Cacao futures in New York, Chicago, and London are traded primarily among major European and U.S. wholesalers that control the marketing of the commodity to the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. Some cacao cooperatives in Ivory Coast were going bankrupt because prices for their crop were not high enough to cover operational costs. Andy decided to investigate the possibility of marketing fair trade chocolate brands. He knew there were organizations in the United States and Europe promoting the marketing of a growing range of agricultural products from developing countries. The goal of these organizations was to take advantage of developed countries' increasingly conscious consumer market that wanted to do something about the perceived inequalities in the global marketplace.
Andy was determined to speak to his father about his newfound approach to doing business and incorporating the idea of fair trade in a new line of chocolate brand. Moreover, he wanted to suggest the possibility of internationalizing this line by offering it to chocolate markets in Central Europe; he was particularly interested in Belgium.