Academic Alliances

The Iche school-restaurant is part of the FUEGOS foundation, food for change, whose objective is to convert gastronomic enterprises in Ecuador and Latin America into engines of social transformation that contribute to sustainable development and equity in all its forms. At the Iche school-restaurant they consider food as an agent of economic, environmental and social change. Its pedagogical model focuses on the academic and culinary training of vulnerable people in the province of Manabí. The training offered at Iche is specialized, and thanks to its school-restaurant model, it is based on learning-by-doing, a method through which students receive both theoretical and practical training, which is paid, and in the field, all 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 the exchange of knowledge through various workshops focused on gastronomy and sustainability.

At República del Cacao we seek ways through which we can continue to grow and learn from people in our community, while offering the same in reciprocity. In this context, in 2021 we formalized our first alliance with an international academic organization, 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 workers. Our collaboration with the institute has allowed its students to explore and work with our products, while deepening their knowledge in a creative way. We co-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 cacao and gave students the opportunity to take a virtual tour of our collection center in Vinces, Ecuador, learning first-hand about the different stages and processes that cocoa goes through, and meeting some of the farmers we proudly work with.

We maintain a close relationship between the brand and the academy with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, participating in knowledge exchange activities, sponsoring events and competitions related to the field of pastry and gastronomy education at a national level. We promote workshops in collaboration with Chefs allied with 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 interact directly with gastronomy professionals and learn from them.

Since 2022 we have a collaboration agreement with Çuina Academy, where we conduct courses throughout the year with different experts in sweet cuisine, who share their best techniques and creations, always with República del Cacao, and at the same time we have the collaboration of chefs Fernanda Prado and Xano Saguer so they can share their knowledge with our customers.