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Leonidas is a registered
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 ot ...
of the agri-food company Confiserie Leonidas S.A. The
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 nation's economy and culture. The raw materials used in c ...
company was founded in 1913 by
Leonidas Kestekides Leonidas Kestekides (1876 - 1948) was an Ottoman empire-born Belgian chocolate manufacturer, founder of the internationally famous Leonidas company in Belgium. The company's primary focus is pralines (chocolate shells with soft fillings), but th ...
. The company is
ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO ...
and
FSSC 22000 The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a private organization working as a "Coalition of Action" from The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) bringing together retailers and brand owners (manufacturers) from across the CGF membership operating as multis ...
certified. As of 2019, the brand has more than 1,030 points of sale (including 450 stores 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 ...
and
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, and 290 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 ...
) in 32 countries, the majority of which are
franchises Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television ...
and around 40 are
subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...
.


History

Born in 1882 in Nigdi,
Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
, a politically and economically unstable region, Leonidas Georges Kestekides made a living by selling "granitas", a kind of
sorbet Sorbet (), also called "water ice", is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, wine, liqueur, honey, etc. Generally sorbets do not contain dairy ingredients, while sherbets do. Etymology The word "sorbet" en ...
, and other sweets with his brother, Avraam. In 1900, he decided to move to 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
where he became a confectioner. In 1910, Leonidas participated at the
World Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
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 ...
, where he won the bronze medal alongside the Greek delegation. While in Brussels, he met Joanna Emelia Teerlinck. Together, they moved to
Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
, where the
International Exhibition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
was held in 1913. There he won the gold medal and opened his first
tearoom A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...
at 34 Veldstraat. From 1922 onwards, members of Leonidas' family joined him in Belgium to work alongside him. Among them was his brother Dimitrios’ son, Vassilios Kestekides, who they later called Basilio, and whom Leonidas mentored. Leonidas was creative, and Basilio had a good head for business; together they came up with many ideas to expand the company's activities. The business was expanding to scales larger than Ghent. As such, Leonidas left to open the "Pâtisserie Centrale Leonidas" in Brussels, on rue Paul Delvaux, and left the management of the Ghent tearoom to the rest of his family. Basilio joined him. Once in Brussels, things went well for Basilio. He worked hard; at night he made his chocolates in his small workshop near the capital's main square, on rue du Vieux Marché aux Grains. In the morning, he drove a horse-drawn cart among the surrounding neighbourhoods, selling his delicacies. In 1935, after being accused by the police of
street trading A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of landform, land adjoining buildings in an urban area, urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as ...
, he was ordered to sell his products in a store. As a result, he rented a room in a building at 58 Boulevard Anspach. But given the small size of this room, which did not even have a door onto the main street, only one possibility remained: open the only window and display his chocolates on the windowsill. This was a revolutionary idea that allowed passers-by to enjoy the delicious scent of chocolate products and buy chocolates on the spot. Selling through a sliding
sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...
would remain the trademark of the brand for decades. In 1937, he officially registered his brand with the City of Brussels. The brand's font and logo were chosen by Basilio Kestekides in honor of the Greek roots of his uncle. He used the
effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...
of the
King of Sparta For most of its history, the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta in the Peloponnese was ruled by kings. Sparta was unusual among the Greek city-states in that it maintained its kingship past the Archaic age. It was even more unusual in that it had ...
,
Leonidas I Leonidas I (; grc-gre, Λεωνίδας; died 19 September 480 BC) was a king of the Greek city-state of Sparta, and the 17th of the Agiad line, a dynasty which claimed descent from the mythological demigod Heracles. Leonidas I was son of Kin ...
, who died in the
Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae ( ; grc, Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν, label= Greek, ) was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lastin ...
during his opposition to the
Second Persian invasion of Greece The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasio ...
. Leonidas died on 20 February 1948. More motivated than ever to 'make luxury accessible to all', Basilio decided to expand his workshop to produce more, and thus better meet growing consumer demand. Leonidas' philosophy has never been to turn its chocolates into a scarce product in order to sell them at higher prices, but rather to increase production to keep the prices low. The brand's signs alone were used to advertise the business up to the early 1980s. However, in 1985, Leonidas was forced to publish an advertisement in all national newspapers. Very curiously, rather than promoting its products, Leonidas sent a message that was a first in the history of advertising; it asked people who were interested in selling chocolates to stop sending requests to open a shop because production could not keep up with demand. Leonidas' chocolates are made without
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 fr ...
.. They are made with
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 nation's economy and culture. The raw materials used in c ...
and
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 melt ...
. Leonidas' principal chocolate is the "Manon". It was Basilio, Leonidas’ nephew, who introduced the Manon to the Leonidas range. At the time, the Manon, filled with a
butter cream Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing or frosting, is used for either filling, coating or decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar. Buttercream is commonly flavored with vanilla. Other common flavors a ...
on a crunchy
nougatine Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts, and which are usually less than 1 cm thick. Types It has many variations around the world, such as '' ...
base, was dipped in melted sugar using a fork. In his quest to create a diverse range of products, Basilio wanted to experiment with a
white chocolate White chocolate is a confectionery typically made of sugar, milk, and cocoa butter. It is pale ivory colored, and lacks many of the compounds found in milk and dark chocolates. It is solid at room temperature because the melting point of cocoa ...
coating. A few years later, he placed the butter cream on a white chocolate praliné base instead of a nougatine base. Even as late as 1980, the Manon was still handmade: each and every
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
kernel was placed in the praline by hand. Faced with increasing demand for Leonidas products, Yanni, Basilio's brother, wanted to automate the production processes and operate under stricter hygiene rules. Since the walnut could not be roasted and the storage conditions for this dry fruit were tricky, he replaced it with the
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 ...
, which could be roasted and kept better. Yanni put the finishing touches to his Manon and the recipe, which has remained unchanged since then. As the company grew, Basilio asked his second brother, Alexandre, to come and help him. Alexandre's scientific knowledge, especially of chemistry, allowed him to carry out research to develop a range of chocolates: this meant new flavors and new manufacturing processes. Alexandre built the company's first machine. On 15 November 2013, the company became a certified purveyor to the Belgian royal household. The level of brand awareness was 91% in 2018. Leonidas has been a family business ever since it was founded. Leonidas celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013.


References


External links

* {{Official website, http://www.leonidas.com
Leonidas Chocolates Serving the USA since 1991

Leonidas USA website
Belgian brands Belgian chocolate companies Manufacturing companies based in Brussels Food and drink companies established in 1913 Belgian companies established in 1913