Academic Alliances

The Iche restaurant-school is part of the FUEGOS (Food for Change) foundation, whose objective is to transform gastronomic ventures in Ecuador and Latin America into engines of social transformation that contribute to sustainable development and equity in all its forms. At the Iche restaurant-school, food is considered an agent of economic, environmental, and social change. Their pedagogical model focuses on the academic and culinary training of vulnerable individuals in the province of Manabí. The training offered at Iche is specialized. Thanks to its restaurant-school model, it is based on learning by doing, a method through which students receive both theoretical and practical training, which is paid and hands-on. All of this is with the aim of promoting their economic development and enhancing their skills.

In March 2021 we signed a cooperation agreement focused on capacity building, in 2022 we granted a scholarship to one of their students, and during 2023 we promoted knowledge exchange through various workshops focused on gastronomy and sustainability.

At República del Cacao, we seek ways to continue growing and learning from people in our community, while offering the same in return. In this context, in 2021 we formalized our first alliance with an international academic organization, the Le Notre Culinary Institute, located in Houston, Texas.

The Lenotre Culinary Institute is a community that seeks to train and welcome tomorrow's culinary experts into its international family of renowned chefs and hospitality professionals. Our collaboration with the institute has allowed its students to explore and work with our products while deepening their knowledge in a creative way. Together, we designed an educational curriculum for their academic year that fostered dynamic interaction between students and members of the República del Cacao team. This curriculum covered topics such as the history of cocoa and gave students the opportunity to take a virtual tour of our collection center in Vinces, Ecuador, learning firsthand about the different stages and processes cocoa goes through, and meeting some of the farmers with whom we proudly work.

We maintain a close relationship between the brand and academia with the San Francisco University of Quito, participating in knowledge exchange activities, sponsoring events and contests related to the field of pastry and gastronomy education at a national level. We promote workshops in collaboration with allied Chefs from República del Cacao, as a contribution to the Gastronomy students of the College of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism (CHAT). We involve students in events promoted by the brand, where they have the opportunity to directly interact with gastronomy professionals and learn from them.»

Since 2022, we have a collaboration agreement with Çuina Academy, where we offer year-round courses with different pastry experts who share their best techniques and creations, always with República del Cacao. At the same time, we have the collaboration of chefs Fernanda Prado and Xano Saguer, who share their knowledge with our clients.