simplifying the supply chain. Buying the
cacao straight from the farmers in Uganda,
there are fewer people involved in the
process, so more money goes straight to the
farmer. Rick explains it this way, "Say you
were working at McDonald's making $10
per hour, and someone tells you that you
are now making $50 per hour." That's the
impact that simplifying the supply chain can
have. In addition to buying these resources
and providing income to the farmers in the
community, Kyya also gives back 10% of the
profits to the community they're working
with.
"It took six months to make good
chocolate," Rick says. After watching YouTube
videos to learn and lots of experimenting,
Rick and Cindy bought a conch, which refines
the nibs within the cacao beans, and they
finally got a good bar of chocolate. Now,
Kyya offers chocolate from 30% (which
means sugar is added) to 100%, which is pure
chocolate with zero sugar added. There are
no flavors or additives, Rick explains, making
it a pure bean to bar chocolate. Each bar is
sourced 100% from the region it's named
after, meaning it is "single sourced." They
named their product Kyya, after the Greek
term "Kaia," meaning "pure." They sold
their first 20 bars to a local coffee shop in
Northwest Arkansas and now have products
in more than 25 stores in the area. In addition
to pure chocolate bars, Kyya offers syrups,
popcorn, cocoa powder and hot cocoa mix.
After Uganda, the farmers Rick works with
have expanded to cacao sourced from Central
and South America, Africa and Southeast
Asia (nine other countries). Bars are all
single-sourced, named after the region, like
Tanzania, Haiti or Costa Rica, among many
others. Look for Kyya locally in specialty
groceries, tea and coffee shops.
www.officialkidsmag.com • march 2021 • 39
Name: Kids Mag
4 x 2"
Customer Name: Natural Way
Ad Number: 022821NWR6441
www.naturalwayfoodgroup.com
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