Theodor Tobler (24 January 1876 – 4 May 1941) was a Swiss
chocolatier
A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients.
Education and training
Traditionally, chocolatiers, ...
and businessman, best known as the creator, along with Emil Baumann, of the
Swiss chocolate
Swiss chocolate is chocolate produced in Switzerland. While cacao beans and other ingredients such as sugar cane originate from outside Switzerland, the actual production of the chocolate must take place in Switzerland. Switzerland's chocolates h ...
brand
Toblerone
Toblerone ( , ) is a Swiss chocolate brand produced in Bern. Toblerone is known for its distinctive shape, a series of joined triangular prisms and lettering engraved in the chocolate.
Since 2012, the brand has been owned by US company Mondele ...
.
Early life
Tobler was born on 24 January 1876 in Bern to Johann Jakob Tobler (1830-1905), a
confectioner
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...
from
Lutzenberg
Lutzenberg is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. Its hamlet of Tobel is listed as a heritage site of national significance.
History
Lutzenberg is first mentioned in 1634 as ''Lutzenberg''. Lutzenberg, Heiden ...
, a town in Appenzell Ausserrhoden near the Austrian border, and Adeline Lorenz Tobler (née Baumann). He attended school in Bern from 1885 to 1892, but left without graduating. After receiving a commercial education in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, Tobler entered his father's business in 1894.
As their demand increased in the following years, in 1899 Johann Jakob Tobler transformed the confectionery shop into a chocolate factory, naming it ''Fabrique de Chocolat Berne, Tobler & Cie''. In 1900, the company was handed over to Tobler by his father.
Career
In 1908, Tobler and his cousin Emil Baumann, the company's production manager, created the Toblerone chocolate bar, naming the product as a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordstorrone'', the Italian word for honey and almond
nougat
Nougat ( , ; ; az, nuqa; fa, نوقا) is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are common), whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. ...
. Tobler applied for a patent for the Toblerone manufacturing process in Bern in 1909. The brand was trademarked the same year at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property
The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (French: ''Institut fédéral de la propriété intellectuelle'', IPI; German: ''Eidgenössisches Institut für Geistiges Eigentum'', IGE; Italian: ''Istituto federale della proprietà intellet ...
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
.
Tobler left the company in 1933 and bought the Klameth confectionery firm in Bern in 1934. After attempts to manufacture
chewing gum
Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its t ...
at Klameth were unsuccessful, the company acquired the distribution rights in Switzerland for the Wrigley chewing gum. In 1937 he founded the enterprise Typon AG, in Burgdorf, which produced films for the graphic industry.
He was a witness at the Bern Trial on behalf of the
freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
. Tobler died in Bern on 4 May 1941.
Personal life
Tobler was first married to Theda Born, from 1903 until their divorce in 1919, then to Bertha Eschmann after 1919. He was a member of the
masonic lodge
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
''zur Hoffnung'' of Bern from 1902.
A pacifist and
pan-european
Pan-European can refer to:
* Pan-European identity
* Pan-European corridors
** Pan-European Corridor X
** Pan-European Corridor Xa
* Pan European Game Information
* Pan-European Institute
* Pan-European nationalism
* Pan-European Oil Pipeline
...
, of the ''Europa Union'', an organization supportive of European federalism, predecessor of the present-day , which advocates Switzerland's full entry into the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
.
See also
*
List of chocolatiers
This is a list of notable chocolatiers. A chocolatier is a person or business who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients.
Chocolatiers
* ...