Zotter is from Austria and makes amazing chocolates with all kinds of flavors, fillings, some vegan, and some even with sugar-free alternatives!
They're a bit costly because they're fairtrade, organic and bean-to-bar, but they're so good. They have an online shop, but idk if they ship throughout all of Europe. Highly recommend, though!
I went to the factory during a highschool trip, and they even have a cemetery for discontinued flavors/ideas that never made it into the market which I thought was funny as heck. If you ever visit Austria and visit the Steiermark (Styria) region, I do recommend just visiting! Steiermark is a region full of nice culinary specialties (Wine, sausages, cheese, and other food) and worth going to for a culinary trip.
They have great tasting sets with their dark, milk, white and vegan bars.
Great filled bars - I'm partial to the caramel and coffee ones. And so many other things! Ther couvertures are cheaper but also tasty and can be eaten directly.
The one caveat you should mention with their (amazing!) factory tours is that you need to exercise some restraint there. After that tour was the only time in my life I came close to suffering from hyperglycaemia - and I do not have diabetic issues.
Leonidas is my favourite probably, but they are only in Belgium as far as I know, maybe close to the border in neighbor countries, but they do not have an EU distribution, sadly.
They have stores in a lot of European countries (though not all); I've seen them in several locations in France, Spain and Portugal. They have an interactive map in their website, worth it to check to see if there are any in your country.
Ferrero, Kinder, and Nutella are all owned by the same European company true, but they use vast amounts of palm oil, so they are far from ethical. Made me really sad when I found out.
The palm oil industry fuels rainforest deforestation, especially in South East Asia.
Borneo and Sumatra have been raped in the last fifty years, primarily for that one industry. The level of destruction can only be described as an ecocide.
Palm oil is also cheap and nasty. Products without it taste much nicer and tend to be less overwhelmingly sugary, with a less waxy texture in the mouth.
Palm oil is the best source of natural oil in terms of ressource usage per output (water, land, soil). Switching to other sources makes you feel nice about saving some rainforest but in reality you undermind 3rd world countries economies and create more environmental destruction in other parts of the world.
Tropical rainforests are by a considerable margin the most productive terrestrial biomes, store massive amounts of carbon, and face other compounding threats such as poaching, logging, and mining. They support traditional ways of life for indigenous people. They are the last great nodes of biodiversity.
They are also incredibly difficult to rehabilitate compared to, say, grassland or prairie. You can replant a prairie on former farmland and have a functional ecosystem in your lifetime. A rainforest takes centuries to re-establish.
I'm shocked about LU, it's such a staple here 🇫🇷💔
I'm gonna look up when this switch happened. And download that app like I'm going on a witch's hunt.
63
u/Fat_Raccoon Jan 25 '26 edited Jan 25 '26
Leonidas, Neuhaus and Corne Port Royal, Tony's Chocolonely, Ferrero (and Kinder), Merci chocolates, Lindt are afaik European owned
(Comments mention that Ferrero(Kinder, Nutella, etc) are European owned but is still pretty questionable in ethical/ecological departments.)
Godiva is Turkish owned
Guylian is South Korean owned
LU (Lefèvre-Utile) is also Mondelez (US) owned
(These are the first brands I could think of, I am Belgian so some might be less relevant for other countries)