Chocolat Poulain () is one of the oldest

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

brands in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is known particularly for its bars of eating- and cooking-chocolate, as well as its Poulain Orange product, which is a chocolate

drink mix A drink mix is a processed-food product, designed to mix usually with water to produce a beverage resembling fruit juice or soda in flavor. Another type of drink mix is represented by products that are mixed into milk. It is traditionally made i ...

. The icon of the brand is a jumping foal, which is a wordplay on the creator's name "Poulain", which is French for foal.

Victor-Auguste Poulain Victor-Auguste Poulain (February 11, 1825 - July 30, 1918) was a French chocolatier and industrialist who founded the Chocolat Poulain Chocolat Poulain () is one of the oldest chocolate brands in France. It is known particularly for its bars of ...

began the mass production of chocolate in 1848 in

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

, France, before forming a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

in 1893. He believed that a commercial future in chocolate would be found by selling to the masses and was innovative in industrialising the production of chocolate and in widespread

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

campaigns targeting children and families. In 1975, Chocolat Poulain was the sponsor of the

mountains classification in the Tour de France The mountains classification is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1933. It is given to the rider that gains the most points for reaching mountain summits first. The leader of the classification is named the King of th ...

when its distinctive polka jersey was introduced; the jersey's design was based on their chocolate bars that were covered in a polka dot wrapper. The company was bought by

Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mars ...

in 1988.Marketing in Europe
Economist Intelligence Unit. Issues 374-379. 1994. p. 102. It was sold to Kraft Food in 2010 (later Mondelēz International) and since 2017 belongs to

Eurazeo Eurazeo is a French investment company formed by the merger of Azeo and Eurafrance in April 2001. The company is headquartered in Paris. Eurazeo is a leading global investment group, with a diversified portfolio of €25.6 billion in assets und ...

References

External links

La belle histoire du chocolat Poulain
Franceinfo.
Carambar&Co
French chocolate companies 1848 introductions French brands {{france-company-stub