Start-ups reshape chocolate as Bühler honors innovators tackling cocoa shortages

Bühler has announced Foreverland Foods, Green Spot Technologies, and Kawa Project as the winners of the New Chocolate Challenge, an innovation program designed to catalyze the development and industrialization of cocoa-alternative ingredients.

The Challenge focused on three complementary innovation routes: plant-based or upcycled side-streams to deliver chocolate-like flavors and textures; biomass or precision fermentation to produce essential chocolate compounds (such as flavors and lipids); and cell culture approaches leveraging cocoa cells directly. 

Global cocoa prices have risen sharply, impacting the entire chocolate industry from growers and processors to brand owners and consumers. This volatility threatens product affordability and availability while intensifying scrutiny on resilience, sustainability, and ethical sourcing across the chocolate supply chain. Bühler’s New Chocolate Challenge was designed and executed to provide solutions to these challenges by bringing visibility and commercial viability to alternatives developed by start-ups working in the chocolate space.  

Following a rigorous selection process conducted by Bühler chocolate and innovation experts, along with participants from partner companies in the chocolate industry, three submissions were selected as winners. The announcement took place at a tasting event in Chicago, IL, where guests sampled chocolate creations made with the finalists’ alternative ingredients. They are as follows:  

• Foreverland Technologies for their ingredients crafted from climate-resilient crops. 

• Green Spot Technologies for their plant-based fermentation process that uses upcycled grape skins and fava bean fibers to create cocoa alternatives. 

• Kawa Project for their proprietary process that created cocoa alternatives from upcycled coffee grounds.  

The New Chocolate Challenge provided a structured pathway for innovators to develop and validate alternative chocolate ingredients – collectively termed “New Chocolate” – that can reduce pressure on conventional cocoa while enabling great taste and texture.  

“Cocoa price volatility is a wake-up call. Through our New Chocolate Challenge, we’re mobilizing the ecosystem to explore credible, scalable cocoa alternatives while leveraging existing assets wherever possible,” said Thierry Duvanel, Bühler’s North American Director of Innovation. “Our goal is to help the industry deliver outstanding chocolate experiences with greater resilience and sustainability.”  

The innovation journey

In August 2025, the New Chocolate Challenge, in collaboration with industry leaders Hershey, Cargill, Puratos, Nestlé, Mars, Nutriart, Barry Callebaut, and the IRCA Group, opened a global call for solutions – drawing over 50 submissions from innovative start-ups around the world. From the group of ideas, the challenge committee selected three start-ups to move forward to the next phase: testing of their products at Bühler’s Chocolate Application Center in Uzwil, Switzerland. 

In the Chocolate Application Center, experts from Bühler and the participating companies prototyped and tested the top three submissions to develop a pathway for a viable product from lab to industrial scale. This process addressed critical issues such as what impact novel ingredients have on the production process, whether existing assets for natural cocoa be used, and what adaptations are required. The resulting products were showcased, and all three winners were announced at the culminating New Chocolate Challenge tasting event.  

Bühler holds a leading position in cocoa and chocolate processing technology worldwide. Its long-standing industry expertise, coupled with a well-earned reputation for innovation and creating meaningful partnerships, positions the company to create real impact in an industry that is facing what could be an existential threat.  

The New Chocolate Challenge innovation program offered a unique perspective on the collaboration between established players and innovative start-ups in the sense that this gathered everyone around a common problem. Notably, the applications were from a range of plant-based platforms including upcycling side streams and fermentation. From here, the winning companies will continue their work in scaling and commercializing their solutions.