Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG reports a slight increase in both volume and sales for 2023. Sales rose by five percent to 565 million euros (2022: 538 million euros). This means that the family-owned company continues its positive development of recent years in a challenging market environment.
While Ritter had to accept a slight decline in sales in its domestic market of Germany due to temporary delivery stops, numerous foreign markets such as Austria, Italy, Denmark, and Great Britain continued to develop well. The company's export quota from Waldenbuch in Swabia thus rose to around 60 percent in 2023.
The 2023 result is no cause for jubilation, but it is quite satisfactory in view of the challenging business environment, explains Ritter CEO Andreas Ronken, who has clear goals for the current year: "We still see considerable growth potential internationally, which we will exploit." For example, the family-owned company recently founded its own marketing subsidiary in the USA and thus intends to intensify its work on the North American market in the future. "With Ritter Sport Duo, we are once again demonstrating our innovative strength, which, together with our willingness to make bold, unconventional decisions and a clear compass, forms the cornerstone for sustainable growth," Ronken continues.
Demanding Procurement Strategy for Energy and Cocoa
According to Ronken, cocoa procurement and energy supply are of central importance for the future viability of the family-owned company. Ritter consistently pursues its own strategy in both areas and was able to make significant progress last year. With the commissioning of two of its own wind turbines in Münchberg, Bavaria, and a four-hectare solar park in the Regensburg district, the company has taken further steps towards its own energy turnaround and is now able to cover over 50 percent of its electricity requirements with self-generated energy from renewable sources. The company, known for its ecological commitment, has pledged to reduce its emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) by 42 percent compared to 2021 by 2030. This ambitious goal was successfully validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2023. The investments in the transformation process to climate neutrality within the company's own value chain are an investment in the future for the family-owned company and a contribution to the fight against climate change, which is already being felt significantly in cocoa-growing countries today. Climate-friendly, sustainable cultivation methods are therefore also a focus of the cocoa programs that Ritter has established in all countries from which the company sources cocoa. With its long-term partnership model, Ritter focuses on direct cooperation with cocoa farmers in Latin America and West Africa. All cocoa for Ritter Sport chocolate is traceable back to the producer organization. By 2025, Ritter wants to ensure traceability down to the individual farm.
Market Leader for Vegan Chocolate Bars and Innovation Driver
The Cacao-Nica program, with which Ritter has been promoting sustainable cocoa cultivation in Nicaragua for over 30 years, is a prototype for this type of partnership-based cooperation. Today, around 3,000 farmers in the Central American country supply cocoa to the German chocolate manufacturer, which uses Nica cocoa, among other things, for its vegan range. At the beginning of this year, Ritter introduced Crispy Cookie, the sixth vegan variety, and has been the market leader in the vegan chocolate bar segment in Germany since 2023. The family-owned company hopes for a similar success story with a world first also launched at the beginning of 2024: With Ritter Sport Duo, the company presents the first chocolate bar that combines two varieties. Four bars, eight varieties - variety redefined.
In view of the currently high cocoa and sugar prices, Ronken does not expect 2024 to be a quiet year either, but is still optimistic: "Precisely in unsettled times, it becomes clear that our strategy of long-term, partnership-based supplier relationships is right. This type of close cooperation means that our supply chains are more resilient. This ultimately benefits everyone involved."
About Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG
Founded in 1912, the family-owned company with headquarters in Waldenbuch in Swabia, a second production site in Breitenbrunn, Austria, and subsidiaries in other international markets, today employs around 1,900 people and generated sales of 565 million euros in 2023. As the first major chocolate bar manufacturer, Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG sources exclusively certified sustainable cocoa for its entire range, which includes the Ritter Sport and Amicelli brands. Since 2020, Ritter has been a carbon-neutral company -