Lindt

Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG, doing business as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company founded in 1845 and known for its chocolate truffles and chocolate bars, among other sweets. It is based in Kilchberg, where its main factory and museum are located.

History

Founding and early years

The origins of the company date back to 1836, when David Sprüngli-Schwarz (1776–1862) and his son Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann (1816–1897) bought a small confectionery shop in the old town of Zürich, producing chocolates under the name David Sprüngli & Son. Before they moved to Paradeplatz in 1845, they established a small factory where they produced their chocolate in solidified form in 1838.

When Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann retired in 1892, he gave two equal parts of the business to his sons. The younger brother David Robert received two confectionery stores that became known under the name Confiserie Sprüngli. The elder brother Johann Rudolf received the chocolate factory. To raise the necessary finances for his expansion plans, Johann Rudolf then converted his private company into "Chocolat Sprüngli AG" in 1899. In that same year, he acquired the chocolate factory of Rodolphe Lindt (1855–1909) in Bern, and the company changed its name to "Aktiengesellschaft Vereinigte Berner und Zürcher Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli" (United Bern and Zurich Lindt and Sprungli Chocolate Factory Ltd.).

In 1934, Lindt started to produce milk chocolate. Until then, it only produced dark chocolate.

Expansion

In 1994, Lindt & Sprüngli acquired the Austrian chocolatier Hofbauer Österreich and integrated it, along with its Küfferle brand, into the company. In 1997 and 1998, respectively, the company acquired the Italian chocolatier Caffarel and the American chocolatier Ghirardelli, and integrated both of them into the company as wholly-owned subsidiaries. Since then, Lindt & Sprüngli has expanded the once-regional Ghirardelli to the international market.

On 17 March 2009, Lindt announced the closure of 50 of its 80 retail boutiques in the United States because of weaker demand in the wake of the late-2000s recession.

Recent developments

On 14 July 2014, Lindt bought Russell Stover Candies, maker of Whitman's Chocolate, for about $1 billion, the company's largest acquisition to date.

In November 2018, Lindt opened its first American travel retail store in JFK Airport's Terminal 1 and its flagship Canadian shop in Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lindt announced that it would halt commercial operations in Russia on a temporary basis.

Factories

Lindt & Sprüngli has 12 factories: Kilchberg, Switzerland; Aachen, Germany; Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France; Induno Olona, Italy; Gloggnitz, Austria; and Stratham, New Hampshire, in the United States. The factory in Gloggnitz, Austria, manufactures products under the Hofbauer & Küfferle brand in addition to the Lindt brand. Caffarel's factory is located in Luserna San Giovanni, Italy, and Ghirardelli's factory is located in San Leandro, California, in the United States. Furthermore, there are four more factories of Russell Stover in the United States including locations in Corsicana, Texas, Abilene, Kansas, and Iola, Kansas.

Since 2020, the main factory of Kilchberg includes a visitor centre and museum, referred to as ''Lindt Home of Chocolate''. The museum notably displays the world's largest chocolate fountain, measuring over nine metres tall and containing 1,500 litres of chocolate, flowing from a giant whisk.

Lindt chocolate cafés and stores

Lindt has opened over 410 chocolate cafés and shops all over the world. The cafés' menu mostly focuses on chocolate and desserts. Lindt chocolate cafés also sell handmade chocolates, macaroons, cakes, and ice cream.

On 15 December 2014, 18 people, including eight staff, were held hostage at a Lindt cafe in Sydney. Three people, including the gunman, died in the incident.

Products

Lindor

''Lindor'' is a Lindt's brand introduced as a chocolate bar in 1949 and later in 1967 in the form of a chocolate truffle. It is now characterized by a hard chocolate shell and a smooth chocolate filling. The ball or bar are available in an array of flavors, each with a distinctive color wrapper:

Most of the US Lindor truffles are manufactured in Stratham, New Hampshire.

In 2009, Swiss tennis star Roger Federer was named as Lindt's "global brand ambassador", and began appearing in a series of commercials endorsing Lindor.

Seasonal confectioneries

The Lindt group also produces the ''Gold Bunny'', a hollow milk chocolate rabbit in a variety of sizes available every Easter since 1952. Each bunny wears a small colored ribbon bow around its neck identifying the type of chocolate contained within. The milk chocolate bunny wears a red ribbon, the dark chocolate bunny wears a dark brown ribbon, the hazelnut bunny wears a green ribbon, and the white chocolate bunny wears a white ribbon. Other chocolates are wrapped to look like carrots, chicks, or lambs. The lambs are packaged with four white lambs and one black lamb.

During the Christmas season, Lindt produces a variety of items, including chocolate reindeer (which somewhat resemble the classic bunny), Santa, snowmen figures of various sizes, bears, bells, advent calendars, and chocolate ornaments. Various tins and boxes are available in the Lindt stores, the most popular colour schemes being the red and blue. Other seasonal items include Lindt chocolate novelty golf balls.

For St. Valentine's Day, Lindt sells a boxed version of the Gold Bunny, which comes as a set of two kissing bunnies. Other Valentine's Day seasonal items include a selection of heart-shaped boxes of Lindt chocolate truffles.

