Cocoa giant Barry Callebaut has hired former Unilever boss Hein Schumacher as chief executive, as the company ties up a restructure and looks to plan future growth.
Schumacher has joined Barry Callebaut with a remit to “embark on a new chapter of growth, value creation and industry leadership” at the Swiss chocolate and cocoa supplier, after two years of massive cocoa price inflation.
Taking over from Peter Feld, who led Callebaut since 2023 and oversaw a significant and ongoing restructuring of the group, Schumacher would take advantage of the group’s “clear opportunity to return to growth”, he said.
“Following a period of unprecedented market turbulence, Barry Callebaut is at an exciting juncture,” he added. “While the business continues to navigate market and volume pressures, we have a clear opportunity to return to growth, to strengthen our culture and to deliver a step-up in our business performance.”
Schumacher was ousted from Unilever in early 2025, to the surprise of many financial analysts, after the group’s disappointing start to the year left insiders questioning progress on a turnaround plan that had improved both margins and share price.
Investors welcomed the news of Schumacher’s appointment, with the company’s share price settling around 4% higher than it had been before the announcement.
Barry Callebaut chairman Patrick De Maeseneire praised Schumacher’s “proven track record” in creating “significant shareholder value”, and cut short any suggestion of the company splitting its cocoa and chocolate businesses – as some press had speculated earlier in January 2026.
“Schumacher is the right leader at this stage to chart Barry Callebaut’s next phase of increased customer focus, winning culture and financial strength, based on our fully integrated cocoa and chocolate business model,” De Maseneire said.
Schumacher’s arrival has coincided with the lowest cocoa commodity prices since October 2023, at around £3,000 per tonne compared with highs of more than £8,000 reached in 2024 and 2025 – at which time Feld was overseeing a transformation programme to cut costs and improve customer focus and digitalisation.
“Peter Feld joined Barry Callebaut as CEO in April 2023 with the mandate to transform our company into a simpler, leaner and more agile organisation,” said De Maseneire.
“Next to championing our transformation programme, BC Next Level, Peter has navigated our company through the perfect storm, with unprecedented cocoa bean prices, market turbulence and a challenging geopolitical situation.
“With the upcoming completion of BC Next Level, the board and Peter decided that now is the right time for a CEO transition. On behalf of the entire board, we thank Peter for his immense work and leadership and wish him all the best for the future.”
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