A purpose driven brand first established in England now available in Australia. Ombar’s mission from the beginning is to change the way the world sees chocolate. From cheap, sugary junk food to a cacao rich, nutritious super bar. First established in 2007 after discovering that the humble cacao bean is a powerful superfood with an array of health benefits. Dismayed that chocolate had lost its way, Ombar vowed to champion good chocolate and put cacao back on top. From harvesting the cacao pods in Ecuador, right through to the production of Cambridge, the team at Ombar are close to cacao, sparking creativity and passion overall.
1. Welcome to the GBN Family! We’re very excited to be launching Ombar to the Australian market. Can you tell us a little bit about the Ombar journey?
Yes, we started in 2007 after I came to discover that cacao / cocoa – the key ingredient in all chocolate was a nourishing superfood. After wondering why chocolate was then so unhealthy, I set about making a chocolate bar that delivered cacao’s health benefits as well as being super delicious.
As we had no idea how to make chocolate or run a business (and we didn’t have any money!) it took a while to get things moving, but eventually we moved out of my kitchen and into a proper little chocolate factory. We’ve moved again since then into our awesome current chocolate factory near Cambridge, UK, complete with shiny Swiss chocolate machines!
Ombar has grown considerably over the years and is now sold in numerous independents and a number of larger grocers in the UK. We also export into 15 countries, mostly in Europe, and now in Australia!
2. Why was the creation of this brand and offering so important to you?
I think I’ve always had an affinity with chocolate, so it had a real impact on me experimenting with the raw material that chocolate is made from. I was fascinated by the effect – body and mind – of consuming raw cacao – it’s a great deal more potent that it gets credit for in regular chocolate. So I had the desire to share this experience in the convenient and indulgent form of a chocolate bar.
3. How does Ombar differ from other organic chocolate bars on the market?
Most chocolate brands do not make chocolate. It’s nearly all outsourced to a few manufacturers as making chocolate is not easy. In addition to making all our own chocolate from scratch, we go to the additional lengths of sourcing directly from farmer’s coops in Ecuador. Again, this is certainly not the easiest way to source ingredients, but for us it’s essential to be completely authentic and transparent in our approach and this was the only way to achieve it.
4. What was your product development process like and the creation of your flavour combinations?
We are a very innovative company and love to experiment. Our development process flowed from what we ourselves wanted to see on the market, so it’s been a fairly intuitive process in the past, but it’s led to a number of breakthroughs. For example, we were the first chocolate company in Europe to use coconut sugar in chocolate, and to use creamed coconut as a delicious vegan milk chocolate. More recently, we’ve pioneered a way of using a variety of germinated oats to create an indulgent vegan milk chocolate bar with super low CO2e emissions.
5. What has been the most challenging aspect of building the Ombar brand?
Being a food manufacturer sourcing ingredients from the other side of the world certainly has brought its fair share of headaches over the years! But ultimately, growing the business is down to having the right team. Without the right people in place, the business could lose a year if we’re not careful, so this has been a big learning. You’ll be pleased to know we currently have an amazing team in place!
6. The entire range is absolutely delicious, but do you have a favourite SKU?
Sometimes it’s whatever we happen to be making that day as I’m in the fortunate position to be able to sample fresh from the line and am nearly always happy with the result. But I do always find myself going back to Coco 60% which is one of our original flavours. It has the perfect balance of complexity from the cacao and creaminess from the coconut and coco sugar.
7. Ombar is now a B Certified Corporation. Can you tell us a little bit about this process and why this certification is so important to you?
We quite recently became a B Corp company following around 12 months of work to become certified. B Corp seemed to encapsulate in their standards what we aspire to being as a business and a brand. We do so much to try and have a positive impact and by becoming a B Corp, it’s given our aspirations structure and a road map to keep building on for the future. It also provides a recognisable mark for consumers to see which businesses are genuinely about more than profit.
8. We’re really excited to be launching Ombar to the Australian market!
Us too! It’s something we’ve eyed as a brilliant opportunity for a number of years so to see it finally happen has got us very excited. Let’s do this!