Barry Callebaut to use NotCo AI to develop chocolate recipes

By Paolo Laudani and Canan Sevgili

(Reuters) -Switzerland's Barry Callebaut said on Tuesday it would partner with Chilean start-up NotCo AI to utilise artificial intelligence in recipe development, as it battles high cocoa prices and weakening demand for its cocoa products.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Chocolate makers are looking for new ways to cut costs, including tweaking their recipes to use less cocoa, as prices of the raw material float near record highs, while the "Make America Healthy Again" movement spearheaded by U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr brings about new cost pressures.

KEY QUOTES

"This collaboration enables us to test how AI can enhance process efficiency and scale our innovation efforts," Barry Callebaut CEO Peter Feld said in a statement.

The company remains committed to traditional chocolate while exploring cocoa alternatives to boost resilience, global head of corporate communications Kai Hummel said.

The platform that NotCo developed, labelled Giuseppe, scans products to help identify and potentially replace certain ingredients, NotCo CEO and co-founder Matias Muchnick told Reuters in an interview.

It also analyses a database of thousands of ingredients that could be artificially simulated to find a replacement that results in something similar to the target ingredient, he said, adding that this way a company can "avoid the trial and error".

CONTEXT

Barry Callebaut is not the first consumer goods firm to use AI. NotCo's platform is used by Unilever's Magnum, one of Barry Callebaut's customers.

The start-up has also worked with Kraft Heinz and Nutella-maker Ferrero.

Oreo-maker Mondelez said last month it was using a new generative AI tool to cut costs for the production of marketing content by 30% to 50%.

BY THE NUMBERS    

Barry Callebaut, whose ingredients are present in one out of four chocolate and cocoa products consumed worldwide, did not specify what kind of financial benefit it expects from implementing NotCo's platform.

"While we see strong potential, it’s too early to guarantee specific outcomes," Hummel said.

(Reporting by Paolo Laudani and Canan Sevgili in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)