UK Startup Win-Win Offers Chocolate Alternative Made From Fermented Rice
UK startup Win-Win makes a chocolate-like product by fermenting rice instead of cacao. Its representative Mark Golder says cocoa price volatility is pushing food makers to seek a more stable alternative.
Win-Win, a food technology startup based in the United Kingdom, is offering food manufacturers a chocolate alternative made from fermented rice rather than cacao. Mark Golder of the company recently spoke at the Future Food-Tech event in London, saying that sharp swings in cocoa prices make it hard for businesses to plan. Cocoa prices reached extreme highs in December 2024; they have since retreated somewhat but will not return to earlier levels, Golder believes.
Why cocoa has become a problem
Golder notes that 75% of the world's cocoa comes from two West African countries, both significantly affected by climate change. This has created a structural shortfall: the world produces less cocoa than it would consume as chocolate. Prices are also shaped by unpredictable weather, pests and disease, illegal mining, land degradation, aging trees and investor speculation. Cacao production is further linked to deforestation, a high water footprint and child labor.
Golder expects conventional cacao-based chocolate to become increasingly premium, with Win-Win serving everything else. The product cannot be called chocolate, as standards in many markets require minimum levels of cocoa-derived ingredients, but the aim is for most consumers to be unable to tell the difference.
Production and properties
Win-Win can be used as a straight replacement, worked into a recipe, or made as a hybrid alongside regular chocolate. The company says its carbon and water emissions are 80% lower than those of conventional chocolate. It works with contract manufacturers, and its process differs from traditional chocolate making only at the start: another raw material is fermented, while later steps largely stay the same, so existing chocolate factories can be used. According to Golder, customers need no changes to their manufacturing, whether enrobing, melting, stirring in or baking.
The company sells through distributors in the UK and Europe and acts solely as an ingredient supplier, leaving consumer products to partners.
