Beyond cocoa prices: Why manufacturers are rethinking recipes for long-term resilience

Easing cocoa bean prices have not removed the incentive for food manufacturers to rethink their confectionery recipes. According to Kerry and Symrise, continuing uncertainty over costs and availability is making cocoa optimization a longer-term product development priority, with taste, functionality, and sourcing resilience determining which approaches can succeed. 

Speaking to Food Ingredients First, the companies describe complementary routes to reducing cocoa dependence, from targeted sensory solutions that support lower-cocoa recipes to fermentation technologies and alternative agricultural ingredients. 

For Anna Kosubski, category manager Sweet, EMEA, at Symrise, weather events, crop disease, aging trees, and concentrated sourcing regions continue to complicate the outlook.

“Therefore, we see manufacturers treating cocoa optimization as a long-term resilience strategy rather than a short-term response,” she says.

“In product development, this means creating more flexible formulations, exploring a broader range of cocoa qualities and origin combinations, and using targeted taste solutions to maintain the desired sensory profile with less cocoa.”

Regarding sourcing, she sees companies strengthening supplier partnerships, broadening their origin strategies, and managing risks more actively.

Reducing dependency, maintaining experience 

Francis De Campos Ferreira, Global Taste Portfolio director for Cocoa Extracts & Chocolate Flavor at Kerry, highlights a distinction between headline bean prices and the costs manufacturers face for cocoa powder.

“Although cocoa bean prices have eased from historic highs, pressure for producers has not disappeared. Cocoa powder remains particularly exposed, leaving manufacturers vulnerable to supply shocks.” 

“Changes in processing economics mean that cocoa powder now accounts for a greater share of the bean’s overall value, keeping powder costs inflated even as headline bean prices soften.”

He says this uncertainty is reshaping innovation and sourcing decisions.

“At the same time, chocolate remains one of the world’s most loved and recognizable taste profiles. For manufacturers, the challenge is not simply to reduce cocoa dependency, but to do so while preserving the rich and iconic experience that consumers expect.”

The focus on powder replacement is also evident in recent industry launches. Last week, we reported on Planet A Foods’ single-ingredient cocoa powder replacer, which targets bakery, desserts, fillings, and beverages. The company said application trials indicated replacement levels of up to 100% in cookies and muffins without processing changes.

Start with the application

Both suppliers emphasize that cocoa reduction begins with understanding what the ingredient contributes to a particular recipe.

“From our perspective, a disciplined, application-specific approach is essential,” says Kosubski.

Cocoa contributes flavor, color, and texture to finished products.“Practical measures may include flexible formulations, broader sourcing, closer supplier partnerships, hedging, and scenario planning.”

Symrise’s Cocoa Booster is designed to help manufacturers address the sensory consequences of reducing cocoa and accommodate a broader range of cocoa qualities.

“Our Cocoa Booster can address sensory gaps in cocoa-reduced recipes and enable greater flexibility in the cocoa qualities used. Sensory evaluation, processing trials, and regulatory and labeling checks continue as critical factors throughout development,” Kosubski explains.

Kerry also stresses the importance of testing each application, combining its fermentation capabilities with cocoa taste creation and development expertise.

“Beyond those technologies, Kerry can also leverage carefully selected agricultural raw materials that naturally deliver chocolate and cocoa-like taste profiles, providing alternative routes to build authentic cocoa character while reducing dependence on cocoa itself,” says De Campos Ferreira.

“As every application has unique requirements, reformulation and rigorous application testing remain essential to finding the right balance between cost optimization, supply resilience, product quality, and consumer expectations.”

Building cocoa character

Kosubski identifies a shift toward addressing specific sensory gaps rather than relying on broad masking approaches.

“We have designed our Symrise Cocoa Booster around the specific gaps created when cocoa gets reduced, such as cocoa impact, roasted notes, bitterness, mouthfeel, and lingering character, and have tailored it to the product base and application.”

“Our ambition aims at preserving or enhancing the overall taste experience while enabling lower cocoa use or greater flexibility in cocoa quality,” she says.

Kosubski also sees growing interest in combining cocoa with other plant-based materials, fermentation-derived ingredients, and advanced flavor technologies.

For Kerry, fermentation and alternative raw materials are central to its investment in cocoa solutions.

“By unlocking cocoa taste, mouthfeel, and rich dark chocolate notes from widely available agricultural raw materials, we enable manufacturers to reduce cocoa dependency without compromising the consumer experience,” says De Campos Ferreira.

“Our focus is on scalable, globally available ingredients that support long-term supply resilience and help avoid shifting today’s cocoa challenges to alternative crops.”Geographic availability and product scalability must be considered when evaluating cocoa alternatives.

Earlier this year, Döhler acquired Nukoko, combining the UK company’s fava bean-based chocolate alternative technology with its ingredients, flavor, and research capabilities.

More than a flavor replacement

Reproducing cocoa’s contribution requires manufacturers to consider the whole product, including processing performance and consumer expectations. 

“The central challenge of cocoa relates to its multifunctionality: it contributes complex flavor, color, fat functionality, texture, and strong consumer recognition. A convincing solution therefore goes beyond replacing a single ingredient,” says Kosubski.

“Products must taste authentic and balanced, economics must work at scale, and the product must comply with local compositional, labeling, and claim requirements.”

The importance of functionality extends to the fat phase. In May, AAK launched a cocoa butter equivalent designed for enrobing, addressing coating performance as manufacturers increase their use of cocoa butter alternatives.

De Campos Ferreira at Kerry praises cocoa as an “exceptionally complex” raw material, and stresses that its contribution cannot be replicated through one simple ingredient or technology. 

“Successful alternatives require an integrated set of capabilities that work together to reproduce taste, color, mouthfeel, and performance in the application.”

Avoiding the next supply constraint

Both interviewees caution that reducing cocoa dependence must be accompanied by scrutiny of the ingredients replacing it.

“Resilience must go into any alternative strategy from the outset. Manufacturers should assess geographic concentration, climate exposure, crop cycles, processing capacity, traceability, and potential regulatory changes for every new ingredient,” says Kosubski.

“Rather than offering a simple one-for-one substitution, we co-create application-specific solutions with our customers. Important safeguards include pilot volumes, clear quality specifications, contingency recipes, and regular supplier reviews.” 

She says a modular taste approach can allow recipes to evolve while maintaining sensory consistency. 

“In this way, cocoa reduction becomes part of a broader portfolio and supply-risk strategy rather than a standalone substitution exercise.”

De Campos Ferreira also emphasizes geographic availability and scalability when evaluating alternatives.

“Using ingredients that are not traded in the same way as cocoa can also reduce exposure to commodity-market volatility.”

“The goal is to avoid replacing dependence on cocoa with dependence on another constrained material, so alternatives should be assessed not only for sensory and cost performance, but also for geographic availability, scalability and long-term supply resilience.”