François-Louis Cailler

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François-Louis Cailler (1796 – 1852) was the first Swiss producer of chocolate.

He first tasted Italian chocolate at a local fair and spent four years in Italy learning the art of chocolate making. When he returned to Switzerland, he set up the first Swiss chocolate factory in Corsier, near Vevey in 1819. In 1825, he opened a second factory, which he later sold to his son Julian and son-in-law Daniel Peter.

His great innovation was the development of a smooth chocolate that could be formed into bars. This was a world-wide sensation.

In 1875, Daniel Peter had the idea of combining the chocolate with his neighbor Henri Nestlé's condensed milk to make milk chocolate. The Caillers and Peter eventually merged with the operation of Charles-Amédée Kohler (the inventor of hazelnut chocolate) to form the firm of Peter, Cailler, Kohler. They were acquired by Nestlé, which had become a manufacturing giant, in 1929.