Schumacher’s strategy: Five moves to revive Barry Callebaut

Barry Callebaut has been in a state of flux for the past five years, if not longer. It’s seen multiple CEOs come and go – Hein Schumacher has just taken over from Peter Feld , who in 2023 took over from Peter Boone, who in 2021 took over from Antoine de Saint-Affrique. Plus, at the end of last year, the world’s biggest chocolate maker was hotly tipped for a major split, with rumours swirling that it was set to separate its cocoa business . Though recent revelations suggest these plans have been scrapped following Peter Feld’s abrupt exit. So, what can incoming CEO Hein Schumacher do to steady the ship, and drive success at the cocoa and chocolate giant? “In my view, the single biggest mistake Barry Callebaut has made over the past decade is treating cocoa volatility as something that can be ‘managed through procurement’,” says Nandini Roy Choudhury, principal consultant for food and beverage at analytics group Future Market Insights. “That mindset no longer holds.” Cocoa, says Choudhury, has shifted from a volatile input to a structural risk variable that affects pricing, working capital, customer relationships, and balance-sheet resilience. “Hein Schumacher should prioritise levers that force risk-sharing across the value chain rather than attempting to absorb or smooth volatility internally.” That means redesigning customer contracts to shorten pricing reset cycles, embedding cocoa indexation clauses, and explicitly charging for volatility instead of hiding it in margin erosion. At the same time, “supply-chain protection must go beyond West Africa dependency”. Geographic diversification, even at a higher apparent cost, should be viewed as insurance against systemic disruption, not inefficiency. And finally, working-capital discipline will be just as important as pricing. “In extreme cocoa environments, cash control becomes a strategic weapon, not a finance function.” BC Next Level, Barry Callebaut’s strategic investment and transformation programme, is designed to reshape the global chocolate and cocoa giant by boosting efficiency, simplifying operations, and moving closer to customers. But it has one major flaw. It stops short of addressing the root cause of inefficiency – structural complexity. “Barry Callebaut operates with too many SKUs, too many bespoke formulations, and too much operational flexibility for customers that do not pay for it,” says Future Market Insights’ Choudhury. Schumacher, says Choudhury, should shift the transformation from “efficiency optimisation to portfolio discipline”. That means deciding what Barry Callebaut should not produce, which customers no longer justify customisation, and which plants should specialise, rather than trying to do everything. What’s more, digital tools need to move from dashboards to decision-making – linking demand planning, cocoa procurement, and production scheduling in real time. “Volume growth will not return until the system is simplified enough to operate at speed and scale without constant firefighting.” Barry Callebaut’s sharp volume sales decline is not just a market demand problem, it’s the consequence of defending the wrong volumes for too long. The multinational has managed to hold on to its sales volumes in parts of the market where chocolate is cheap, low‑margin, and buyers focus mainly on price. These customers see chocolate as interchangeable, so they can switch suppliers easily, making it notable that Barry Callebaut kept those sales. “Schumacher should accept a short-term reset in reported volumes in exchange for long-term quality of growth,” says Future Market Insights’ Choudhury. That means exiting or repricing structurally unprofitable contracts and reallocating commercial resources toward segments where Barry Callebaut’s technical capabilities actually matter – premium chocolate, fillings, decorations, compounds, and differentiated applications. Regionally, says Choudhury, Europe should be managed for margin stability rather than growth, North America for pricing discipline, and emerging markets for selective expansion using simplified, locally relevant portfolios. “Volume growth should be the outcome of better choices, not the objective in itself." “Despite its scale and technical expertise, Barry Callebaut still behaves more like an efficient supplier than a strategic partner,” says Future Market Insights’ Choudhury. Customer engagement is uneven, innovation access is concentrated among the largest global accounts, and mid-sized customers often experience slow response times and limited collaboration. Schumacher’s first priority, says Choudhury, should be to redefine customer value internally. Sales incentives still skew toward volume, which encourages transactional behaviour. “The company needs to segment customers based on strategic fit, profitability, and long-term potential, not just revenue size.” The Swiss-Belgian company should actively position itself as a partner that helps customers manage cocoa volatility, reformulate under cost pressure, and protect margins. “Retention will improve when customers see Barry Callebaut as essential to their resilience, not interchangeable capacity.” Continuous churn at the top has led to a drop in Barry Callebaut investor confidence, and this won’t be restored through vision statements and long-term targets, it’ll be rebuilt through demonstrable control. “Schumacher’s financial priorities should be relentlessly practical – restoring pricing credibility, enforcing working-capital discipline, simplifying the portfolio, and improving returns on invested capital," says Future Market Insights’ Choudhury. Deleveraging, she says, should come primarily from operational cash generation rather than asset disposals. “Pricing strategy must show that Barry Callebaut can protect margins even in extreme cocoa environments.” Portfolio optimisation – fewer SKUs, fewer low-return customers, and clearer capital allocation – will matter more to investors than headline volume growth. “Only once financial discipline is visible will the market believe in Barry Callebaut’s next growth phase.” Schumacher steps into the role at a time when Barry Callebaut has the chance to redefine its trajectory. His success will depend on whether he can convert today’s instability into the foundations of a more disciplined, more resilient business. The priorities are already taking shape – simplify the portfolio, restore pricing and cash‑flow control, and build a customer proposition that is based on strategic partnership rather than capacity alone. If he can deliver those shifts with conviction, Barry Callebaut has room not just to recover but to grow on stronger terms.