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How is coronavirus affecting your small chocolate business? FCCI has set up a flash poll to gather info to help the specialty chocolate community share, access, and advocate for resources that businesses need.
Please take a few minutes to respond: https://forms.gle/btxXk4MzkeDiLACc9
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COVID-19 updates from FCCI
Dear colleagues,
We announced via our social media channels last week that over the past month, we at FCCI have been working to cancel or postpone programming that requires domestic or international travel, as well as scheduled large gatherings. We have followed closely the research and guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic shared by the World Health Organization, expert advisers at our affiliate institutions of higher education, and medical professionals through our insurance company. We have suspended all in-person group programming through at least April 30. Our core team is working from home, and where possible and culturally appropriate, we are working to support our partners via distance learning. While we are fortunate to be healthy and safe, we want to acknowledge that the limitation, however necessary, of full participation in society of millions of people for months on end is not just an inconvenience. It is a catastrophe and we must address it as such.
We recognize that many small cacao and chocolate businesses are facing unprecedented interruptions to their operations, as are the governments, development organizations, and other entities that support them. In the interest of collaboration, FCCI has set up a flash poll to gather information to help the specialty chocolate community share, access, and advocate for resources that businesses need. Please share your experiences by 5 PM EST this Friday, March 20. As responses have come in to the poll in these early days, we have also created a living document with resources for small chocolate businesses. We welcome you to read and contribute anything that you would like to share with other members of the small chocolate business community.
We encourage our colleagues in the cacao and chocolate industry to consider seriously the responsibility that we all hold as professionals engaged with food and agriculture to protect the health and labor rights of others. We emphasize in particular the unequal movement of (un)healthy bodies through the supply chain. Highly mobile travelers from contaminated areas of Europe, North America, or East Asia should act immediately to avoid the introduction of risk to vulnerable cacao producing communities through their presence. We also note the importance of reviewing paid sick leave policies for those engaged in food production or service to avoid further spread of the virus. In times like these, we can all practice acting for the benefit of others and working in support of our collective care.
We will share updates to the above as they become available. In the meantime, we wish you all health and safety.
In solidarity,
The FCCI team
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As always, we invite you to be in touch; email contact@chocolateinstitute.org and someone from our team will respond to you as soon as possible.
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