The Chocolate Industry is Built on Child Labor And Mr.Beast is Fighting to Change That

The chocolate industry has been built on child labor for decades, and the corporations making billions off it know—they just don’t care.

That’s what Mr.Beast found out when he got into the chocolate business. His chocolate company, Feastables, started small, sourcing cocoa from places where ethical sourcing wasn’t an issue. But as the brand grew, people told him he needed to move his supply chain to West Africa, where most of the world’s cocoa comes from.

So, he did his homework. And what he found was shocking—nearly 1.5 million children are being used for labor on cocoa farms in West Africa. That’s almost half of the total workforce. When he started asking major chocolate suppliers what they were doing about it, they either dodged the question or straight-up said, “That’s just how it is.”

That moment was caught on film. A supplier told him there was literally no way to pay extra to ensure no child labor was used in his chocolate. Imagine that—billion-dollar companies, raking in obscene profits, but acting like there’s no possible way to ensure kids aren’t being exploited.

And that rightfully pissed him off.

The Dark Reality Behind Your Chocolate

Here’s why this problem exists: big chocolate companies want to keep costs low. Cocoa farmers in West Africa make less than a dollar a day, which means they can’t afford to pay adult workers. So, they rely on kids. Some of these kids are trafficked, others are forced to work by their own families because there’s no other way to survive.

Meanwhile, Nestlé, Hershey, and Mars make billions a year and pretend like this isn’t their problem. They’ll slap a Fair Trade logo on a wrapper, make a vague sustainability promise, and hope you don’t ask questions.

How Mr. Beast is Planning to Break the System

Jimmy’s (aka Mr. Beast) goal with Feastables isn’t just to sell chocolate—it’s to prove a point. He wants to scale the business to $1 billion a year in revenue while keeping everything ethically sourced. Because if he can do it—if he can build a massive, profitable chocolate brand without child labor—then these other companies have no excuse.

At that point, it’s not “just how it is.” It’s just how they want it to be.

He’s also considering creating a new certification—a label that actually means something. Not the watered-down Fair Trade nonsense, but something that guarantees no child labor was used. Imagine if he could educate consumers to look for that label the same way people check for organic or non-GMO certifications.

If this works, he could single-handedly force change in an industry that has ignored this issue for decades.

Why MrBeast Is Doing It

It’s easy to assume that because someone is famous, they’re just slapping their name on a product and letting someone else do the work. But Mr. Beast is doing the opposite—he’s obsessing over every single detail.

Most people don’t know this, but Jimmy literally spends nights in Walmart checking his own chocolate bars on the shelves. Not because he has to, but because he wants to make sure everything is exactly right—from the packaging to how the bars hold up over time.

When he first launched Feastables, he realized that some of the chocolate bars were breaking too easily. That’s the kind of issue most CEOs would just hear about in a meeting and maybe send an email about. But Jimmy? He was physically in Walmart, checking the inventory himself, testing how the bars were being stored, and figuring out how to fix the problem at the source.

That’s what it actually takes to build a business. It’s not just having a good idea or slapping a name on something and barking orders to your employees—it’s about relentless attention to detail, precision and consistency.

What You Can Learn from Mr. Beast

This whole situation is a perfect example of how corruption thrives when people don’t pay attention. Companies don’t fix these problems because they assume no one will hold them accountable.

And honestly, they’re not wrong. Most people don’t know about this, and even if they do, they feel powerless to change it. That’s why Jimmy’s approach is so smart. He’s not just talking about the problem—he’s building an alternative model to prove that ethical business at scale is possible.

Takeaways

1. Transparency is everything. The only reason these companies get away with child labor is because consumers don’t see it. The more awareness there is, the harder it gets for them to ignore.

2. Ethical business isn’t a myth. The idea that you can’t be profitable and ethical at the same time is just an excuse corporations use to keep doing things the way they’ve always done them.

3. Your dollar is a vote. If enough people refuse to buy from brands that use child labor, they’ll be forced to change. Consumer pressure works—it’s just a matter of people knowing the truth.

4. Success isn’t just a big idea—it’s relentless execution. Most people aren’t willing to spend nights in Walmart checking their own product. But that’s the level of obsession it takes to win.

5. Be relentless about quality. Customers will judge your brand on the tiniest details—how the packaging feels, whether the product arrives intact, whether it delivers the experience you promised. If you don’t obsess over it, someone else will.

The difference between winning and losing isn’t some big dramatic moment—it’s in who cares more about the details.

And Mr. Beast clearly cares more.

This is the kind of impact the world needs to see more of—people using their influence, not just to build businesses, but to rewrite the rules of entire industries. It’s one thing to make a ton of money. It’s another to do it in a way that forces everyone else to level up.