Photo: Thibault Fregoni
Changing Lanes &
Shifting Gears
Inside the Modern Cacao Chain
Photo: Thibault Fregoni
A New Climate
Barefoot, Thibault Fregoni’s children dart through the tangled shade of the Queensland rainforest, the thick air humming with cicadas and the promise of discovery. It’s a scene he never quite imagined growing up in France—a kind of wild freedom he found down under, embracing the dream of raising his own family in nature’s playground. “You have to adapt, you know,” Thibault says, reflecting on their journey from Europe to the lush, green heart of Australia. But adaptation is second nature for him.
What sets him apart—then and now—is his willingness to go where few chocolate professionals dare: straight to the plantation. While most makers know cacao only as sacks of beans arriving at the roastery, he immersed himself daily in the realities of growing, fermenting, and experimenting with cacao, connecting to the land and the living process behind every bar.
This is the story of someone who’s gone further than most—to learn, to adapt, to champion a more profound relationship with chocolate. For anyone curious where their favorite flavors truly begin, his journey reveals what happens when you decide to follow chocolate all the way back to its beginnings.
Photo: Thibault Fregoni
From Chocolate Maker to Tropical Innovator
Before embracing the wilds of far North Queensland, he co-founded a chocolate business in Melbourne, immersing himself in the craft and creativity of urban chocolate making. Yet, even as he worked and experimented with handmade confections, his curiosity kept urging him further—toward understanding chocolate at its very source. When the chance came to manage cacao operations—an ambitious project led by former Cadbury scientist Barry Kitchen and designed to test cacao’s future in Australia—he took the leap. Swapping the rhythms of city life for days spent among cacao trees and the complexities of fermentation, he and his family stepped into an entirely new world. There, he found himself collaborating with former sugarcane farmers eager to master a new crop. Together, they tackled the delicate balance of shade, humidity, and rainfall that cacao demands, learning to coax abundance from unexpected ground.
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Thibault also orchestrated post-harvest operations, overseeing the careful fermentation and drying that can make or break a bean’s potential. Ever the experimenter, he actively led a team of French engineering interns completing their overseas residencies, directing hands-on research into variables like fermentation time, temperature, and box design. Under his guidance, these interns explored new processes and approaches—collecting data, refining techniques, and ultimately aiming to elevate the quality of Australian grown cacao. His years in Queensland laid a foundation few chocolate professionals can claim. But his influence—and curiosity—would soon spread further, reaching well beyond the plantation.​​​​
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His model brought together local farmers, each managing small plots, to deliver cacao pods to a central facility where he coordinated pod splitting and fermentation—combining harvests to ensure proper post-harvest processing. After fermentation, the team returned pod waste to the farms for composting beneath the cocoa trees, enhancing soil moisture and nutrient cycling. The team also experimented with optimizing fermentation and pasteurization, and explored extracting juice from cocoa pulp for the beverage industry, supplying local bars. This forward-thinking approach reflects a growing global trend of repurposing cacao by-products—such as pulp, husks, and even leaves—for new uses, including health-focused and antioxidant-rich products.​
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These successes at the plantation level inspired Thibault to look outward. As the Australian experiment evolved, he found himself drawn into the broader world of cacao: offering expertise to growers across the Pacific, witnessing emerging origins, and diving deep into the challenges of international trade.
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