Guylian (, ) is a

Belgian chocolate Belgian chocolate (french: chocolat belge, nl, Belgische chocolade) is chocolate produced in Belgium. A major industry since the 19th century, today it forms an important part of the Belgian economy, nation's economy and Culture of Belgium, cul ...

brand and manufacturer best known for its seashell shaped pralines. The company was founded in 1958 in

Sint-Niklaas Sint-Niklaas (; french: Saint-Nicolas, ) is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Sint-Niklaas proper and the towns of Belsele, Nieuwkerken-Waas, and . Sint-Nikl ...

, Belgium by Guy FoubertChocolaterie Guylian NV MarketLine Company Profile. (2017.). MarketLine, a Progressive Digital Media business. and is now owned by the South Korean company

Lotte Confectionery Lotte Confectionery Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean confectionery company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The company was established in 1967. Currently, it is the third-largest chewing gum manufacturer in the world, and its plants are locat ...

. Foubert and his wife formulated the original chocolate recipe and "Guylian" was formed as a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words While Guylian specialise in roasted hazelnut pralines they produce a wide variety of products including chocolate covered fruit pieces and chocolate truffles. The company headquarters remain in Sint-Niklaas along with their production plant but now Guylian exports internationally to approximately 120 countries. '''' In 2003, the first Guylian Belgian Chocolate café was opened in Antwerp, Belgium; there are now 9 franchises in different locations around the world. Guylian donates to and works with

Project Seahorse Project Seahorse is a marine conservation organization committed to the conservation and sustainable use of coastal marine ecosystems in general, and seahorses in particular. It is based at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (University ...

to help with marine wildlife conservation and raise awareness for the charity. They have also worked with the Cocoa Horizons Foundations on Project Cocoa to sustainably source

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and have aimed to reduce any negative environmental impacts from their production. For this work, they have received Corporate Responsibility Awards along with multiple other awards for innovation and their chocolates.

History

Foubert was born in 1938 in Sint-Niklaas where 20 years later, he would establish the company. His father was a baker and while Foubert was still at school, he began selling hand-made

truffles A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''Peziza ...

at local markets using skills learnt at the

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

School of Confectionery and Patisserie in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

.''Bates, J. (2017, October). Fabulous Fifty. ''Duty-Free News International'', p. 59.'' In 1958, Foubert got married and perfected his recipe, then began producing his chocolate Sea Shells on a larger scale and in 1960 established the brand name Guylian.'''' Guylian is an amalgamation of Foubert and his wife Lilian's names to signify their “love and passion” as a couple and for their business craft. A new factory was built in 1988 in Sint-Niklaas to manage the company's growth and increase production. In 2003, Guylian expanded into the Café industry with its opening of a Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café in Antwerp, Belgium. Between 2008 and 2011, Guylian opened three cafés in Sydney, Australia. Lotte is a South Korean confectionery manufacturer and the current owner of Guylian. Lotte Confectionery purchased Guylian in June 2008 for €105 million to enter into the European premium chocolate market. They also expected to increase Guylian's presence in Asia and soon expanded their chocolate café locations to include Dubai and Seoul, Korea. The partnership did increase Guylian's brand awareness in Asia but in 2014 rising

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a comm ...

prices put a strain on growth as increased sugar prices meant higher production costs for Guylian. Significant investments were made in 2016 to increase the capacity of the production plant in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. A new production line was built for Guylian's premium Belgian Master's Selection in 2017 and they have made further investments into another new production line for chocolate bars.

Awards

In 1998, the then crown prince

Philippe of Belgium french: Philippe Léopold Louis Mariegerman: Philipp Leopold Ludwig Maria , house = Belgium , father = Albert II of Belgium , mother = Paola Ruffo di Calabria , birth_date = , birth_place = Belvédère Castle, Laeken, B ...

awarded Guylian with Belgium's highest export award and today 60% of sales are from exports outside of Europe. In 2012, the International Taste and Quality Institute gave Guylian's Sea Shells and Sea Horse pralines a score of 90% with their taste experts judging based on their impression, appearance, smell, texture and taste. They were also awarded the

Superior Taste Award The Superior Taste Award is an annual non-competitive prize open to any consumer food or drink product, subject to payment of an entry fee of Euro 750-1650. It is organised since 2005 by the International Taste Institute, who specialised in the s ...

and are one of few brands to receive three gold stars for their products. The Royal Belgian Committee for Distribution awarded Guylian two awards in 2015, a Corporate Social Responsibility award for their commitment to charity work and an award for innovation. Also in 2015, the Crunch Biscuit filled Sea Horse was released and won the Golden Archer Award for

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

and creativity. In 2017, Guylian's new chocolate covered fruits won a Superior Taste Award and the Blueberry's were awarded three gold stars while the Raisins and Cranberries received two stars. Guylian won another Corporate Social Responsibility Award in 2019 for its charitable contributions to

, it was awarded by the Tax-Free World Association at their awards night in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

. In 2018, the 7th biennial Seahorses of the World Photo Competition was held and sponsored by Guylian. It promotes seahorse conservation and allows divers to win awards for their submission of underwater images of Seahorses which are then used by Project Seahorse for scientific research.

