Puratos Grand Place Vietnam: happy farmers, healthy environment, delicious chocolate

In 1994, Belgian Gricha Safarian embarked on a crazy adventure in Vietnam: producing sustainable chocolate. With a boost from the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, he turned it into a real success story. During their state visit to Vietnam in April 2025, our royal couple visited his bakery school.

In March 2025, we met the Belgian entrepreneur Gricha Safarian at the offices of the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), which is closely linked with our FPS. His collaboration with BIO began 19 years ago, in 2006, and it has paid off! Today, his company Puratos Grand Place is the largest producer of chocolate for professionals in Vietnam, with a market share of no less than 60 to 65%.
 

Higher goal

Yet from the very beginning, he resolved not to pursue pure profit alone. “Profit is not evil,” he stresses. “It is the lifeblood of our company. But we tie it to a 'higher goal,’ creating a virtuous cycle: the profit fuels the higher goal, and that higher goal, in turn, fuels the profit.”

That higher goal is to create added value for the cocoa grower as well as for the environment. Safarian was instrumental in the creation of Cacao-Trace, a program that rewards cocoa farmers with bonuses for their cocoa beans and offers training to boost production (see below).

And that is all part of the Puratos Grand Place story, and this is not just a detail. “Today, you no longer sell a product, but a story,” Safarian explains. “You shouldn't tell people about the chocolate, but about how we make our product. And that’s where we stand out from our competitors.”
 

In love

But how does a Belgian entrepreneur end up making chocolate in Vietnam – a place where chocolate is less popular than in Europe? Back in 1985, Safarian started his chocolate company Grand Place in Belgium, and in 1993 he visited Vietnam. "The country was still very poor at the time," he recalls. "But I immediately fell in love with the people there."

This led to a bold decision. He moved with his family to Ho Chi Minh City to produce chocolate. Many thought it was a crazy idea. "The Vietnamese did not even have enough rice to eat.”

Safarian persevered, experiencing ups and downs. In 2001, he opened his first small factory in a rented building, employing about 20 people. He made chocolate from cocoa mass, a paste made from fermented cocoa beans that he bought.

BIO

“By 2006, my small factory was bursting at the seams”, he says. “I wanted to build my own factory but where could I find the money? The World Bank wouldn't consider anything under 5 to 10 million euros – and I only needed 650,000 euros. A bank in Belgium wouldn't lend for a project in Vietnam, and a Vietnamese bank wouldn't venture into a Belgian project.”

Fortunately, BIO crossed his path. In 2006, BIO was still in its infancy and they were receptive to his entrepreneurial dream. “It turned out to be a fantastic partnership,” he recalls with pleasure. “For the first three years, I only had to pay the interest, which allowed me to focus entirely on building the factory. When the actual repayments started – every 3 months – they remained flexible.”

BIO required extensive financial reporting. “Some employees complained about it, but it helped us improve: we got better. We also kept an open dialogue. I frequently returned to Belgium and regularly visited BIO.”
 

Grinder

His company became a success, but Safarian wanted to take things further. He dreamed of ‘complete vertical integration.’ In other words, he wanted to control the entire chain: from the cocoa bean to the chocolate bar. Plus, he wanted to do it all in Vietnam, which would be a first in the world.

To achieve this, he needed not only cocoa farmers who could supply high-quality beans but also facilities to ferment, sun-dry, and roast them. Additionally, a machine was essential to grind the roasted beans into a paste: the cocoa mass, which—after the addition of sweeteners and possibly milk powder—is turned into chocolate.

To make that dream come true he sought funding again in 2012. Once again, he turned to BIO. “BIO had grown a bit by then, the minimum amounts were higher, and they were stricter,” Safarian explains. “Even though my dream was leading me into uncharted territory, they believed in it. I received a larger loan – 1.5 million euros – and had to report more rigorously. The sustainability requirements were also high; for instance, we had to establish a sustainability committee. But it worked!”

Puratos also teamed up with him, resulting in a joint venture. This Belgian family-owned company is a worldwide leader in the bakery, patisserie, and chocolate industry. “I needed a strategic partner who shared my values – my higher goal – and I found that in Puratos.”

Cacao-Trace

That higher goal remains a key part of his business model. In 2008, Safarian launched the Cacao-Trace program. Today, Puratos has expanded Cacao-Trace to about ten countries. “With Cacao-Trace, we give cocoa farmers a bonus on top of the market price,” he explains. “Farmers commit to meeting specific quality standards and receive an extra 12 cents per kilo of cocoa beans. That quickly adds up to an extra two to six monthly salaries per year.”

In a sense, this made Safarian a pioneer for a living income. ‘Living’ means that farmers can support themselves and keep their businesses running. “But perhaps the most important element of Cacao-Trace is the training we offer. Cocoa trees are a labour-intensive crop, much more so than coconut palms. You need to know how to graft, how to prune the trees into the right shape, and to protect them from diseases with minimal pesticide use … The approximately 2,000 cocoa farmers who supply to me learn all of this during our training programmes. As a result they achieve significantly higher yields. The global average yield is about 400 kg per hectare per year, but my best farmers achieve 1,500 kg! This has an enormous impact on their income.” BIO co-funded the development of these training programmes and the testing of an agro-ecological farming model.

60 Days Chocolate

Safarian also wants to minimise his carbon footprint. “Transport, in particular, is responsible for the large carbon footprint of regular chocolate. The beans are shipped to one country, for example, to be ground into cocoa mass, then processed into chocolate for professionals in another country, and so on. The process from bean to end product spans about 12 to 16 months. My best, carbon-neutral product – 60 Days Chocolate – takes only 2 months! On average, I manage 4 to 6 months.”

The brief time between cocoa bean and chocolate also results in more intense flavours. “After all, you avoid oxidation at various stages in the process.” By the way, Safarian can already take pride in his delicious chocolate, achieved by subtly fermenting the beans, including in acacia wood barrels.
 

Birthday cakes

By now he already has sales points in Vietnam and Cambodia. He exports his cocoa mass to Puratos in Belgium, but his products are also purchased by the USA, Spain, Japan, and China. A feasibility study for this export was partly funded by BIO.

“The tropical climate of Vietnam isn't really suitable for chocolates; they would melt too quickly,” he says. “My chocolate is mainly used for ice cream and chocolate cookies. And of course, for the popular birthday cakes. With 100 million inhabitants, that means 100 million cakes a year!” His customers include hotels, restaurants, bakeries, patisseries, and supermarkets.

Safarian seems a bit surprised that his business keeps thriving and that his market share of 60-65% remains unchallenged. “I was lucky to be the first. And BIO was very helpful. For now, I don't see any competitors. Eventually, they will appear, but that's healthy. Bring it on.”