Nothing quite beats a great company with a good product, does it? Chocolate is never usually far from my mind (yes, I enjoy it, but mostly because of the Chocolate Campaign), and so when I came across this article in the Independent I was intrigued to find out more.

The chances are that unless you frequent one of the five towns where they currently have a store, you are unlikely to have heard of Montezuma’s. Montezuma’s has grown since its beginnings in 2000 to a 60 person company with a targeted £4m turnover for this year. They don’t advertise, as they prefer to spend that part of their budget on charitable donations or events, and so strong is their sense of business ethics that they will not deal with any bar two of the supermarkets.

Their chocolates are so diverse they won’t be summarised! They range from bars of plain chocolate to chocoblocks, truffles and gift bags with flavours as diverse as lime, ginger and chilli or sweet paprika and strawberry. They can be bought in store or online, singly, as part of a monthly club, or in huge gift packs.

Monty’s don’t have fair trade certification and are very clear on their website as to why this is. They do claim however that every part of their chain, from farmer to consumer, is traded fairly and there seems to be no reason to dispute this. However, this is not the view of some and I can see their point: ‘With regard to what companies claim about their own labour practises; if there is no fairtrade label, it isn’t fairtrade. It is absolutely vital that the company agrees to independent verification – otherwise they can claim anything… we are wanting them to submit to independent verification so that everyone will know that there is a standard and it’s clear who has reached it and who hasn’t.’

If I were to pick up a Monty’s bar from a supermarket shelf I would have no idea that the cocoa used was from a well organised co-operative in the Domican Republic. Without independent verification how do I know that it is any different to the bar on the shelf next to it. I am looking forward to recognisable independent auditing bodies across the board, with the familiarity of the Soil Association and Fairtrade, that the consumer can look out for on the High Street in every area of retail.