7 Key Areas Cocoa Can Help Create Stand-Out Snacks

From Ice cream and rich beverages, to delightful bakery items, summer is a time for treats. Whether at the beach, the park, on the go in the car, or at outdoor gatherings, convenience is key along with indulgent flavors and unique experiences. But along with decadent taste, interest in wellness driven sugar reduction and protein enhanced options is where food and beverage companies can really stand out.

How can cocoa, delivering the delicious chocolate experience consumers love, help you cater to those better-for-you driven consumer cravings?

It’s not news that cocoa powders range of color, flavor, fat and pH options can make or break your chocolate snack. But where cocoa can really drive sales is in 7 key areas. And 5 are all about functionality!

1. Natural cocoa: providing a cleaner label, it offers a range of colors from light to medium brown with warm reddish tinges in application, and delivers delicious fruity notes. Some powders, are crafted to deliver rich, intense chocolate notes with a hint of coconut, a mild roasted taste and medium bitterness. While others offer a delicate light brown and a strong classic and consistent taste profile: sweet and slightly bitter, with delicate, fine fruit notes which linger along with its strong cocoa taste. Plus some natural powders have been crafted with a delicious taste and clean label for wellness driven creations, but stand out with a unique darker color to allow more creation across bakery, cookies, cakes, desserts, ice creams and compound coatings.

2. Dutched/alkalized cocoa: in high overrun or high fat ice cream, where a rich chocolate color is ideal to communicate decadence, the color tends to be lighter. Across categories, an alkalized cocoa provides the darker color and intense fudgy flavor to really communicate indulgence at shelf, where consumers are “eating with their eyes”! Cocoa powders provide a broad palette for creativity. Choose from light, medium, high or engaging red to reddish brown alkalized.

3. Sugar Reduction: When it comes to sugar reduction in ice cream, darker alkalized cocoas can offer support in reducing the required sugar in the key balance between sugar and cocoa. While across bakery some less bitter cocoa powders are a great choice for innovation around low or no sugar creations.

4. Protein enhanced products are driving the market, tied into weight management for calorie control, satiety, post-workout recovery, building muscle and aging well5. When adding protein in beverages, bars, bakery or ice cream, cocoa supports creating rich flavors that can help cover off flavors, and can deliver the creamy mouthfeel consumers love. Focus on stronger flavored more highly alkalized cocoas in beverages. While in plant-based dairy beverages or ice cream, dependent on the type of alternative dairy products you are developing with, different cocoas can create optimal color, mask unwelcome tastes and deliver the best overall product. Think of mixing raw nut or soy milks with a light alkalized cocoa, strongly roasted nuts or oat with a dark alkalized and pea or hemp with a red alkalized, for optimal color and taste. Differentiate by calling out “made with real cocoa” or “double or triple chocolate” or specify the type of protein and any unique characteristics that can set your product apart from the competition. Phrases in the market range from “Sustained absorption” protein to “vegan protein” etc. What makes your formulation and protein unique to connect with your consumer?

Protein enhanced products: Recommended Cocoa & Plant-based Beverage Matches

5. Chocolate inclusions and compound coatings that crunch: in the May 29, 2025 “Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery³” article the consumer craving for crunchy foods is highlighted. Using chocolate chunks, chips, pieces of cookies, chocolate coated: nuts, pretzels, dried fruit or candy, can all drive consumers to your product for that unique textural experience. Dark black highly alkalized cocoas absorb more water, creating “crispier” or drier bakery items delivering more of a crust or bite. Additionally, in the US baby boomers are the highest cookie consumers: 23% consume 2-3 times/week (+4% 2025 vs. 2024) while Millennial consumption is growing the most at 21% on a base of 20% eating cookies 2-3times /week.4 The majority are driven by taste and secondarily as a reward/treat. Cookie sales are not influenced by better-for-you, but primarily by taste & textural experience. Use cocoa to create that crunch they crave!

6. Sustainability catering to consumers' interest in protecting the environment, human and animal rights all start with ingredients that are grown, produced and supplied sustainably. Choose items that allow you to make claims such as: “Rainforest Alliance” or “Fairtrade” making sure to explain what these mean in blogs, on pack, or in other communications to demystify the certifications impacts. Datassential² indicated in a December 2024 study of 2,000 consumer and 400 operator, that many consumers do not understand Fairtrade Certified (42%), Rainforest Alliance (34%) and Non-GMO Verified (36%). Many cocoa powders sold in North America can be certified either Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade, and some cocoa ingredient providers’ directly sourced cocoas can be traceable to the farm level.
Using organic cocoa powders, can also provide a point of differentiation with consumers. Look for sustainability programs with your ingredient provider that focuses on human rights, the environment and farmer livelihood. As an example, ofi utilizes residual cocoa shells, from its cocoa processing stream, as fuel in circular biomass boilers at six factories globally. All to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the environment. One ofi circular biomass boiler in the Netherlands is generating enough clean energy to warm 3,000 Dutch houses a year¹. 

7. Cost is a key driver across chocolate products as the supply of cocoa is tight driving high prices. When including the impact of various tariffs consumers are seeking relief from high inflation across categories. Look for cost-in-use reduction opportunities with potential cost savings.

For tips and tricks in development, exploring cost-in-use, and to support your sustainability messaging, connect with a deZaan cocoa specialist here: 

Sources: 5 https://www.innovamarketinsights.com/trends/top-food-trends-2025/
² Datassential: ** https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/27392-the-consumers-definition-of-value-is-changing (Dec 17., 2024)
³ https://www.snackandbakery.com/articles/113814-looking-at-the-multisensory-science-behind-snack-appeal

4 Innova 360 Category Report: Cookies in the US – April 2025

¹ https://www.ofi.com/news-and-events/press-release/olam-food-ingredients-turns-cocoa-shells-into-power-to-fuel-factory.html  

Two circular biomass boilers have entered operation at olam food ingredients’ (ofi’s) cocoa processing factories in the Netherlands and Germany, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The new roll-out adds to the circular biomass shell boilers used in ofi cocoa factories in Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Singapore. The boilers use cocoa shells, a by-product of the production process as fuel to generate steam for the processing of the cocoa ingredients.
https://www.ofi.com/news-and-events/news/powering-our-processing-with-cocoa-shells.html 

This article in Food Ingredients 1st explains how we’re using a global network of circular biomass boilers to reduce our carbon emissions and generate enough clean energy at our factory in the Netherlands to warm 3,000 Dutch houses a year1. Learn more here. https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/ofi-powers-up-cocoa-processing-factories-with-upcycled-cocoa-shells.html