Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG

The family-owned company, founded in 1912 and headquartered in Waldenbuch, Swabia, with a second production site in Breitenbrunn, Austria, and subsidiaries in other international markets, employs around 1,750 people and generated sales of 505 million euros in 2021.
Because cocoa is the most important raw material for a chocolate manufacturer, the company has been involved in sustainable cocoa cultivation in Nicaragua for over 30 years together with cocoa farmers and their producer organizations.

Ritter has also been developing its own cocoa farm, “El Cacao,” in the Central American country since 2012. Since 2018 Ritter has been the first and so far only major chocolate bar manufacturer to exclusively source 100% certified sustainable cocoa for its entire range. The claim to operate in harmony with people and nature is firmly anchored in the corporate philosophy. A sustainability report documents the diverse activities of the family-owned company.

More information at: https://www.ritter-sport.de

Vision on the social effects

As part of the formative evaluation of BioVal, the scientific team together with Ritter Sport discussed at the beginning of the project what output and societal impact should be achieved with the transdisciplinary collaboration in the BioVal project. The “impact story” that was knitted here can be read here: Download