2026 is not about trends.
It is about truth.
For years, the word “handcrafted chocolate” has been stretched, twisted, emptied of its meaning. Used everywhere. Verified nowhere.
In 2026, we say stop.
We are done with the lie of “handcrafted chocolate” made from industrial blocks, melted, reshaped, and sold with a beautiful story.
Melting chocolate is not making chocolate.
Repeating this may sound obvious, yet today it has become necessary.
The confusion is convenient. And profitable.
Across Brussels and far beyond, brands call themselves artisans while operating like multinationals: dozens of stores, central factories, standardized recipes, outsourced production, and marketing teams larger than their workshops.
Some sell thousands of tons per year and still claim craftsmanship.
Some have never produced chocolate in Belgium at all.
Some use Belgium as a showroom, while profits are made elsewhere.
Craftsmanship is not a label you print on a bag.
It is a process. A responsibility. A risk.
What makes a real chocolate maker?
You don’t become a chocolate maker because you own a tempering machine.
You become one because you transform cacao beans into chocolate.
Because you understand:
- fermentation and its failures
- drying and its consequences
- sourcing and traceability
- pricing and farmer livelihoods
- logistics, loss, and risk
Bean-to-bar is not a trend.
It is work.
Most who claim craftsmanship today have never done it.
The missing link: cacao origins
Many have never met a farmer.
Never walked a plantation.
Never experienced a failed harvest, a fermentation gone wrong, or the reality of fair payment.
They buy from the same industrial suppliers that exploited cacao for decades, and now hide behind greenwashing, certifications used as marketing tools, and buzzwords designed to reassure consumers.
Cacao is not a raw material like any other.
It is agriculture.
It is culture.
It is human labor.
Reducing it to a storytelling element is disrespectful to farmers and to consumers alike.
A system that protects itself
This system does not exist by accident.
It protects itself:
- same faces
- same networks
- same events
- same promotions
Public institutions and tourism bodies look away.
Verification is rare. Criteria are unclear.
Visibility is granted based on comfort, not truth.
Meanwhile, real bean-to-bar makers in Brussels are ignored,
despite doing the hardest part of the job: transforming cacao into chocolate, transparently and locally.
We refuse this silence.
Silence always benefits those who have something to hide.
It protects comfort, habits, and systems that prefer not to be questioned.
It allows confusion to persist, words to lose their meaning, and consumers to be misled without realizing it.
Truth, on the other hand, benefits everyone else; farmers, artisans, institutions, and customers alike.
Truth creates clarity. It restores trust. It forces responsibility.
In 2026, we choose to speak.
Not loudly, not aggressively, and not emotionally; but calmly, factually, and openly.
We choose explanation over accusation, transparency over slogans, and facts over stories.
Because real craftsmanship has nothing to hide, and nothing to fear from the truth.
In 2026, we will:
- say exactly where our cacao comes from
- show how our chocolate is made, step by step
- clearly explain the difference between melting and making
- defend farmers, not marketing decks
- demand transparency from institutions and policymakers
This is not about attacking brands.
It is about restoring meaning.
Real craftsmanship has limits, and that is its strength.
Real craftsmanship cannot be scaled endlessly.
It cannot be outsourced without consequences.
It cannot be optimized like an industrial process.
And it cannot be faked forever.
The truth always resurfaces.
Our position is simple:
No influencers.
No shortcuts.
No industrial chocolate in disguise.
Just cacao.
Just work.
Just truth.
2026 is the year the curtain falls.
We are ready. 🍫🔥
