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<td valign="top">[[File:Chocolaterie Robert 013.jpg|189px|none|thumb|La Chocolatière boutique at Soanierana, Antananarivo]]</td></tr></table>
Chocolaterie Robert has a history of chocolate production dating back to 1937, when a French couple from Réunion Island, Mr and Mrs Robert, set up Madagascar's first chocolate factory in Brickaville, where pralines and chocolate bars were handmade. At the time of the rule of the last Queen of Madagascar, the area around Brickaville was the location where cacao plantations were first introduced to the country. Following the French colonisation, cocoa production eventually moved to the Ambanja region which was a preferred location amongst French settlers keen to supply a metropolitan France with agricultural products. In 1977, the factory changed hands to the Berger family and was moved to its current location in Antananarivo. In 1996 the company was sold to the Ramanandraibe Group and in the same year the first two La Chocolatière boutiques were launched in Antananarivo. In 2004 two more boutiques opened in [[Antsirabe ]] and Tamatave. In 2008, La Chocolatière opened a boutique in the departure area of the duty free zone at [[Ivato International Airport]].
In 2006 Chocolaterie Robert began shipping Mora Mora and Sambirano branded chocolates to Britain, which respectively won the Chocolate Academy's Silver Cup and the Best Buy Ethical Award. However, these two brands are no longer distributed. Since 2009, a range of chocolate bars branded [http://www.ilovao.com| VAO VAO] and [http://www.madecasse.com| Madécasse] are being exported to the United States through partner distributors.
Chocolaterie Robert is a major contributor to the local economy, providing employment for about 120 independent farmers and up to 200 factory workers. The company operates both as a cocoa bean processor and chocolate manufacturer, using 500 tons of the total 4,000 to 5,000 tons annual cocoa production in Madagascar.
To ensure premium quality and pure cocoa, the Ramanandraibe Group has set up 23 support centres throughout the [[Sambirano|Sambirano Valley]] to provide technical assistance to farmers. Fermentation tubs and drying areas for cocoa beans are subsidised by the group. Cocoa farming is typically in the hands of small family businesses run by farmers who live by their land and tradition to pass their skills onto future generations.
The Chocolaterie Robert company is organised into four units:
* Cocoa bean processing and chocolate paste making
* Chocolate bar making
* Sweet confectionary (sugar sweets and chocolate bars)
In recent years, Chocolaterie Robert has combined its time-proven knowledge about chocolate making with the expertise of renowned French Chocolatier André Rosset who has advised the company in the latest trends and technologies in the fine art of chocolate making. All of Chocolaterie Robert's creations products are classified as pure and single origin, meaning they are entirely made in Madagascar. Dark chocolate made by Chocolaterie Robert is especially healthy due to the richness rich of flavonoids that occur naturally in Croille cocoa beans. Unlike other dark chocolates derived from cocoa grown elsewhere, the Malagasy variety is low in bitterness and naturally sweet. Furthermore, the company is dedicated to fair trading and supports several small cocoa farmers through micro-financing programmes. The Today, the Chocolaterie Robert factory is a semi-industrial operation whose management, in an age of automated systems, still prefers to work with local people rather than machines.
== La Chocolatière shops and factory location ==
