Pam Thornton is a seasoned cocoa and coffee trader with extensive experience across the global cacao supply chain. In 2024, she launched Wow Cacao, a sustainable cacao water drink that upcycles cacao pulp into a refreshing beverage.
With a background managing export operations across multiple regions and a decade at the Armajaro CC+ Commodity Fund, Pam brings deep expertise in commodity markets and supply chain transparency. Pam continues to shape the future of cacao through her consultancy, investments, and commitment to sustainability.
- Your experience spans the entire cacao supply chain, from farm to production. Can you walk us through the supply chain process for Wow Cacao, from sourcing the cacao pulp to delivering the final product to retailers?
For most of my career as a cocoa trader it was inconceivable that the delicious cocoa pulp would ever be available to anything other than a very local market. Things changed about 10 years ago when, with the widespread cultivation of a specific clone-CCN51, farmers in Latin America were required to drain off some of the surplus juice in order to properly ferment their beans for sale to chocolate makers. Collection and then separation of the juice-initially for use as a natural sugar replacement-began. Our supplier in Ecuador, a long-time friend and supplier of fine quality cocoa, now collects wet beans (beans plus pulp) from a number of large scale farmers on a daily basis. Farmers break open the pods early in the day when temperatures are at their coolest. Once opened, the fermentation process begins as the natural sugars and enzymes in the pulp interact with the solid beans so it is important to quickly evaluate the wet beans for any off-flavours, damage and sweetness. Approved “baba” is then sent to a facility where a small amount of juice is pressed out of the pulp, pasteurized and immediately frozen. The rest of the pulp containing the beans continues to a fermentation station where the beans are prepared for export to Europe and Japan. We buy the juice directly from the exporter, import the frozen juice into the UK and bottle here, most recently in Dudley at a SALSA certified facility. The nutritious juice in its pure form is really rather sweet and cloying so we dilute it to enable drinkers to enjoy the tropical, slightly tart taste in a thirst-quenching and refreshing format.
- Upcycling cacao pulp into a hydrating drink is an innovative approach. How do you ensure the sustainability and ethical sourcing of the cacao pulp used in Wow Cacao, particularly considering your deep roots in supply chain management?
Yes we upcycle a product that until recently would have just run off into the soil but that’s not enough to sell a drink. There are 2 elements that I consider vital – a clean supply chain and consistent product quality. Although I would have loved to source from West Africa, it doesn’t have the infrastructure to provide the product consistency that we require for a branded drink. It’s one thing if you are selling a fresh juice locally but when you are competing far away, in a sophisticated developed drinks market your buyers expect the drink to taste the same every time.
Ecuador has the infrastructure, including a large number of modern and professionally operated farms. The US Department of Labor considers Ecuador a low risk country from a workers’ human rights perspective and while it has had some deforestation issues in the Amazon all our source farms are in a semi-arid area previously used for rough grazing so not subject to deforestation. We consider the supply chain to already be EUDR compliant, well ahead of the 2026 implementation date for the EU. But this doesn’t mean to say we are complacent. Our supplier has a sustainability team that visit all the farms on a regular basis as part of its global cocoa supply obligations and we personally make random inspections on top.
- Transitioning to glass bottles and introducing a sparkling version of Wow Cacao are significant developments. How do these changes impact your supply chain, particularly in terms of transportation, storage, and sustainability?
Turning the juice into a drink was far harder than we thought. We considered a PET bottle the optimal medium for an “on the go” drink but there were very few available options. We eventually found a bottler but had no choice on the shape, size or type of sleeve. Given the inevitably fairly high price tag we had a lot of feedback telling us that people loved the drink but that the packaging didn’t look sufficiently premium.
Not having other available PET options we have switched to glass and a more refined appearance. Glass lends itself more to drinking in a café, bar or at home but the intention is to hopefully also bring back a more portable PET version for “on the go” athleisure consumers to give them a choice. The drink can be stored in both the PET and glass formats though we recommend drinking it chilled. Shipping glass is both more costly and complex than the PET equivalent.
- Having managed export operations across diverse regions, what specific challenges do you face in sourcing cacao pulp for Wow Cacao, and how do you ensure quality consistency across different origins?
As mentioned above, consistent quality is my key goal so sourcing from a myriad of small suppliers with little control over how far the fermentation process has progressed, did not seem viable to me. A single, direct, well-established source for the juice was my #1 objective. This was easy given my knowledge of the suppliers and the origins. Far harder is finding the right bottler at a suitable price point and then the whole mystery of distribution and marketing to stores which are a lot more fragmented than the BTB model I am used to.
- Your career has involved promoting traceability in supply chains. How does Wow Cacao implement traceability in its production process, and how important is this to consumers in the food and drink manufacturing industry today?
Traceability is a 21st century concept. In cocoa it had nothing to do with food safety concerns but was initially a response to negative media reports about child or forced labour being used in cocoa farms in West Africa. It then evolved into environmental concerns especially over deforestation. But a lot of traceability and marketing claims are hype, and often false. We will focus on direct sourcing of high quality ingredients from trusted suppliers with whom we have long-term relationships. We know the farms behind the juice. I think traceability is important to consumers but price is becoming increasingly dominant in these inflationary times. Many large multinational companies are back pedalling on their sustainability commitments as a result. Nothing has or will change for us. We aim to deliver an ethically and transparently sourced, healthy drink that has great taste and, while not cheap, is reasonably priced given its provenance.
6. With your background in analysing market dynamics, how do external factors such as climate change or geopolitical shifts influence the cacao supply chain, and how does Wow Cacao adapt to these challenges to maintain production?
The cocoa price has defied gravity the last 12 months rising from $2500/mt to $11000 so yes it is definitely a challenge. Chocolate is going to revert to being the luxury item that it was 30 years ago. The cause of the rise is partially down to climate change, with drier than normal conditions accelerating the incidence and veracity of a serious viral disease in the main global producing region. We now have a long-term problem similar to that experienced by the orange groves in Florida with a disease called citrus greening. The chocolate industry has done a good job expanding the market for chocolate based products while prices were low but the pendulum has swung and we now need to adjust by conserving cocoa (which the price will do), using less and working on ways to improve farmer yields. I expect Ecuador and Brazil to gradually resume leadership of global production so although we expect turbulent years ahead we are hoping we are at least in the right place.
