Dive Brief:
- Cofounders of the Mast Brothers Chocolate company have admitted to using "remelted" industrial chocolate in their earlier products. In the past, they have claimed to be a bean-to-bar chocolate company from the beginning, according to a New York Times report.
- Dallas-based blogger Scott Craig has targeted the brothers in a series of blog posts that questioned the authenticity of the Mast Brothers' bean-to-bar claims. The story was then picked up by other news outlets, including Quartz, and most recently the New York Times.
- "But on the claim that the Masts were 'remelters' at the start, Mr. [Rick] Mast confirmed the brothers did use industrial chocolate, what is known as couverture, in some of their early creations, before settling on the bean-to-bar process for which they are now known," the New York Times reported.
Dive Insight:
Rick Mast called the company's remelting phase "a fun experimental year" in his admission to the New York Times.
This confirms the suspicions that many in the artisan chocolate community held against the Mast Brothers. One prominent chocolate reviewer told the New York Times, "They have a great story. I’m not convinced that what they built there is on chocolate they made."
The Mast Brothers' story also calls into question the authenticity of similar claims made by other small, homespun companies making what they say are artisan products. Artisan companies are popping up in industries ranging from chocolate and cheese to beer and soda. These smaller companies are often trusted more by consumers, particularly millennials, than major manufacturers in terms of authenticity and transparency. This incident proves it's not just major manufacturers who are dealing with consumers' distrust.