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Barry Callebaut has signed an agreement with food-tech company NotCo AI to explore the use of artificial intelligence in chocolate recipe development.

The partnership sets out to examine how AI could accelerate chocolate innovation, from improving taste and texture to enabling more sustainable formulations, as companies across the industry face rising cocoa costs, climate-related pressures and evolving customer expectations.

Under the agreement, the two companies will look to combine Barry Callebaut’s global ingredients data, manufacturing footprint and supply-chain capabilities with NotCo’s proprietary AI models, creating what they describe as an end-to-end innovation framework for chocolate.

According to both parties, the pilot aims to test whether AI-driven formulation can cut development timelines, increase successful recipe “hit rates,” and support more customised product creation for food and beverage manufacturers.

Barry Callebaut CEO Peter Feld said the initiative reflects the company’s wider digitalisation strategy and its ambition to speed up innovation in response to market shifts. "This agreement marks an exciting step forward for Barry Callebaut and for our customers. It reflects our commitment to creating best customer experience by boosting innovation and speed to market."

"By combining our deep chocolate expertise and global reach with NotCo’s advanced AI capabilities, we’re aiming to unlock speed for breakthrough recipe solutions – from health-forward formulations to functional ingredients and Nutri-Score-friendly options."

NotCo AI’s CEO and co-founder, Matias Muchnick, said the company’s dataset – built over a decade – has become a valuable engine for next-generation consumer packaged goods development. "By integrating Barry Callebaut's unparalleled chocolate knowledge with our general purpose approach platform, we're creating a personalised and unique innovation engine that will set a new standard for the entire industry."

The collaboration sits within Barry Callebaut’s multi-year digitalisation agenda, which includes exploring how AI could bolster resilience in an increasingly volatile cocoa market. By deploying models that can adapt to fluctuating ingredient availability, the companies aim to maintain taste and quality regardless of agricultural or supply-chain disruption.

NotCo’s AI has already been used to support hundreds of product launches for global F&B brands, with its system trained on a proprietary dataset of ingredient properties and functional behaviours. Both companies say the partnership could help define what the 'next generation of chocolate' looks like – potentially reshaping how large manufacturers approach formulation and R&D in the years ahead.

Earlier this month, Barry Callebaut also teamed up with cocoa-free chocolate start-up Planet A Foods to meet the growing consumer demand for sustainable chocolate solutions without cocoa