Charley's Chocolate Factory
On Track*. Says it buys directly and pays fairly, but hasn't published proof.
Last researched 2 November 2026 · 5 sources
Tree-to-bar chocolate maker at Mission Beach, Far North Queensland.
Charley's Chocolate Factory gets its cocoa from Australia and Papua New Guinea, and there's no confirmed labour problem on its record.
* Self-reported. Charley's Chocolate Factory is a small, independent business that says it buys directly from named farms. That usually means better prices for farmers, but it hasn't published what it pays or any independent checks, and there's no way yet to confirm that pay reaches the farm workers who pick the crop. If a labour problem is confirmed, it drops to a poor grade. Why we allow this
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Why it's graded On Track
- Graded On Track on its own word, which the rules allow for a small business built around direct trade.
- Not met: Meets 3 of 6 Good requirements.
Good requirements 3 of 6
- Not met: Pays a living wage, or holds a strong fair-pay certificationLiving wage: no evidence
- Met: Respects worker rights
- Not met: Supply chain independently audited or certified, or at least 80% made in countries with strong labour standards
- Met: No child or forced labour findings or links
- Met: Names the factories or farms that make its products, or is fully certified by a scheme that holds and audits that listRuns its own factories
- Not met: Finds and fixes child labour on cocoa farms (Fairtrade, Fair for Life or its own published monitoring), and traces other high-risk ingredients where they're a major part of its range
Red flags 0
None found.
Stars it would earn as Good
None yet. Stars only show on Good companies. About stars
Accreditations 1
Estimates for its products
Our rules applied to one kind of product at a time, using Charley's Chocolate Factory's evidence and, where it has product lines, that line's countries. They're estimates: we don't know which factory made any single item.
Chocolate: On Track, the same as Charley's Chocolate Factory overall, because nothing we know differs between them.
- A product carrying the Fairtrade mark: Good
Holding one? Scan its barcode for an estimate that uses its care label or ingredients.
Where its cocoa is grown
From Charley's Chocolate Factory's own disclosure: it runs its own factories and says where its cocoa comes from.
| Country | Worker rights | Legal minimum wage | Forced labour risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Strong protections | About a living wage | Low |
| Papua New Guinea | We don't have labour ratings for this country yet. | ||
Evidence
What we found
- Risk across the industry, not a finding about this company: an estimated 1.5 million children work on cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, and most cocoa farmers earn well below a living income. (partly offset by certification or direct sourcing)
- Owns or runs its own production
- Built around direct trade with named farms or producers
- Direct trade (self-reported)
- It doesn't show that it checks cocoa farms for child labour and fixes what it finds.
- Built around direct trade with named farms, and graded on its own word. Any confirmed labour problem would move it to a poor grade.
Research notes Charley's grows cacao on its own Mission Beach plantations and makes its chocolate on site. It also buys beans from named Far North Queensland farms such as King Ranch (Tully) and Shannonvale (Port Douglas). Most bars are labelled Australian grown, but its Karkar Island bars use cocoa from Papua New Guinea, and it buys PNG and Pacific beans from time to time. Volumes are not published, so country shares are unknown. Farm and factory work in Australia is covered by Fair Work laws. No farmgate prices or labour certifications are published. No staff numbers are disclosed, but it is a small family-founded business with crowdfunded shareholders, and it is still trading in 2026.
What independent sources say
| Source | Result | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fairtrade (incl. FLOCERT and Fairtrade ANZ) | Not listed | No Fairtrade certification is claimed for Charley's chocolate. View |
| US Department of Labor goods lists | Not listed | Cocoa from Australia and Papua New Guinea is not on the US Department of Labor's list of goods made with child or forced labour. View |
| Chocolate Scorecard | Not covered | Charley's is not known to be rated on the Chocolate Scorecard. View |
| Australian Modern Slavery Register | Not covered | No modern slavery statement found; the business is far below the reporting threshold. View |
| Business & Human Rights Resource Centre | Not listed | No labour allegations involving Charley's were identified. View |
Sources and actions
Sources 5
Show all 5 sources
- The Express – World class chocolate grown in our backyard (2024) · search the archive · Founders Chris and Lynn Jahnke; company Australian Chocolate Pty Ltd; own plantations plus beans from growers between Port Douglas and the Tully River Valley, and PNG/Pacific beans from time to time.
- Cairns Local News – Chocolate heaven in our backyard (2020) · search the archive · Mount Edna bar from own farm; King Ranch and Shannonvale single-origin bars; Karkar Island bars from Madang Province, PNG.
- Stockhead – Charley's Chocolate Factory has big plans · search the archive · Production hub at Mission Beach; crowd-sourced equity raise via Birchal.
- Katter's Australian Party – Snappy launch for Charley's Chocolate (2021) · search the archive · Tree-to-bar model; Crocodile Mountain range uses cocoa from local Mission Beach growers.
Published by Charley's Chocolate Factory or its owner
- Charley's – Home · search the archive · Online store trading in 2026; 'We cultivate cocoa and manufacture chocolate' at Mission Beach; Pina Colada bar uses cocoa from Karkar Island, PNG.
Company details
- Headquarters
- Australia
- Last researched
- 2 November 2026
- Cite this page
- Labour Lens, "Is Charley's Chocolate Factory ethical? Labour rating", https://www.labourlens.net/brand/charleys-chocolate-factory, last researched 2 November 2026, accessed [date].
- Method
- Researched with AI assistance against published rules. How we check · What On Track means
Better-graded chocolate
Something missing or wrong?
Grades are opinions based on the evidence listed here. Send us evidence, or a right of reply if you represent Charley's Chocolate Factory.