Montezuma’s

How ethical and sustainable is Montezuma’s?

Appearing in The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table Montezuma’s is an Inverleith LLP brand that has not yet met our ethical benchmark. We hope that it will make the necessary changes in the future in order to meet our benchmark and operate as an ethical company. Montezuma could apply for The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Accreditation, whereby a detailed assessment would be produced and recommendations for future development towards ethical behaviour, this would increase customer confidence within the brand. Find out why ethical Chocolate is important and compare Montezuma to other brands in our Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table.

What does Montezuma do? 

Montezuma began in 2000 in Brighton by a pair of lawyers after they had camped out in a cocoa plantation. Montezuma now has export operations to 25 countries. Find out more about its story. Montezuma offers a range of products including chocolate buttons, chocolate bars, truffles and drinking chocolate. It also offers a Vegan chocolate range but this is not certified.

For which criteria does Montezuma perform poorly? 

Despite Montezuma’s progress, the brand still has other areas for improvement. The brand could improve by having more ethical products; the brand does currently offer Vegetarian and Vegan chocolate but this is n0t certified and Montezuma’s is also not a supplier of Fairtrade chocolate. By refusing to offer these products, Montezuma’s are not supporting the farmers of the cocoa beans and ensuring they receive fair compensation for their work; read more on why Fairtrade chocolate is important.

The brand claims that it offers Organic products but this has not been certified. Montezuma’s has a page dedicated to how they operate business discussing various issues, and while this delves into responsible sourcing, packaging and waste, it does not set out specific targets for the brand. This page does discuss important elements of responsible cocoa sourcing stating that no purchases will be made from sources that use child labour, slavery or impact on deforestation. This page includes important information but receives a middle rating as it does not lay out goals for the future.

In what areas does Montezuma’s score well for its ethics? 

Montezuma scores well in Animal Welfare, it has no link to Political Donations, no Armaments or Public Record Criticisms. On Montezuma’s webpage, the brand states that it does not use GMOs within its products.

How can Montezuma’s improve its ethical rating?

The Good Shopping Guide looks at three main research criteria, Environment, People and Animals, to calculate a brand’s ethical rating. To find out more about our research methodology, see our How We Rate page.

For Montezuma’s to qualify for Ethical Accreditation it must meet the minimum ethical benchmark set, the brand should set out targets to work towards to operate as ethically as possible as well as look into producing Fairtrade chocolate to ensure that the cocoa farmers receive what they deserve.

If you’re interested in how your company or brand could benefit from Ethical Accreditation, get in touch or fill out our initial assessment form.