Swiss chocolate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Switzerland's chocolates, together with its timepieces and machinery, have earned an international reputation for high quality.
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[edit] History
Chocolate came to Europe in the 16th century. By the 17th century it was produced in Switzerland. In the 18th century chocolate was only produced in a few areas, such as the Ticino.
In the 17th century the following chocolate factories were founded:
- 1819 - Cailler in Vevey (today Nestlé)
- 1826 - Suchard in Serrières (today Kraft Foods)
- 1826 - Favarger in Geneva
- 1830 - Kohler in Lausanne (today Nestlé)
- 1836 - Sprüngli in Zurich, company split into Confiserie Sprüngli and Lindt & Sprüngli in 1892
- 1852 - Maestrani in Luzern (today in Flawil)
- 1862 - Klaus in Le Locle
- 1867 - Peter in Lausanne (today Nestlé)
- 1879 - Lindt in Berne (today Lindt & Sprüngli)
- 1887 - Frey in Aarau (today Migros)
- 1899 - Tobler in Berne (today Kraft Foods), among other things with the mark Toblerone
- 1901 - Chocolat de Villars in Villars sur Glâne
- 1929 - Camille Bloch in Courtelary
- 1932 - Bernrain in Kreuzlingen
- 1933 - Chocolats Halba in Wallisellen [1]
In the second half of the 19th century Swiss Chocolate started to spread abroad. Closely linked to this was the invention of Milk Chocolate by Daniel Peter and the invention of Conchierens by Rodolphe Lindt.
[edit] Sales Market
From the 19th century until the the First World War and throughout the second world war the Swiss chocolate industry was very export orientated. After the Second World War Switzerland began to outsource production due to commercial restrictions.
Today most Swiss chocolate is consumed by the Swiss themselves (54% in 2000), and Switzerland has the highest per capita rate of chocolate consumption world wide (11.6 kg per capita per annum).
In 2004 148 270 tonnes of chocolate were produced in Switzerland. 53% of this was exported (20% to Germany, 11% to France and Great Britain and 13% to North America). The gross income of the Swiss chocolate industry in 2004 was 1 365 million CHF (814 million from the local market, 551 million from exports).
[edit] Industry Structure
In 1901 Swiss chocolate producers created the Union libre des fabricants suisses de chocolat . In 1916, this was divided into the Chambre syndicale des fabricants suisses de chocolat and the Convention chocolatière suisse. The former "Chambre syndicale" (today the Chocosuisse) protects the interests of Swiss chocolate producers. The "Convention chocolatière" focused on the quality of the chocolate and sought a uniform price stratergy. In 1994 the Convention was disbanded.
[edit] References
Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent German-language wikipedia article (retrieved October 10, 2006). The following references are cited by that German-language article:
- Alain J. Bourgard: CH comme Chocolat, 2003, ISBN 2-8321-0036-8
