Freia is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

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 ...

sweets manufacturing brand. The brand is famous for Freia Melkesjokolade and

Kvikk Lunsj ''Kvikk Lunsj'' (Norwegian: ''Quick Lunch'') is the name of a chocolate bar that was launched by the Norwegian chocolate sweets manufacturing company, Freia, in 1937 and has been sold ever since — with the exception of a period during and afte ...

, as well as for other

candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language an ...

and

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and ...

products. The company was acquired by

Mondelez International Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...

in 1993, and liquidated in 2017.

History

Freia was founded by Olaf Larsen (1867–1920) and Fredrik Wilhelm Hjorth Christensen (1851–) in 1889. Larsen had been experimenting with chocolate for some time and Christensen arranged supplies with cocoa suppliers and paid for machines and the required facilities. Teal success bought by

Johan Throne Holst Johan Throne Holst (7 February 1868 – 13 February 1946), was a Norwegian industrialist and politician for the Liberal Left Party (''Frisinnede Venstre''). He was the founder of Marabou and CEO of Freia, now owned and operated by Mondelez Intern ...

(1868–1946) in 1892. He took over management from Larsen in 1898 and led the company to commercial success. Holst realized that there was a potential market for edible

milk chocolate Milk chocolate is a solid chocolate confectionery containing cocoa, sugar and milk. Chocolate was originally sold and consumed as a beverage in pre-Columbian times, and upon its introduction to Western Europe. Major milk chocolate producers incl ...

, in addition to the dark chocolate and other minor products Freia were producing at the time. Holst built up Freia to be Norway's leading chocolate manufacturer. By the turn of the century, Freia was the leading Norwegian brand in

sweets Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called '' sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

. Since its inception the factory has been in the Rodeløkka neighborhood in the borough of

Grünerløkka Grünerløkka is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. Grünerløkka became part of the city of Oslo (then Christiania) in 1858. Grünerløkka was traditionally a working class district; however, since the late 20th century the area has increasi ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. In 1916, based on the success in Norway, the Throne-Holst family founded the chocolate factory Marabou in

Sundbyberg Sundbyberg Municipality (''Sundbybergs kommun'' or ''Sundbybergs stad'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, just north of the capital Stockholm. Sundbyberg is wholly within the Stockholm urban area and has a 100% urban p ...

outside of

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and in 1943, moved to the present location in

Upplands Väsby Upplands Väsby () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Upplands Väsby Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 149,463 inhabitants in 2020. History The municipality has a long history with clear traces of settlements from t ...

. The name Freia (or Freja) could not be used due to a conflicting

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

in Sweden. The name Marabou was chosen instead and is based on the marabou stork which was part of Freia's logo at the time. Production started in 1919, due to shortages in cocoa supply caused by World War I. In 1990, Freia bought all the shares in Marabou. On 12 October 1992, Norsk Hydro, Procordia and Finnish Paulig sold their shares in Freia Marabou to the Philip Morris company Kraft General Foods, a total of 55% of the shares. A few weeks later, Hershey Foods sold its shares (18.6%), giving Philip Morris full control of Freia. On 22 April 1993, the Ministry of Trade and Industry granted Kraft General Foods Holding Norway Inc a license to take over all the shares in Freia Marabou AS. Freia was purchased by Kraft Foods Nordic for

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

3 billion. After Kraft's acquisition, most of the operation remains at Freia's factory in Oslo. Parts of production have been outsourced to Lithuania, Estonia and Sweden, following restructuring from the parent company in the mid-2000s. Since 2012, the owner has been Mondelēz International.

Products

The company's flagship product has since then been the

candy bar, Freia Melkesjokolade. On the basis of this famous product, Freia produces several other

candy bars A candy bar is a type of candy that is in the shape of a bar. The most common type of candy bar is the chocolate bar, including both bars made of solid chocolate and combination candy bars, which are candy bars that combine chocolate with other ...

, with added

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the d ...

cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, n ...

s and

Daim DAIM (, like the coin ''dime''; born 1971 as Mirko Reisser) is a German graffiti artist who lives and works in Hamburg. He is particularly known for his large-size, 3D-style graffiti works. This has become known as his trademark. For his technica ...

pieces. The brand has constantly been marketed in a

national romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

spirit – as the essence of everything that is Norwegian. Their slogan is ''Et lite stykke Norge'' (A little piece of Norway).

References

Additional sources

*Ibsen, Hilde (1998) ''Et lite stykke Norge : Freia 100 år'' (Tano Aschehoug) ,

External links

Freia official websiteKraft Foods Nordic official website
Norwegian chocolate companies Food and drink companies established in 1889 Manufacturing companies based in Oslo Norwegian brands Mondelez International brands 1993 mergers and acquisitions Norwegian companies established in 1889 {{Portal, Companies

History

Products

See also

References

Additional sources

External links