Green & Black's was founded in 1991 by Craig Sams and his wife, Josephine Fairley, the magazine editor and widely-published journalist. The name was derived not from any founders' surnames, but from a wordplay — "Green" standing for the environmental concerns of the founders, and "Black" for the high cocoa solids chocolate they wished to provide. In 1994, the company began purchasing fairtrade cocoa from Maya farmers in Belize for the Maya Gold chocolate bar, and was awarded the 1994 Worldaware Business Award for good business practice, as well as the UK's first Fairtrade mark The company has a small office in Punta Gorda, Belize. In May 2005, Cadbury Schweppes (now Cadbury plc) bought Green & Black's for an undisclosed sum, estimated to be around £20m. Cadbury has pledged to run the company as a separate business.

External links

• Green & Black's
• BBC News: Cadbury gobbles up organic rival (13 May 2005)
• The Guardian: interview with Craig Sams (16 May 2005)
• The Observer: How a £1.50 chocolate bar saved a Mayan community from destruction (28 May 2006)
• http://www.craigsams.com

Notes