Tony's Chocolonely unified global ops with ClickUp

As Tony's expanded globally, with offices in Amsterdam, New York, London, Hamburg, and a factory in Belgium, work requirements became more complex. Especially when factoring in having teams in the field in both Côte d'ivoire and Ghana, different locations operated like mini-companies with their own workflows.

Within the global workforce, the team relied on a scattered mix of 20 to 40 different tools to get work done, which made collaboration time-consuming.

For a brand rooted in transparency, this fragmented way of working felt out of sync with their values. They needed a unified system that could match their rapid growth while supporting their mission.

Tony’s Chocolonely adopted ClickUp over two years ago. They took an organic approach – rather than mandating the switch, they let teams opt in.

“In the beginning, it was just getting the people who wanted to go on the platform. Some teams jumped in fully, while others took their time,” said Manon.

But watching their coworkers benefit from having everything in one place was all the push other team members needed. ClickUp usage spread as more and more employees opted in.

To meet the new work requirements due to rapid expansion, ClickUp provided Tony's the structure needed to scale globally without sacrificing the vibrant, creative, and unapologetically outspoken energy that defined Tony's Chocolonely.

“ClickUp helped us balance fast-paced work and creativity,” added Manon.

Creative team transformation

The in-house brand team was among the first to fully embrace ClickUp. They moved their entire creative request process into the platform, requiring all internal stakeholders to submit requests through ClickUp Forms. This eliminated email back-and-forth and provided clear visibility into request status.

"You fill out a Form, and they’d prioritize and respond directly in ClickUp. That visibility made a huge difference," said Manon.

BI team efficiency

The Business Intelligence (BI) team implemented Sprints and backlogs within ClickUp to manage numerous cross-functional data requests. With this approach, everyone could see exactly when their request was scheduled, setting clear expectations for delivery.

"They work with so many requests from all over the company. Now we can all see when your request for BI is actually in which sprint, so you have a better expectation of when you can expect that to be delivered," explained Manon.

Aligning OKRs for teams

Tony's is using ClickUp to set and manage OKRs across departments, linking department goals to company-wide missions. After seeing a successful pilot with positive feedback from the team, they are looking at launching this company-wide later this year.

Better, faster collaboration

ClickUp Chat is also replacing lengthy email chains. Instead of recapping meetings over email, teams are posting updates, creating new tasks, and more, right from ClickUp Chat. The result: those trialing Chat for Tony’s are seeing everyone on the same page.

Visibility zoomed, and follow-ups were faster and more effective.

Shared spaces made working with external vendors easier. Teams now manage projects with vendors and consultants in shared ClickUp spaces, streamlining communication and ensuring consistent progress tracking.

Tony's Chocolonely successfully created a more cohesive operational system. With 200+ users now on the platform, ClickUp has become the central hub for their projects across regions.

"It just helps a lot in creating an overview. It's easier and quicker because you can do it immediately in one place instead of going through different systems," Manon observed.

Business functions, including finance, BI, and marketing teams, have adopted ClickUp. Other teams in different countries are gradually moving to ClickUp to meet specific project requirements.

Teams now track action items in ClickUp after leadership meetings instead of using email.

"*We use a List in ClickUp where all the actions are posted afterward instead of report-out emails. This has the advantage that you can now see all historic actions in one go instead of looking back at emails from previous months,&" said Manon.

Transparency isn't just a value at Tony's—it's how they operate at every level of the organization. ClickUp helps them live this value internally by making project status, decisions, and priorities visible to everyone.

Governance, also being a key focus for a company like Tony’s Chocolonely, is a business process the team is excited to move to ClickUp.