- Blog
-
Our Chocolate
-
- Our Chocolate
- TCHOPro Baking Drops
- TCHO-A-Day
- Drinking Chocolate
- Chocolate-Drenched Treats
- Nibs
- Citrus
- Nutty
- Fruity
- Chocolatey
- Back Story
- Flavor Wheel
- How to Pair Chocolate
- How Chocolate is Made
- How To Taste Chocolate
- Press and Reviews
- The Story of 1.0
- The Story of 1.0 design
- What happens to Beta?
- A Year in Beta Slideshow
- Health Benefits of Chocolate
- Glossary
- Recipes
- Tasters Circle
- Join
- Submit Your Photo
-
- We Are
- Pro+Wholesale
- Gifts
- Buy
-
- Categories
- Bars
- Gifts
- Treats+Nibs
- TCHO Drinks
- Tasting Packs
- T-Shirts
- Autoship
- Topsellers
-
TCHO-A-Day 30
$20 -
Hot and Cold Drinking Chocolate
$10.50
TCHOPro Baking Drops 68% (8oz)
$7.99
Discover the Flavors of Chocolate Collection
$21
- Find a Retailer
- Map
- List
- Beta Factory Store
- Restaurants
- Wholesale
- Business-to-Business Inquiries
- Wholesale eStore
-

Sitemap
you: Blog / Hidden Complexities: thoughts on ant colonies and chocolate
- Our Chocolate
- The Story of 1.0
- The Story of 1.0 Design
- What Happens to Beta?
- Health Benefits of Chocolate
- Flavor Wheel
- How Chocolate Is Made
- How To Taste Chocolate
- Reviews/Press
- Recipes
- Glossary
Colophon·Terms of Use·Privacy Policy © 2010 TCHO Ventures, Inc





Hidden Complexities: thoughts on ant colonies and chocolate
This week a friend of mine emailed me a photo of a metal cast made from an underground ant colony. I was struck by the physical depth and complexity of this structure given the seeming simplicity of its miniature architects. Ants are social creatures; they build vast colonies (sometimes with literally millions of ants) with special rooms for food storage, mating, and nurseries. Such a hidden world! So much teamwork, so much communication, so much time is represented here; All driven by a hardwired instinct to build, build, build—among a team of very busy tiny ants.
Teamwork. Communication. Time. A drive to build. These are also core ingredients to building this chocolate factory into something great. To most of the external world, I suppose we are the chocolate bars we make; and chocolate is simply a delectable packaged product—without much context. And yet underneath each bar is so much complex building (physical building out of the chocolate factory) and formulating (product development), planning (brand building) and networking (marketing and technology)—and so many busy worker ants. So many interacting and interdependent parts. I wish someone could somehow make a cast of our growing colony.
But dig deeper down—-even before the chocolate was made by TCHO, there was so much effort and teamwork and time that went into growing and nurturing that cacao tree, then harvesting, fermenting, drying and roasting those cacao beans. So much movement and interdependency. So many lives touched those cacao beans before they ever became the yummy chocolate in your hand.
There is often so much more than meets the eye. Or the mouth.
Remarks (2)
Akanke:
Sorry. In an industrial society which confuses work and productivity, the necessity of producing has always been an enemy of the desire to create. Help me! Help to find sites on the: drug rehab programs. I found only this - drug detox centers. Practical recovery services provides an alternative to aa and steps programs. Learn about treatment for drug addiction, adolescent drug treatment. Thanks :confused:. Akanke from Uzbekistan.
Harman:
Hey. If it weren’t for baseball, many kids wouldn’t know what a millionaire looked like. Help me! Help to find sites on the: Compare central air conditioners. I found only this - central air Conditioners. You can find energy star qualified room air conditioners by using the search below. Subject air conditioners and high humidity. Best regards :mad:, Harman from Guyana.
Leave a remark
We need at least your name and an email address.