You've probably seen the headlines. Tariffs. Trade policy. Prices going up. And if you're a savvy shopper, you may have started wondering: are the companies I buy from pocketing savings while I still pay more?
Fair question. Here's our answer.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
For most of our history, Alter Eco has paid between 4.5% and 6% in tariffs depending on the product. That's the cost of doing business when you source the world's finest organic cacao and craft it into something worth eating.
Then, in a matter of months, the landscape shifted significantly. We were first hit with an additional 10% on top of our base tariff. Then that jumped to an additional 39%. It settled for a time, and today we are still paying an additional 10% on top of our base tariff rate, with no certainty about what comes next.
That's a meaningful increase, and we felt every bit of it.
WHAT WE DIDN’T DO
We didn't pass those tariff costs on to you.
Last October, you may have noticed that the price increased on our bars. That increase was driven entirely by the global cocoa crisis, which sent raw cocoa prices to historic highs and affected every brand in the chocolate category. Most of our competition took large increases in 2024 and 2025. We decided to spread that out a little and take much smaller increases both years to still provide a superior product at an affordable price. Tariffs were a separate hit, and one we chose to absorb internally.
That meant taking on debt to cover the gap. Not a decision we made lightly, but one we made deliberately. And, we want to be clear about what that means for a company like ours: Alter Eco is not a large corporation with deep pockets to cushion unexpected costs. The economic pressures happening in the world hit us the same way they hit individuals and families. Taking on that debt was a real decision with real stakes.
WHERE THINGS STAND NOW
We have applied for tariff refunds. We want to be honest with you: we don't yet know how much we may receive.
If we do receive refunds, here's what will happen with it: it goes toward paying down the loan we took on to cover these costs. And anything beyond that goes back into the things that matter most to us: Supporting our farmer partners, advancing our environmental commitments, and continuing to push the bar on sustainable packaging.
Not into margins or shareholder returns. Back into the mission.
WHY WE’RE TELLING YOU THIS
Because you deserve to know. Alter Eco has been a certified B Corp since 2009. Transparency isn't a marketing line for us. It's a practice.
We're not telling you this story to get credit for doing the right thing. We're telling you because trust is built in the details, and this is one of ours.
The chocolate is still worth it. The mission still stands. And we're still here, navigating an imperfect world while trying to leave it a little better.
Thanks for being part of it.
— Keith Bearden, CEO, Alter Eco Foods
