economic security so they can invest in the longevity and sustainability of their operations, and develop additional income sources to supplement their seasonal cashew earnings.
Our favourite part of these principles? Anyone in the food sector can apply them to their own work! Honestly, being one of Johnny’s Nuts requires some stamina (so fuel up!): our principles aren’t yet convenient and they challenge the long-established status quo. But we’re committed to upholding our principles—within our own supply chain and the wider industry. We encourage our peers to be more monkey; think outside the box to ensure mutual benefit and respect throughout the chain, and to enjoy taking part in making the world a little better. Now that’s proper nuts!
A Fund for a Better Future forward, nuts!
Social
sustainability research in 2024
In 2024, Johnny Cashew kicked off a major research initiative under the Social Sustainability Fund (SSF), managed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Our research aim? Investigating how we can further strengthen and improve the positions of farmers and factory workers within our supply chain. We’re on a journey of continuous improvement, so we’re always seeking ways to keep making our supply chain better and better.
For farmers: Boost production and increase their income.
For factory workers: Ensure everyone earns a living wage.
For the factory as a whole: Help Mama Cashew take the next step in its development, from streamlining processes to improving working conditions.
For gender equity: Gain deeper insight into the role of women in the cashew chain to tackle potential inequalities.
We’ve teamed up with several like-minded organisations to help us meet these aims; Fairtrade Netherlands supported our research on living wages, and Fairtrade Africa helped us deep-dive into what farmers need. The Global Peace Foundation conducted extensive fieldwork for the project, particularly around the role of women in the supply chain.
Our findings so far
Fairtrade Africa carried out farmer-level interviews and quantitative data analysis. They found that farmers struggle to access agricultural inputs and the right tools. Many farmers believe they could significantly increase their yields with better knowledge and resources—key insights for the next phase of the SSF project.
At Mama Cashew, we thoroughly analysed the economic situation of the workers. The results showed we’ve still got a gap to close before achieving living wages. However, we’ve identified promising pathways, such as in-kind benefits and optimising workflows.
Something that made us grin our little monkey grins was that many workers specifically expressed immense satisfaction with Mama Cashew as their employer, even if there are improvements to make. They’re proud to work there and appreciate the independence it provides. It’s a safe environment that empowers women and enables them to care for their children regardless of marital status, which is quite unusual in the region. Mama Cashew is seen as a positive force, bringing jobs and innovation back to Tanzanian cashew farming communities. (One of our founder Hayo’s favourite life moments was walking into the factory to a 600-voice chorus of “Asante!” -— “THANK YOU!” in Swahili.)
Tackling gender inequality
In our gender analysis, we examined the role of women at both the farming cooperative and factory levels. Among farmers, women remain underrepresented, and cultural norms heavily favour men. At Mama Cashew, it’s a different story; women feel recognised and valued, take on leadership roles, and are breaking down gender barriers, even as the world outside the factory still needs to catch up to Mama Cashew’s gender progress.
Looking ahead to 2025
The first phase of this research wrapped up in 2024, so what’s on the agenda for the next stage in 2025? We’re working on training programs for farmers to increase yields, process improvements at Mama Cashew to move closer to living wages, and support initiatives to close the gender gap. Come on 2025, let’s get cracking!
Mama Cashew’s employees discussing working conditions for the SSF research
Future Facing Flavours, Better Bite-Sized Bags
Increasing volumes in 2024
Relaunching Johnny Cashew 100g packs
By adjusting our cashew packs just a smidge, we’ve made them friendlier on your wallet. Slightly smaller packs = lower price = more people enjoying fairer cashews. That’s a satisfyingly simple formula: more affordable = more sales = more impact!
Johnny’s Nuts wanted more heat, and we’re happy to deliver! We’ve amped up our Hot Chilli recipe with a touch more bird’s eye chilli (those fiery red beauties you might know as Thai chillis). The result is a proper delicious snack with a spicy kick, sure to delight even more tastebuds in 2025. More hot chilli lovers = more cashews = more impact!
Launching 25g Minis
Johnny Cashew is a firm advocate for snack breaks. Snack breaks for one and all, we say! That’s why we launched our Salted, Raw, and Honey Sea Salt cashews in 25g packs, opening the door to express stores like AH to Go. More snacking moments = more cashews = more impact!
UK and Ireland expansion
In 2024, Johnny Cashew officially made it onto shelves in Ireland and the UK! We are now available at CLF, Epicurium, Snackfully and Wholefoods Ireland, and we’re in discussion with Australian distributors about getting proper nuts down under. More markets = more cashews = more impact.
