This is who comes up with Tony’s flavours
Caramel sea salt, white-lemon-poppy seed… I have a fetish for Tony’s Chocolonely flavours (and I think the whole of the Netherlands does too). How do they come up with them? We asked Ingeborg van Dam, who is in charge of the flavours at Tony’s. ‘The craziest combo? Milk chocolate with fried egg and bacon. Never again.’
Everyone on Team Tony’s gets their own Tony’s name. Ingeborg was given the fitting name Favor Flav. Just as much of a foodie as we are and busy with chocolate all day. What a dream job. We already have the name. Fancy swapping places for a day?
What do you do within Team Tony’s?
‘I’m a product manager. That means I’m responsible for Tony’s portfolio. I research how familiar people are with our mission: making chocolate 100% slave-free. Awareness is growing all the time. I also work on new products with the marketing team and look at where there are still gaps in the market. And yes, that naturally includes new flavours too.’
Where do you get inspiration for new flavours?
‘Inspiration can really come from anywhere. Someone from the team may have eaten a delicious dessert on holiday. Or we may have eaten something ourselves. We once went back to a restaurant for the recipe for a dessert. We thought, we should try making that into a bar. We’re always open to input and sometimes try out very strange things.’
What’s the craziest combo you’ve ever tried?
‘When you start working at Tony’s, you begin with an introductory period during which you can make your own flavour. Someone once made a bar with fried onions. It was okay, but had an unpleasant aftertaste. The craziest combo was fried bacon with egg. I tried that one too. But never again. An intern once made a bar with grasshoppers, too. I didn’t try that one. I’m not that brave.’
Fan mail galore. Do you also get lots of crazy combos from that?
‘We certainly do. Usually from imaginative children. Sherbet sprinkles with chewing gum is probably the most exciting one I’ve heard. Unfortunately, that’s a bit difficult, because you swallow chocolate and chew gum. The flavours often aren’t really workable. We also sometimes get requests from people for flavours we’re already developing at that moment. Then it’s fun to say something like: “How funny, stay tuned, more coming soon.”
Once you’ve come up with a flavour, what happens next?
‘Developing a new flavour can take up to a year. We absolutely want it to be the tastiest. No flavourings in the bar. And only pure products. We brainstorm flavours, and the best ones go through to the next round. We make the flavours in the chocolate kitchen. And then we taste, taste and taste. During some sessions we eat as many as twenty pieces of chocolate, until you’re sitting in the chocolate kitchen feeling slightly nauseous. It’s really a process of trial and error.’
Do some flavours never make it onto the shelves?
‘Yes, most of them, actually. We always want all the flavours to be just right. For each bar, we usually try dozens of versions before arriving at a good flavour.’
And don’t you ever get tired of chocolate?
‘Haha. Luckily, those sessions in the chocolate kitchen aren’t every day. But yes, when I come home after a day like that, I don’t eat any chocolate. Even though I’m the biggest chocolate fan there is.’
You now have Tony’s Unlimiteds, where everyone can make their own bar. How did you decide which ingredients would go into the chocolate machine?
‘Of course, we looked at what chocolate fans would like in their bar. We get an incredible number of ideas from chocolate fans and wanted them to be able to experiment with flavours that we might not come up with ourselves so quickly. Everyone can now make their own flavour. Even white chocolate with sea salt and aniseed sprinkles.’
And what will we absolutely never find in the chocolate machine?
‘Definitely no drugs or alcohol. So nothing that requires you to be eighteen or older. No insects. Rapper Typhoon once made a weed bar for the occasion of Tony’s FAIR. That’s unlikely to happen again anytime soon. Other than that, it’s mainly technical things. Products that are too large can’t go into the machine. Popcorn, for example.’
How do you experience the Tony’s Chocolonely hype yourself?
‘I notice it everywhere I go. At parties, at the dentist’s. When people ask me where I work, I always say very cautiously, “at a chocolate brand.” When they then ask where and I answer Tony’s, it can easily become the subject of the rest of my dentist appointment or the evening. And it really goes like: “Oh, have you heard? She works at Tony’s!” And that’s really great. You can really tell that it appeals enormously to people. If you say you work in insurance, it doesn’t mean much to people. But everyone knows Tony’s. And everyone has an opinion about it.’
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