From Lab to Love — When Innovation Turns Into Craving

Innovation rarely begins where consumers see it. It starts long before a product reaches a supermarket shelf — with bold questions, experiments, and the courage to rethink what food could become. At Planet A Foods, innovation begins with a simple ambition: creating the next generation of indulgence people will truly crave while helping secure the future of the foods we love. From the first experiments in the lab to the moment a consumer discovers a new favorite snack, our goal is to transform breakthrough thinking into something people genuinely love. ChoViva is the result of that journey — proof that when science, taste, and purpose come together, innovation can turn into a real consumer love story.

Every meaningful food innovation begins with curiosity. For us, it started with a simple but powerful question: Can the chocolate experience be reimagined?

Chocolate is one of the world’s most beloved indulgences, yet the cocoa supply chain faces increasing challenges — from climate pressures and crop volatility to growing global demand. Instead of asking how to slightly improve chocolate, our team asked a much bigger question: What actually creates the sensory experience people love about chocolate?

Is it the cocoa bean itself — or the combination of roasting, fermentation, and complex flavor chemistry that ultimately delivers the deep, chocolatey taste we crave?

A key insight helped guide our thinking: around 80% of chocolate’s flavor is created during the production process — not by the cocoa bean itself. This opened the door to a new possibility. If the characteristic flavor of chocolate largely emerges through fermentation, roasting, and processing, could those same principles be applied to other ingredients?

At the same time, we saw an opportunity to create something more resilient: a new way of producing chocolatey indulgence using ingredients that can be sourced locally and sustainably. That question sparked years of research and experimentation.

Turning this idea into something delicious required persistence, scientific curiosity, and an uncompromising focus on taste. The breakthrough came when our team discovered that sunflower seeds could serve as the foundation for creating chocolate-like flavor profiles.

By applying the same principles that shape chocolate’s flavor — fermentation, roasting, and complex flavor chemistry — our researchers discovered that humble sunflower seeds could unlock remarkably similar chocolatey notes.

Through carefully developed fermentation and roasting processes, sunflower seeds reveal the rich aroma, depth, and indulgent taste people associate with chocolate. By refining these techniques, our team was able to recreate the characteristic chocolatey experience — without relying on cocoa.

The result is ChoViva — pure chocolatey indulgence made from sunflower seeds. What surprises most people is the taste: smooth, rich and unmistakably chocolatey, delivering the indulgent experience consumers expect from chocolate.

This innovative ingredient approach opens new possibilities for creating chocolatey products using sunflower seeds and 100% natural ingredients. Because sunflower seeds can be grown locally and without deforestation, the supply chains are significantly shorter. As a result, ChoViva generates around 80% less CO₂ emissions compared to traditional cocoa-based chocolate.

What began as a bold idea in the lab has quickly become a proven ingredient platform. Today, ChoViva is already used in more than 120 product launches across 10 countries, demonstrating that next-generation chocolate innovation can scale from breakthrough science to real products consumers love.

Shorter supply chains, regionally grown ingredients, and a significantly lower CO₂ footprint make ChoViva a more resilient and future-oriented way of creating chocolatey indulgence.

But innovation only truly matters when people fall in love with it. A breakthrough in the lab is just the beginning — the real test comes when someone takes a bite.

Today, ChoViva is inspiring a growing number of snacks and confectionery products that surprise and delight consumers. What they experience first is the familiar joy of chocolatey indulgence — rich flavor, satisfying texture, and the comforting taste they know and love. Only then do they discover the story behind it: a new approach to chocolate that helps protect the future of this beloved category.

For brands, ChoViva opens new creative possibilities while helping build more resilient and responsible product portfolios. For consumers, it offers something even simpler: a delicious indulgence they can feel good about.

That’s when innovation truly comes to life — when bold ideas born in the lab become something people crave again and again.

And that is the journey from Lab to Love: when breakthrough thinking transforms into a new generation of chocolatey indulgence.