Lindt-Chocolaterie - Rated 4,6

Lindt-Chocolaterie: Lindt's part in the history of chocolate

The first evidence of the use of cocoa beans was found in Santa Ana-La Florida, near the Mayo Chinchipe river in Ecuador, 3500 BC.

When chocolate first arrived in Europe, it was nothing like the chocolate we know today. It was raw and dry, and did not melt in the mouth. It was drunk as a liquid. Chocolate was first turned into a solid by the British chocolate company J. S. Fry & Sons.

The Swiss Sprüngli family enters the chocolate industry

In 1845, David Sprüngli and his son Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann produced the first solid chocolate bar. It was an instant success. In the second half of the 19th century, David Sprüngli expanded his business and began to make a name for himself.

Rodolphe Lindt, the inventor of today's chocolate

Then, in 1879, Rodolphe Lindt revolutionized chocolate production with his conching technique. Conching is a crucial stage in chocolate production. It allows the flavor and texture to be refined by continuous mixing at high temperature. This is how Lindt achieved the smooth, velvety texture that sets his chocolate apart from the rest. But he had previously worked tirelessly in his small workshop ... and unsuccessfully. Was his discovery the result of a mistake or a clever experiment?

One Friday evening, Mr. Lindt left the factory without finishing his work, and without turning off the chocolate mixer that had been running all weekend. When he returned on Monday, he discovered that his dream had come true: the chocolate was liquid, shiny and smooth. Today, Mr. Lindt's revolutionary invention is used throughout the chocolate industry.

The meeting of Sprüngli and Lindt

But it wasn't until 1899 that the Sprüngli and Lindt families met. The Sprüngli family had just finished building a larger factory in Kilchberg-Bendlikon, where the head office is located today. In Bern, the strong demand for Rodolphe Lindt's creamy chocolate was beginning to strain Lindt's small, antiquated production facilities. When Sprüngli offered to buy the Lindt company for the impressive sum of 1.5 million gold francs - including staff and secret recipe - Lindt agreed. And so Lindt & Sprüngli was born. That was a long time ago, in 1879.

Lindt & Sprüngli today

Lindt & Sprüngli AG is a chocolate manufacturer headquartered in Kilchberg in the canton de Zurich, Switzerland.

In July 2014, Lindt acquired the American chocolate box company Russell Stover for around $1.5 billion, increasing its market share in the United States to 10%.

Today, the group has its own production sites in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, the USA and Austria.