Loco Love
Good. Shows the people who make its products are paid and treated fairly.
Last researched 2 November 2026 · 6 sources
Byron Bay brand of handmade organic vegan chocolates.
Loco Love gets its cocoa from Peru and runs its own factories.
Also worth knowing
Its cocoa is Fairtrade certified, which comes with a minimum price for farmers and audits for child and forced labour.
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Why it's graded Good
- Met: Meets all 6 Good requirements.
- Met: No red flags.
| Star | Awarded for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Pays above a living wage | Not earned | |
| Gives workers a real voice | Not earned | |
| Open supply chain | Not earned | |
| Finds and fixes problems, or invests in communities | Not earned |
3 stars for the first way it goes above and beyond, and one more for each further way, up to 6. About stars
Good requirements 6 of 6
- Met: Pays a living wage, or holds a strong fair-pay certificationLiving wage: strong fair-pay scheme (Fairtrade)
- Met: Respects worker rights
- 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
- Met: Finds and fixes child labour on cocoa farms (Fairtrade, Fair for Life or its own published monitoring), and traces other high-risk ingredients (hazelnuts) where they're a major part of its rangeOnly in a few products: hazelnuts
Red flags 0
None found.
Accreditations 1
Estimates for its products
Our rules applied to one kind of product at a time, using Loco Love'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: Good, the same as Loco Love overall, because nothing we know differs between them.
Holding one? Scan its barcode for an estimate that uses its care label or ingredients.
Where its cocoa is grown
From Loco Love's own disclosure: it runs its own factories and says where its cocoa comes from.
| Country | Worker rights | Legal minimum wage | Forced labour risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peru | Systematic violations | Well below a living wage | Moderate |
Evidence
What we found
- Passes the raw-material check for chocolate: finds and fixes child labour on cocoa farms (Fairtrade, Fair for Life or its own published monitoring).
- Owns or runs its own production
- Uses hazelnuts in only a few products and doesn't show where they come from. That doesn't count against it for Good, but the "Open supply chain" star needs all of them traced, certified or upcycled.
Research notes Loco Love makes its chocolate by hand in its own Byron Bay facility with over 70 local staff. Its cacao comes from small farms in Huánuco, Peru, bought through a supplier linked to the USAID-backed Alianza Cacao Peru programme, which it says signs long-term contracts and pays farmers fairly. Fairtrade ANZ lists Loco Love among Fairtrade chocolate brands, but its own site and product pages say only 'fair-trade' cacao without naming a certifier, so how much of the range carries the Fairtrade mark is not clear. It does not name its supplier or publish prices paid to farmers.
What independent sources say
| Source | Result | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fairtrade (incl. FLOCERT and Fairtrade ANZ) | Certified | Fairtrade ANZ lists Loco Love among Fairtrade chocolate brands in Australia and New Zealand; the brand's own product pages do not show which lines carry the Fairtrade mark. View |
| US Department of Labor goods lists | Not listed | Cocoa from Peru is not on the US Department of Labor's child or forced labour goods list. View |
| Australian Modern Slavery Register | Not covered | No Australian modern slavery statement from Loco Love was identified; its revenue is likely below the reporting threshold. View |
| Business & Human Rights Resource Centre | Not listed | No labour allegations involving Loco Love were identified. View |
Sources and actions
Sources 6
Show all 6 sources
- Fairtrade ANZ – Fairtrade chocolate brands · search the archive · Loco Love chocolate is listed among Fairtrade chocolate brands in Australia and New Zealand.
- US DOL – List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (cocoa) · search the archive · Peru is not listed for cocoa.
- Inside Retail – How the sweet craft of Loco Love elevated cocoa into a triumph of scale (Nov 2025) · search the archive · Founded by Emica Penklis in Byron Bay; over 70 jobs created in Byron Bay; over 1,000 stockists; Light Warrior strategic partnership in 2025.
- Forbes Australia – Radek Sali on why Loco Love can't keep up with demand (Jan 2026) · search the archive · Light Warrior holds a stake; cacao bought from small farms in Peru; new manufacturing facility planned in the region.
- Santos Organics – Loco Love Pecan Butter Caramel · search the archive · Handcrafted in small batches in Byron Bay, NSW with fair trade Peruvian cacao; organic ingredients.
Published by Loco Love or its owner
- Loco Love – Ethics · search the archive · Cacao from small fair-trade farms in Huánuco, Peru via a supplier working with Alianza Cacao Peru; no palm oil; no certifier or supplier named.
Company details
- Headquarters
- Australia
- Employees
- About 70
- Last researched
- 2 November 2026
- Cite this page
- Labour Lens, "Is Loco Love ethical? Labour rating", https://www.labourlens.net/brand/loco-love, last researched 2 November 2026, accessed [date].
- Method
- Researched with AI assistance against published rules. How we check · What Good means
Something missing or wrong?
Grades are opinions based on the evidence listed here. Send us evidence, or a right of reply if you represent Loco Love.