Guinness World Record

The

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the largest chocolate Easter egg sculpture was awarded to Guylian in March 2005. In celebration of Easter traditions and the renovation of Sint-Niklaas market square the record-breaking egg was constructed with support from metal scaffolding and wooden panels. Twenty-six Guylian chocolatiers built the egg over eight days using around 50,000 Seashell Bars worth of Guylian chocolate totalling . The sculpture reached tall and wide and held the record until 2011 when a tall egg was built in Italy.

Products

Guylian's main product is a range of praline chocolates in the shape of seashells and seahorses. In 2005, Guylian released twist wrap boxed chocolates for sale in the United Kingdom to explore the market of everyday consumption rather than gift confectionary. They were made available in their Original Hazelnut Praline flavour, Creamy Strawberry, Orange Cream, Smooth Truffle, Mild Cappuccino and Crispy Caramel. Guylian released a vanilla flavour Sea Horse at the ISM confectionery exhibition in 2013 in an attempt to capture the market of customers who like “a more subtle taste to the traditional signature praline filling”. At this exhibition, the Perline chocolate was added to their assortment collection and contains a milk chocolate

truffle A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''Peziz ...

and hazelnut praline centre. To meet consumer requests for smaller portions, resealable pouches of chocolate-covered fruit pieces were released in 2016. These came as Milk Chocolate Coated Raisins, Dark Chocolate Coated Blueberries or Dark Chocolate Coated Cranberries''.'' Their assortment flavours at this time included white chocolate Matcha Green Tea, Latte Macchiato coffee, Crunchy Biscuit and Soft Caramel. In 2017, Guylian launched a

duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

exclusive range of mini pralines for its master's Selection luxury gift box. Traditional flavours were accompanied by new flavours including Coffee Cardamom, Caramel with Pineapple, Orange and berries, Earl Grey Tea and Ginger Lime. The previously successful flavours that appeared in this collection were the signature Hazelnut Praline, Raspberry, Crunch Hazelnut Praline, Almond Praline and Mocha. The box contained an assortment of 10 different flavoured miniature chocolates decorated with fine ingredients. Guylian introduced ‘No Sugar Added Bars’ which come in milk, dark or dark with cranberries and get their sweetness from

Maltitol Maltitol is a sugar alcohol (a polyol) used as a sugar substitute. It has 75–90% of the sweetness of sucrose (table sugar) and nearly identical properties, except for browning. It is used to replace table sugar because it is half as energetic, ...

, a natural sugar alternative. Guylian's Golden Gift Boxes are available in two sizes; 250g or 375g and are filled with roasted hazelnut praline Sea Shells.

Production method

The Guylian

production facility produces up to 75 tons of chocolates each day and still use Foubert's original recipe to make the Guylian

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...

praline filling. Sustainably sourced West African

cocoa bean The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances ...

s are used to make 100% pure

cocoa butter Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from the cocoa bean. It is used to make chocolate, as well as some ointments, toiletries, and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter has a cocoa flavor and aroma. Its melti ...

which gives Guylian's chocolate a creamy texture. In small batches Mediterranean hazelnuts are slowly roasted in copper kettles with sugar while chocolatiers monitor the temperature and observe their

caramelisation Caramelization is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting sweet nutty flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: caramelans (C24H36O18), caramelens (C36H50O25), and ...

. The roasted hazelnuts are then ground and blended with the cocoa butter to produce the roast hazelnut praline which is then piped into the chocolate shells. Foubert's wife also contributed to the creation of their chocolates by designing their look, Liliane created the sculptured seashell and seahorse shapes and furnished their shiny marble finish. Guylian's Stephen Candries comments, “The white and dark chocolate unique intertwining like the lives of the two lovers, an immortal tale of romance that is retold in every marbled seashell today.” GuyLian Siegel

Company icon

A seahorse is used as the company's icon although the chocolate seahorses tail curls the opposite way to real

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

s. Every Guylian Sea Shell features the "G stamp", a marking with the letter G to indicate that the product is made by Guylian. Export and Travel-Retail director of Guylian, Steven Candries explains “You can distinguish a true Guylian Sea Shell chocolate by the G-stamp it bears. This is our quality signature and the mark of an artist.”

