Mott Green
He built a revolutionary solar-powered chocolate factory on a tropical island, pioneering the bean-to-bar movement with a radical cooperative model.
1966–2013 (age 47)·American businessman and chocolatier·Birthday: April 15·Generation X
Biography
Mott Green was an idealist with a practical streak and a sweet tooth, who envisioned a chocolate bar as an instrument of economic justice. Leaving behind a life in New York, he settled on the Caribbean island of Grenada, where he saw cacao farmers receiving a pittance for their valuable beans. His response was the Grenada Chocolate Company, founded in 1999, which wasn't just a business but a manifesto. He constructed a tiny, solar-powered factory in the jungle, owned collectively by the farmers, that processed local organic cacao into finished bars right on the island. This 'tree-to-bar' model ensured profits stayed in the community and challenged the entire industrial chocolate supply chain. Green's untimely death in 2013 cut short his work, but his company remains a beacon for ethical food activism.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Mott was born in 1966, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Mott Was Born
The biggest hits of 1966
#1 Movie
The Bible: In the Beginning
Best Picture
A Man for All Seasons
#1 TV Show
Bonanza
Mott's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1966Born
Star Trek premieres on television
Gas: $0.32/galHome: $14,200Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"The Ballad of the Green Berets" — SSgt Barry SadlerBest Picture: A Man for All Seasons
1971Started school
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1979Became a teenager
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1982Could drive
Michael Jackson releases Thriller
Gas: $1.22/galHome: $55,200Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Physical" — Olivia Newton-JohnBest Picture: Gandhi
1984Could vote
Apple Macintosh introduced
Gas: $1.13/galHome: $59,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"When Doves Cry" — PrinceBest Picture: Amadeus
1987Turned 21
Black Monday stock market crash
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $72,400Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Walk Like an Egyptian" — The BanglesBest Picture: The Last Emperor
1996Turned 30
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 40
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2013Died at 47
Edward Snowden reveals NSA surveillance programs
Gas: $3.53/galHome: $152,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Thrift Shop" — Macklemore & Ryan LewisBest Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Key Achievements
- Founded the groundbreaking Grenada Chocolate Company, one of the world's first modern bean-to-bar chocolate makers owned by a cooperative of farmers.
- Engineered and built a solar-powered, off-grid chocolate factory in the Grenadian jungle.
- Created a direct-trade model that paid cacao growers a premium price and a share of company profits.
- His work was featured on BBC Radio 4's 'The Food Programme' and inspired a global artisanal chocolate movement.
Did You Know?
He was originally named David Friedman but changed his name to Mott Green after a brand of apple juice.
The factory was so small and artisanal that the first chocolate bars were wrapped by hand using foil and paper.
He transported the first batches of chocolate to the U.S. for sale in his own suitcase.
An animated short film, 'The Chocolate Revolutionary,' was made about his life and work.
“The bean is the story, and the farmer's name should be on the wrapper.”