Hot Chilli upgrade
25% of cashews break during shelling. But the Mama’s needn’t fret: we have plans for those pieces and buy the whole harvest.
Mama Cashew offers the Mamas - that’s what the women shelling cashews are called - a fair salary, job security, health insurance, and a bank account.
Johnny’s Nuts are nuts about Johnny
Partnering up with brands that put “Johnny Inside”
We’re not doing this alone
Anybody who wants a detour-free, peeled-where-it’s-planted, farmer-friendly cashew is a friend of ours. That’s why we introduced our “Johnny Inside” label so brands like IJsbaart and Way to Go can grab our nuts for their own products and celebrate it on their packaging.
Through the “Johnny’s Inside” label, companies can create impact in two different ways: by sourcing their cashews via our transparent supply chain or by finding innovative ways to further our “Whole Harvest” philosophy by using broken bits and cashew dust in yummy ways.
It’s “Johnny Inside” if it comes from our supply chain
We cracked the nut, so you don’t have to. We’ve built a direct supply chain from Tanzania, where all our nuts are shelled locally, guaranteeing full transparency and traceability. Unlike many cashews for sale today, we know exactly where our nuts come from, and we know they followed a trail of fair pay and safe working conditions from the savannah to the shelf. As more companies prioritise ethical sourcing, we’re here to lend a hand. Why reinvent the supply chain when we’ve already got the blueprint, ready to share?
It’s “Johnny’s Inside” even when it’s busted nuts
Our “Whole Harvest” principle means we buy the entire harvest—even the broken bits. While most companies turn their noses up at the cashews that break during shelling, we see value. Broken cashews are perfect for vegan cheese, ice cream, or toppings. Rejecting them means lost revenue for African processors, lost deliciousness for customers, and lost opportunities for food innovators to transform them into tasty treats.
Some of Johnny’s Nuts who already have Johnny Inside:
Way To Go Cashews:
Lidl gets its Way To Go cashews through Johnny Cashew’s supply chain. Collaborations like these help other brands transition to a fairer, more sustainable, and transparent model. Whether those cashews end up in a bright yellow Johnny Cashew bag or in blue or purple on a Lidl shelf, it’s all good. Every fair cashew is a comrade in the Cashew Revolution.
Lidl’s vegan parmesan cheese
Parmesan made from cashews?! Yep, you read that right! In 2024, Lidl launched a vegan parmesan under their sustainable Way To Go label. We were beaming with pride: it’s just like the real deal, but made from cashews. An absolutely “grate” choice for vegan cheese lovers, it even snagged the Best Product of the Year 2024-2025 award!
IJsbaart Vegan Ice Cream
Yessssssssssss-cream! Super creamy, plant-based ice cream—no cows involved. IJsbaart nails it with their 100% vegan recipes. We turn broken cashews into paste, the ultimate creamy base for Ijsbaart’s chill snack. By teaming up with IJsbaart, we’ve saved 2,900 KG of cashew bits.
More cashews, more impact. That’s proper nuts!
LOOKINg AHEAD chapter 5
Johnny Cashew’s 2025 Impact Goals
Our 2025 objectives for a fairer future for farm and factory
FAIR PAY
• Pay €102,272 in premiums
• Pay 1,250 farmers a Living Income (total impact on the lives of 7,500 people — average household is 6)
No Detour
• Provide 600 people with jobs by shelling locally 90% women3,000 people’s lives touched (average household size is 5)
• Save 856,704 detour kilometres 22 times around the world.
• Save 162,500kg CO2 by avoiding the detour the same as planting 6,500 trees in the Netherlands.
Traceability
• Remain 100% traceable
Whole harvest
• Buy 18,392kg broken bits for a fair price. This goes to the factory (not the farmer).
• Work with 3 farming cooperatives
• Enjoy another successful year with our processing plant partner Mama Cashew strong future
thank you
We’ve just got one last thing to say, which is Thank You. Thank you to our nutty friends—partners, suppliers, farmers, peelers, pickers, packagers, purchasers and everyone who has jumped or is jumping aboard the “Fair and Transparent” supply chain train. Together, we’re laying the tracks for a future where we can be kinder to the Earth, and to each other. Where businesses can do well by doing good. Where crazy ideas like a cashew revolution open up whole new ways of thinking about the world, and help more people and businesses to realise that’s not crazy at all: that’s proper nuts.
