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Keylink partners with Win-Win
Win-Win Partners with Keylink: An Update from our Managing Director
By Sanjeev Ramchandani , Managing Director
10th February 2026
Over the past few years, the chocolate category has entered a period of structural change. Climate volatility, ethical scrutiny and extreme price movements are no longer occasional disruptions — they are becoming defining features of the market. For manufacturers, chocolatiers and bakers alike, this has made cost control, supply resilience and responsible sourcing more challenging and business critical than ever.
At Keylink, our role is not only to supply ingredients, but to help our customers navigate these challenges by identifying credible, workable alternatives that protect quality while future-proofing margins. With that in mind, I am delighted to announce that Keylink has been appointed as the exclusive UK distribution partner for Win-Win.
Win-Win, inventors of the UK’s first cocoa-free chocolate alternative, have developed a range which looks, tempers, bakes, snaps and shines just like real chocolate. Using rice as its base ingredient, instead of cocoa beans, Win-Win uses a combination of precision fermentation and traditional chocolate processing to transform abundant, readily affordable ingredients in much the same way as cocoa beans are transformed into chocolate.
The result is a product which is surprisingly close to real chocolate in terms of taste and sensory profile; Win-Win is indistinguishable in a broad range of applications, including cookies, cakes, pastries, ice cream and desserts. It contains non-hydrogenated RSPO palm oil and Cocoa Butter Equivalents (CBEs) and therefore tempers like conventional chocolate at 29-30°c.
Win-Win’s mission is to create a tastier, more ethical and sustainable future for chocolate. Based on analysis through Carbon Cloud , Win-Win products generate up to 80% less CO2 emissions and consumes 80% less water when compared to conventional chocolate production, with no child labour or deforestation involved, plus 35% less land usage overall than conventional chocolate products.
As I have shared already, one of Win-Win’s equally strong propositions is as a cost-effective hedge against future cocoa price volatility and poor supply. Their products are made from freely available ingredients which means they are not affected by viruses, pests or climate change. This effectively guarantees cost and supply stability.
Over the last couple of years, we have witnessed unprecedented fluctuations in the price of chocolate which have put huge pressure on margins for so many of you, especially those locked into longer-term supply contracts. Structural challenges for cocoa farmers mean that this price volatility is more than likely to persist in the future too.
As evidence of the growing trend to find ways to mitigate this volatility, you only have to look at what the majors are doing: Cargill has partnered with Voyage Foods to promote a chocolate alternative made from grape seeds; Callebaut are partnered with ChoViva (sunflower seeds) and are exploring lab-grown cocoa; CSM Ingredients has launched Nuaré (carob); Mars is experimenting with gene editing to develop more resilient cocoa varieties and Mondelez is working on sustainable, lab-made cocoa butter.
Which is why we, at Keylink, have chosen to partner with Win-Win. We believe that Win-Win offers an all-round excellent product that is closer in taste to couverture than compound, that is very workable and easy to use, and supports long-term price stability, sustainability and ethical credentials for all.
We’re excited to add Win-Win’s innovative products to our range and look forward to working with you to explore how these versatile alternatives can add value to your product range and broaden your repertoire, especially in bakery applications where effective cost control is paramount.
Product Range and Pricing
|
| List Price | Launch Price* |
SCC7000 | Win-Win Cocoa-Free Dark Choc Alternative; Easymelt Chips; 10kg Bag | £97.76 | £83.10 |
SCC7002 | Win-Win Cocoa-Free Milk Choc Alternative; Easymelt Chips; 10kg Bag | £99.04 | £84.18 |
SCC7004 | Win-Win Cocoa-Free White Choc Alternative; Easymelt Chips; 10kg Bag | £99.52 | £84.60 |
SCC7008 | Win-Win Cocoa-Free Milk Choc Alternative Bakestable Drops; 10kg Bag | £99.84 | £84.86 |
To mark the launch of Win-Win, we are offering a 15% discount on the list price for 6 months until 31st July 2026. All our usual order value and price band discounts will apply to these special launch prices as normal.
If you’d like to explore the possibilities of using Win-Win products in your range, please get in touch with your account manager or contact our Customer Service team on 0114 245 5400. We would be very happy to provide samples, technical guidance, assist with recipe development and application testing.
An Update on the Cocoa Market
Having touched on volatility several times above, this blog would not be complete without a market update!
You can see from the chart that cocoa prices have been trending steadily downwards for the past 12 months, losing 65% over this period with the sharpest percentage declines happening in just the last few weeks. At the time of writing, the price is a little under £3100 / MT, which is a fraction lower than it was back at the end of 2023, just before its dramatic rise and subsequent volatility.
In 2023-24, a particularly strong El Niño event brought catastrophic weather to West Africa’s cocoa belt. December 2023 saw rainfall more than double the 30-year average, causing widespread black pod disease. This was followed by severe drought in February 2024 — a devastating whipsaw effect typical of El Niño that decimated the harvest. 2024 was also the hottest year on record, adding higher temperatures into the mix. Coming off the back of consecutive deficit years (where global consumption exceeded production), panic gripped the market and prices soared to record highs.
In 2025, we moved into a La Niña phase, which typically brings improved rainfall patterns and better soil moisture levels to West Africa, generally providing more favourable conditions for cocoa production. The harvest in Ivory Coast and Ghana is much better, the harvest in other regions has continued to grow strongly (notably in Ecuador, which is now forecast to become the world’s second-largest producer, overtaking Ghana), and demand has fallen significantly due to the impact of higher prices.
“Having navigated the recent volatility in chocolate prices, this is the time to remember just how much everybody loves chocolate and why it remains the world’s favourite sweet flavour!”
So what is the outlook for prices? The cocoa market is currently very weak and there are few indications that demand will exceed supply any time soon, which means we will remain in surplus (more cocoa grown than consumed) with downward pressure on cocoa prices.
In order for the cocoa price to resume a rising trend, there will have to be an expectation that either demand for chocolate and cocoa products is going to rebound or supply (cocoa production) is going to fall back, or both. In the short term, there is currently little indication of either happening.
Looking further out however, global stock levels remain historically low and structural problems in West Africa remain, including ageing plantations, black pod disease and swollen shoot virus. Climate instability only appears to be increasing and forecasters are predicting a return to an El Niño phase later in 2026, so risks remain.
While we hope the next El Niño will be weaker, the 2023-24 experience demonstrated just how vulnerable cocoa supply remains to climate variability, reinforcing the value of having alternatives like Win-Win in your ingredient portfolio.
Having navigated the recent volatility in chocolate prices, this is the time to remember just how much everybody loves chocolate and why it remains the world’s favourite sweet flavour! Chocolate prices started falling in late 2025 and 2026 began with an average of 20% cuts in Callebaut on 1st January. Whatever happens in the future, now is an opportunity to take advantage of a period in which prices are expected to remain stable, if not fall further, to experiment, to innovate, to simply rediscover the pure joy of chocolate!
Ready to Explore Win-Win?
If you would like to learn more about Win-Win and how you might incorporate it into your product range, please do get in touch and we will support you with application ideas, recipes and technical advice.
Sanjeev Ramchandani
Managing Director
Keep a look out on our socials and follow us @keylinkltd for more recipes, ideas, and inspiration!