Operations

Offices

Although Guylian is now a subsidiary of a South Korean company the head office remains where it was founded in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Subsidiary offices are situated globally with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Guylian office located in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, another in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, one in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and in 2018 Guylian Asia was set up in Hong Kong. In 2010, Guylian participated in the World Expo in China which raised brand awareness and a Guylian representative office existed in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

but was closed in 2014.

Production Site

Guylian was founded in Sint-Niklaas and seeks to ensure their production continues to be done in Belgium. They repeatedly invest in their Sint-Niklaas production site to meet their output requirements and new products. In 2016, Lotte financed a new

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

location and production line in Sint-Niklaas for €6.8 million with aims to complete updates by mid-2017.

Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafés

Guylian expanded their

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

concept internationally in 2008 when an outlet was opened in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. Following the cafe's success, two more Guylian Belgian Chocolate cafes were set up in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

by 2011. In 2015, the first

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

café opened in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

and plans were made to multiply the number of outlets in both countries. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

the aim was to have a café in every state and increase to 30 cafes Australia-wide; Guylian believed it would lift the brands profile and boost their sales in

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s. In 2018, the first Guylian Café was opened in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

and soon after two more were developed. By the end of 2020 Guylian intends to have three more stores in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

has a Guylian Café in their

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

and there is another outlet in the Lotte Duty Free Star Lounge. Located in

Myeong-dong Myeongdong () is a dong in Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea between Chungmu-ro, Eulji-ro, and Namdaemun-ro. It covers 0.99km² with a population of 3,409 and is mostly a commercial area, being one of Seoul's main shopping, parade route and tourism ...

, this café is VIP and has unique menus developed by three

Michelin-starred The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

Belgian chef Peter Goossens.

Charity Partnerships

Project Seahorse

Since 1998, Guylian have been a major sponsor of the

marine conservation group and over this time have reportedly donated more than €1.75 million to

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is in ...

efforts. Project Seahorse is an international organisation from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

that looks after

marine ecosystems Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surf ...

and finds solutions to conservation issues affecting wild

s. Guylian raise awareness for Project Seahorse's efforts through posts on their social media, messages on their website and a conservation message printed on the back of every box of their chocolates. They have also run

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

activities to raise awareness such as school education programs and seahorse photo competitions. The Guylian Seahorses of the World Photo Competition is held every two years to gather and judge pictures and videos of wild seahorses from all over the world. The submissions are added to the iSeahorse platform

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

and are used for scientific research and education programs to improve understanding of

s and their

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s by analysing the worldwide distribution of seahorse species. The iSeahorse and app website allows anyone to share images of wild seahorses for science and to better understand the threats seahorses face and help protect them. Together with Guylian, Project Seahorse have helped to limit exportation of seahorses and protect threatened reefs in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and for their efforts won a

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...

Award in 2019.

Cocoa Horizons Foundations (Project Cocoa)

Guylian work with the

Barry Callebaut Barry Callebaut is a Belgian-Swiss cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer, with an average annual production of 2.3 million tonnes of cocoa & chocolate (fiscal year 2021/2022). It was created in 1996 through the merging of the Belgian ...

Cocoa Horizons foundation which is an independent

not for profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

group with aims to improve cocoa farmers working conditions and increase the sustainability of cocoa cultivation. Together they work on Project Cocoa to develop communities and protect the environment by introducing entrepreneurial farming. In 2018, Guylian removed

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

from their products and replaced it with sunflower oil and shea butter. This resulted in more sustainable chocolates which contained less sugar and saturated fat and aligned with their goals to become the leading Palm oil Free

Belgian Chocolate Belgian chocolate (french: chocolat belge, nl, Belgische chocolade) is chocolate produced in Belgium. A major industry since the 19th century, today it forms an important part of the Belgian economy, nation's economy and Culture of Belgium, cul ...

brand. They also aim to have 100% of their cocoa sustainably sourced by 2025.

References

External links

Guylian USAGuylian website worldwideGuylian Belgian Chocolate CaféLotteGuylian Taiwan
{{Lotte Lotte Corporation subsidiaries 2008 mergers and acquisitions Belgian chocolate companies Privately held companies of Belgium Companies based in East Flanders