Due to the 3rd UK lockdown and with all chocolate shops shut, Lindt has begun offering virtual tasting sessions (Feb 2021) with LINDT EXCELLENCE chocolatiers. The experiences can be bought online from their website and include a box of chocolates which are delivered, along with details of how to book the one-hour tasting.

Chocolate bars

Lindt sells a variety of chocolate bars. Flavors from the Excellence range include:
* Mint Intense: dark chocolate infused with mint
* Lime Intense: dark chocolate infused with lime
* Orange Intense: dark chocolate infused with orange essence and almond flakes
* Blackcurrant: dark chocolate infused with pieces of blackcurrant and almond slivers
* White Coconut: white chocolate with crisp flakes of fine coconut
* Coconut: dark chocolate with crisp flakes of coconut
* Almond: white chocolate with whole roasted almonds and caramelized almond pieces
* Poire Intense: pear flavoured chocolate with almond flakes
* Pineapple: dark chocolate with pineapple pieces and caramelized hazelnut pieces
* Cherry Intense
* Regular Dark Chocolate: available in 50%, 60%, 70%, 78%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 99%, or 100% cocoa varieties
* Extra Creamy: milk chocolate
* Toffee Crunch: crunchy toffee bits wrapped in milk chocolate
* Caramel Crunchy: studded with crunchy caramel
* Lindor: the famous balls but in cube form
* Wasabi: an East Asian-inspired dark chocolate mixed with wasabi
* Pistachio: milk chocolate with creamy pistachio filling
* Mandarin: milk chocolate with creamy mandarin filling
* Strawberry: milk chocolate with creamy white chocolate strawberry filling
* Strawberry Margarita: capsule form with strawberry and margarita filling
* White Strawberry: white chocolate with strawberry pieces
* Orange: milk chocolate with creamy orange-flavoured filling
* Cuba: 55% cocoa, single-origin Cuban cocoa
* Madagascar: 70% cocoa, single-origin Madagascar cocoa
* Ecuador: 75% cocoa, single-origin Ecuadorian cocoa
* Vanilla: white chocolate with vanilla beans
* Coffee
* Chili: 70% cocoa dark chocolate with red chilli extract
* Raspberry Intense Dark: dark chocolate with pieces of raspberries and almond slivers
* A Touch of Sea Salt: dark chocolate seasoned with ''fleur de sel''

Petits desserts

Lindt "Petits Desserts" range embodies famous European desserts in a small cube of chocolate. Flavors include: Tarte au Chocolat, Crème Brûlée, Tiramisu, Creme Caramel, Tarte Citron, Meringue, and Noir Orange.

Lindt makes a "Creation" range of chocolate-filled cubes: Milk Mousse, Dark Milk Mousse, White Milk Mousse, Chocolate Mousse, Orange Mousse, Pistachio and Cherry/Chili.

Liqueurs

Bâtons Kirsch are Lindt Kirsch liqueur-filled, chocolate-enclosed tubes dusted in cocoa powder.

Ice cream

In Australia, Lindt manufactures ice cream in various flavors:

*70% Dark Chocolate
*White Chocolate Framboise
*Sable Cookies and Cream
*Chocolate Chip Hazelnut
*White Chocolate and Vanilla Bean

Products gallery

Lindt chocolate sundae.jpg, Ice cream
Chocoladetruffels Lindt.JPG, Chocolate truffles
Chocolats Lindt Création Dessert Fondant chocolat - 2.jpg, Bonbon
Chocolats Lindt Création Dessert Tiramisu - 1.jpg, Bonbon
Chocolats Lindt Création Dessert Fondant chocolat - 1.jpg, Bonbon
Lindt Weihnachtsmann.JPG, Christmas chocolate
Lindt Mousse.jpg, Mousse
Lindt Swiss Luxury Selection 195g - panoramio.jpg, Chocolate box

Criticism

In September 2017, an investigation conducted by NGO Mighty Earth found that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Lindt and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world's two largest cocoa producers. Mighty Earth's 2019 annual "Easter Chocolate Shopping Guide" awarded The Good Egg Award to Lindt "for greatest improvement in sustainable policies". However, in terms of agroforestry, Lindt scored only a yellow rating, the second highest of 4, for Agroforestry and a red ('needs to catch up with the industry) for Agrochemical Management on the 202
Chocolate Scorecard
which since 2020 is a collaboration between Mighty Earth
Be Slavery Free
and other NGOs.

In August 2020, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS) opened up an antitrust case against Lindt after a failed response from the company a year earlier. The regulators have found quality differences for the same Lindt products in Russia over what is being sold in Western Markets without informing Russian consumers. According to the FAS, such behavior of foreign producers can lead to a redistribution of demand in the market and lead to unjustified benefits over other competitors, as companies like Lindt can still garner Russian demand for their products through brand recognition alone without delivering the same quality as in Western Europe. Lindt responded and denied that there are differences for its products sold in Russia and the EU, except for labeling.

See also

* List of bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindt and Sprungli
Brand name chocolate
Swiss chocolate companies
Companies established in 1845
Companies listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange
Food and drink companies established in 1845
Luxury brands
Multinational companies headquartered in Switzerland
Swiss brands
Swiss confectionery
Companies based in the canton of Zürich
Museums in the canton of Zürich