If necessity is the mother of invention, then the world’s biggest industrial chocolate maker is getting a crash course in creativity.
Barry Callebaut has struck a partnership with Chile’s NotCo AI, hoping that machine-driven recipe development can soften the blow of record cocoa prices and muted demand.
According to Reuters, the Swiss group is under pressure on two fronts: raw-material costs that remain stubbornly high and a broader consumer shift towards healthier eating in the United States.
That has chocolate makers hunting for ways to use less cocoa without compromising taste. Artificial intelligence, Barry Callebaut believes, may offer a route through.
Chief executive Peter Feld said the tie-up would allow the company “to test how AI can enhance process efficiency and scale our innovation efforts.”
While the group insists its traditional chocolate recipes are not being abandoned, executives say they are exploring cocoa alternatives to strengthen resilience.
NotCo’s platform, known as Giuseppe, scans products to identify ingredients that might be replaced and trawls a vast database to suggest simulated substitutes.
The aim, chief executive Matias Muchnick said, is to reduce “trial and error” in the development kitchen.
AI is becoming a popular tool across the sector. NotCo already works with Unilever’s Magnum, Kraft Heinz and Ferrero, while Mondelez recently deployed its own generative system to cut marketing costs, the Reuters article reveals.