Alumni Profile: Lucy Bennetto
St Margaret’s College Old Girl Lucy Bennetto is making
“If I love the origin and it tastes great, I love the
a global impact creating, manufacturing and supplying
backstory and I know I can visit the co-operatives, then
Fairtrade, organic chocolate to New Zealand, Australia
I’ll decide on a flavour. Our Ecuador cocoa has been
and the world.
paired with raspberries, their cocoa is malty and nutty
From the bean to the bar, Lucy runs her boutique chocolate company, Bennetto, from Christchurch in
so the sharp tanginess as a contrast works. I then work on the intensity of the cocoa.
a uniquely global way. It was while living and teaching
“Our flavours work better with a 60-70% cocoa and
in Dubai that Lucy’s passion was ignited.
because the origin is organic and Fairtrade I know it’s
“Teaching gave me the confidence to start a business. While I was in Dubai I bought myself a table top grinder
grown with a lot of care meaning no bitterness or rancidity.”
and started to make chocolate. I would experiment
Available in 400 stockists through New Zealand, 1500
with the help of the children in the classroom. We did
in Australia and countries around the world, as well as
chocolate workshops, I found it really fun.”
our very own Maggie’s Café, Bennetto chocolate is not
A love of travel and easy access to explore all of the
only delicious, the packaging is as unique as the taste.
wonders of the nearby countries helped her vision
“I wanted the packet to be pretty like a gift, even if it’s
take shape.
a gift to yourself. The birds we use are all chosen
“I started doing some trips during the school holidays. I went to the Dominican Republic which is when I really started to learn about the implications of cocoa. Fairtrade and the impact that cocoa can have on communities is what drove me.” These implications have shaped the care and precise way Lucy selects her cocoa origins and the importance of the ingredients she uses in her blends. “When I develop any new product I’ll always begin with the origin of the cocoa based on the impact. We’re currently working with three origins. The first one is
because they appear in the origin of the cocoa but we dress them up and have a bit of fun with it. Our artwork is created by Auckland watercolour artist Henrietta Harris.” “Each year in support of Forest and Bird we produce an original dark chocolate with bird of the year featured on the wrapper. This year it’s the pekapeka-tou-rea which is actually a long tailed bat, and that will be in stores in June.” Giving back and integrity are important values to Lucy in taking on the world of chocolate piece by piece.
from Peru, we have one from Ecuador, and Madagascar
“I am very proud that my table top chocolate can be
is the third origin. I’ll always work with an origin that
scaled up for global manufacture and we still don’t
I know has a story attached, it has communities, we
use emulsifiers, lecithin, any fillers or additives. I have
can name the co-operatives and we know where the
control from the bean to the bar and we are a 100% New
premiums we’re paying are going. We tell the backstory
Zealand company.”
of every bar on the inside of the wrapper.” And with a love of all things food, taste is of course also important to Lucy.
5
