Our Live Long Gastronomy projects across the world
Inspirando una vocación project in Spain
In 2019, Valrhona Spain continued its commitment to the Raíces Foundation’s Cocina Conciencia program, which aims to get disadvantaged young people into work through professional gastronomy training.
The team had supported the program in 2018 thanks to Inspirando una vocación, a scheme which donated €1 for every sale from the Inspiration range, raising nearly €12,000.
In 2019, they decided to continue supporting the program financially to the tune of €3,000, but also to engage in a new way by setting up two pastry training courses for its young people led by École Valrhona chef Sandra Ornelas and customer Eugenio Moral.
They plan to go even further in 2020 by offering our customers the opportunity to welcome young trainees into their establishments.
L’Ecole makes a commitment in Japan
In Tokyo, L’École Valrhona has set up a number of initiatives to improve its environmental footprint. Over the last three years, they have avoided printing 3,500 recipe booklets.
Since 2018, they have introduced the use of reusable cups, banishing the disposable variety to the past, and they have also banned all single-use plastic items.
They monitor and reduce their water consumption needed to clean laboratories. They transport all the items they need for demonstrations in reusable crates, rather than disposable cardboard boxes. Last but not least, they communicate about all the actions they carry out at L’École in order to raise customers’ awareness when they take part in courses.
Project with Couleurs de Chine
The Valrhona China team opted to run its Christmas 2019 campaign in partnership with the Couleurs de Chine association.
They chose to work in the same way as the head office’s Christmas campaign for our education project in Ghana by donating 10 yuan to the association for every 3kg bag of Pure Origin Grands Crus sold.
However, they chose to focus on a more local project, as Couleurs de Chine runs projects to support education of minorities in the Danian region.
Isabelo project in South Africa
Our Middle East and Africa team has decided to invest in the Isabelo project founded by chef Margot Jense in South Africa in 2009.
The project’s aim is to provide food for elementary school students who arrive for the day with an empty stomach. It was our local partner, Wild Peacock, which suggested we join this adventure because its managing director, Ross Baker, had been impressed by the project and wanted to get the luxury brands he distributes involved.
Our initial approach was to create a custom chocolate for the project.
We were able to develop a unique chocolate whose cocoa flavor is simultaneously intense and harmonious, but also gets as close as possible to real taste of the African terroir as part of an exceedingly pleasurable experience.
But the most important part of this work was that Wild Peacock decided to give €2 for every kilo of the Isabelo couverture sold to the Isabelo project.
This is our contribution to future generations, and we are very proud to be part of this adventure.
Responsible demos and a plantation trip in Asia-Pacific
In 2019, our Asia-Pacific team worked exceptionally hard to make its pastry demonstrations environmentally friendly.
2019 saw eight demos in five cities: Hong-Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Sydney and Melbourne.A total of 725 customers took part.
The team made sure to banish all disposable plastic tableware items, including glasses, plates, cutlery and bottles.
They also used recycled trays and eco-friendly and recyclable goodies.
These events were also an opportunity to present Valrhona’s approach to CSR. The team also chose to invest the plantation visit to Bali they organized in August 2019 with the same ethos, ensuring no disposable plastic water bottles were used throughout the trip.
A CSR workshop was held for the customers in attendance to raise their awareness of what they can implement back in their own businesses.
Finally, CO2 emissions from participants’ air travel were offset through reforestation projects in partnership with Reforest’action.
Cuochi per un giorno festival in Italy
In October 2019, for the first time Valrhona Italy partnered with the Cuochi per un giorno (Chef for a day) event in Modena.
This festival is dedicated to children and gives them the chance to learn to cook alongside internationally renowned chefs.
Over two days there were several workshops in which more than 6,800 children were able to smell, touch, weigh, measure, knead, mix, shape and cook food.
The festival’s philosophy is not competitive, rather the little chefs are there to learn and have fun. This way they discover how to eat well and have a healthy relationship with food. The funds raised during the event are donated to Mission Bambini, which runs 1,600 projects supporting children in 75 countries.
Its spirit is perfectly in keeping with Valrhona’s own, and most particularly with our CSR policy’s approach to supporting culinary aspirations.
Valrhona Italy chose to partner with Cuochi per un giorno by inviting two pastry chefs, Gino Fabbri and Lucca Cantarin, to lead two workshops with the children, as well as by gifting chocolate to the participants.
