We are flattered by the number of organizations that approach us with requests for donations of free product. As much as we might like to support all of these worthwhile and deserving organizations, we are a small chocolate company and simply cannot donate items to all who ask for our support without jeopardizing our own financial well-being. We have an obligation to our stakeholders to maintain profitability through responsible management.

We use the following criteria when reviewing requests for donations.

1. We favor those organizations that seek to build and support communities of all sorts as we believe in the power of people working together to create a more just and peaceful world. The community can be a small one, it can be a religious one but we look for organizations that have vision, a clear purpose, are inclusive and display a generosity of spirit.

2. We find great joy in supporting organizations that count young people among their membership or otherwise support youth and youth education, especially in the area of cross-cultural understanding.

3. Do we have an existing retail presence in the community where the donee resides? We prefer to donate to organizations in locales where Omanhene products are available for retail sale. Are the members of the organization current customers of Omanhene? We greatly enjoy supporting individuals and organizations that support us – we thereby strengthen each other and mutually build a more sustainable community.

4. Is the request from a true charitable or educational organization? While tax-exempt status 501(c)(3) status is one indicator of the sort of charitable purpose we seek, we do not require such formal tax status and have donated to small organizations that do not yet have federal tax-exempt status. It is extremely unlikely we would donate to an organization that is not a non-profit entity.

Excellent question. Several factors can affect the melting point of chocolate (room temperature and the beginning temperature of chocolate bar being the two most significant).
Fine chocolate melts at body temperature but if the bar starts at room temperature (around 72 degrees) then it needs to "warm" about 26 degrees to come to body temperature, if held in your hand. The holding of the chocolate bar in your hand is not the best method to determine "meltability of chocolate at body temperature" because the ambient air temperature is often so much cooler than body temperature.
The way we recommend is to bite a corner of the chocolate bar and hold it on your tongue and push your tongue gently against the roof of your mouth. Hold it there for a few seconds. This unequivocally brings the chocolate to body temperature and you should feel the sharp corners of the chocolate bar begin to soften. They won't go to liquid immediately but they will soften and begin to melt after a few seconds and this is the indicator we look for.

No. In keeping with our guiding principle of performing as much of the value-added work as possible within the country of Ghana, we do not participate in exporting raw beans. We feel that this would run counter to our fair-trade efforts.

Our workers in Ghana are amongst the highest paid in the country, from what we can ascertain. All line workers are unionized, are equity shareholders in the company, receive free uniforms, subsidized housing, free meals, free transportation to and from work, and free medical care for themselves and their families.

Pay is dependent on job description, skill level, performance and seniority. Due to the generous compensation package we offer, we do not have "cheap" labor costs; we compete at the upper end of the market and are best described as artisan producers of a premium product -- in other words, we do not compete on primarily on price, as do some of our competitors.

Our aim is to establish a sustainable business and this requires motivated, well-compensated employees upon whom we can plan for growth and new product development.