International Chocolate Awards

What International Chocolate Awards does

International Chocolate Awards is a non-profit craft chocolate competition organization founded in 2012 and headquartered in London, with operational partners in Florence, Italy and New Jersey, USA. It operates as the largest global craft chocolate competition, running regional and national bean-to-bar and craft chocolatier competitions across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and cacao-producing countries, with regional winners qualifying for an annual World Final ceremony. The organization monetizes primarily through competition entry fees and professional site subscriptions to its entrant and judge portal at enter.chocolateawards.com, supplemented by partnership activity with parent organization the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting (IICCT).

The underlying technology consists of the IICCT Flavour Profiling System — a 100-point sensory scoring framework modeled on specialty coffee conventions — and a proprietary online judging platform that supports anonymized sample evaluation across multi-round selection, main, and Grand Jury stages. The 2023 mandatory origin traceability policy further builds a proprietary database of verified fine cacao sources. The Awards operate three co-founders in leadership roles (Martin Christy as Judging Director, Monica Meschini as European Partner, Maricel Presilla as Americas Partner) and a small 1-10 person staff.

The customer base comprises bean-to-bar chocolate makers, craft chocolatiers, and indirectly cacao farmers and cooperatives, with named winners spanning the UK, Denmark, Norway, Japan, Taiwan, Peru, Thailand, and beyond. Revenue is generated through event-driven transactional pricing (per-entry competition fees) and recurring professional portal subscriptions, with no disclosed financial figures, no venture or equity funding, and no formal legal entity structure publicly identified beyond the UK-anchored operating base.

Name

International Chocolate Awards

Legal name

International Chocolate Awards

Website

https://chocolateawards.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

International Chocolate Awards is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 that runs the world's largest craft chocolate competition, serving bean-to-bar makers, craft chocolatiers, and cacao producers through regional and annual World Final competitions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industry Awards and Competitions

NAICS

Chocolate and Confectionery Manufacturing (31135), Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing (3113)

SIC

Sugar & Confectionery Products (2060), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Confectionery Manufacturing (Chocolate, Candy, Gum) (AFAKAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Chocolate & Chocolate Confectionery (CRADABAA), Patisserie & Confectionery (Chocolate/Sugar Arts) (EDAOAKAD)

Keywords

• Craft chocolate competitions
• Chocolate awards program
• Bean-to-bar judging
• Chocolate sensory evaluation
• Cacao origin competitions

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Competition Entry Fees: Chocolate makers and chocolatiers pay entry fees to submit products for judging at regional, national, and World Final competitions. Entry fees fund the judging operations, logistics, and awards ceremonies.
2. Professional Site Subscriptions: Access to the professional website (enter.chocolateawards.com) for entrants and judges, providing competition management, entry submissions, and results reporting.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

International Chocolate Awards operates the world's largest craft chocolate competition, organizing regional, national, and annual World Final competitions for bean-to-bar chocolate makers and craft chocolatiers. Entrants submit chocolate products for anonymized judging across multiple rounds using the IICCT Flavour Profiling System, with winners receiving Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards across 40+ categories. The organization requires fully traceable cacao origin from all entries, supporting ethical and sustainable cacao farming.

Product overview

The International Chocolate Awards is a craft chocolate competition organization founded in 2012, operating as the largest global chocolate competition. The portfolio consists of regional Bean-to-Bar and Craft Chocolatier Competitions held across multiple geographic regions (Asia-Pacific, European, British, Americas, etc.), the annual World Final Competition bringing together regional winners, the World Drinking Chocolate Competition, and Cacao Country Support Competitions in Peru, Colombia, and Central America. Supporting the competitions is the IICCT Flavour Profiling System for standardized sensory evaluation and an online judging platform for anonymized judging.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bean-to-Bar Competition Regional and international competitions for chocolate makers who produce chocolate directly from cacao beans, evaluating plain origin dark and milk chocolate bars.
• Craft Chocolatier Competition Competitions for chocolatiers creating filled chocolates, bonbons, truffles, pralines, caramels, and other chocolate confections.
• World Final Competition Annual global championship where winners of regional competitions are judged together to determine the best craft chocolate in the world, held annually in November.
• World Drinking Chocolate Competition Competition celebrating craft drinking chocolate, evaluating hot and cold chocolate beverages made from fine origin cacao.
• Cacao Country Support Competitions National competitions in Peru, Colombia, and Central America supporting emerging fine origin chocolate sectors in cacao-growing countries.

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting (IICCT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe IICCT is the parent/mother organization of the International Chocolate Awards. It pioneers a flavour-led, sensory approach to assessing chocolate and developed the Flavour Profiling System used in all competitions. IICCT provides judge training and certification, produces educational courses, and oversees judging protocols. The Awards are run by independent international partners with years of experience tasting and evaluating chocolate.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• World Cheese Awards: Operated by the Guild of Fine Food, the world's largest cheese competition with global judging rounds culminating in a single World Final. Most analogous operational and revenue model to ICA in adjacent food category, demonstrating pathway for scaling sensory competitions.
• Cacao of Excellence: International awards program run by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT that recognizes quality cacao at the bean level, analogous to ICA's recognition of finished chocolate. Operates the Cacao of Excellence Awards at Salon du Chocolat, drawing from the same pool of origin-focused producers.
• Academy of Chocolate: UK-based non-profit that runs the most prominent competing international chocolate awards, including gold/silver/bronze medals for bean-to-bar and craft chocolatier entries. Direct competitor to ICA for entrants, judges, and brand cachet in the craft chocolate space.

Others

• Salon du Chocolat: Iconic global chocolate trade show circuit that hosts Cacao of Excellence and World Chocolate Masters competitions. Adjacent event/hub where ICA winners are showcased and where many craft chocolate market participants intersect.
• International Wine Challenge: Long-running international competition using standardized blind judging and medal tiers for wines. Conceptually analogous to ICA as an industry-anchored judging competition, useful as a benchmark for scale and revenue model though in a different beverage category.
• World Packaging Organisation - WorldStar Awards: International packaging awards analogous in structure to ICA's competition model. Relevant as a benchmark for how small, mission-driven awards organizations scale internationally through memberships and entry fees.
• Specialty Coffee Association (SCA): Industry association that administers Q Grader certification and the Cup of Excellence-style scoring system. Directly comparable as the specialty coffee equivalent of IICCT's sensory certification, including the 100-point scoring framework that ICA borrowed for chocolate.

Broad incumbents

• Guild of Fine Food - Great Taste Awards: Operates the UK's Great Taste Awards, the largest food and drink awards scheme globally, which includes chocolate categories. Comparable model (anonymized judging, gold-star ratings, entry fees) but covers broad food rather than specializing in craft chocolate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/chocolateawards
• Facebookfacebook.com/InternationalChocolateAwards
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chocolateawards
• Instagraminstagram.com/chocawards

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about International Chocolate Awards