Ritter Sport

Ritter Sport is a German chocolate bar made by Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG. It is distributed throughout the world. Each 100 gram square-shaped bar is divided into 16 smaller squares, creating a four-by-four pattern. Large bars weighing 250 grams and 16.5 gram mini bars are also available, although in fewer varieties.

Contents

History

In 1912, Alfred Ritter and newly wedded wife, Clara, founded a chocolate factory in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt. Later it introduced its own brand of chocolate named "Alrika (Alfred Ritter Cannstatt)." When production needs required a factory expansion, the company moved to Waldenbuch in 1930, a couple of miles outside Stuttgart. The chocolate brand Ritter's Sport Schokolade produced as the square tablet known today was launched in 1932 after Clara suggested creating a chocolate bar that would fit into every jacket pocket without breaking.[1]

The company's current 3rd generation owners are Alfred T. Ritter and his sister Marli Hoppe-Ritter. In 1990 they launched project(s) "Cacaonica", which supports organic cocoa agriculture and reforestation in Nicaragua and "[Ritter Solar]" now the European market leader of solar thermal products and Large solar thermal systems. The Ritter company owns a CHP power plant and buys additional electricity from renewable resources. The monomaterial chocolate packaging is designed to minimize its ecological footprint.

On the whole, their products are neither certified organic nor certified fair trade. However, in April 2008 they launched an organic product line called "Ritter Sport Bio".

The Ritter museum is a »Hommage to the square« - to describe the Sammlung Marli Hoppe-Ritter. The collection consists of nearly 600 paintings, objects, sculptures and graphic works, a breadth of painterly and sculptural confrontation with the square form used as the design for the Ritter chocolate.

Ritter's factory is located in Waldenbuch, outside of Stuttgart. They have a shop and museum there as well that is open to visitors.

Varieties

  1. Vollmilch – Plain milk chocolate (Royal Blue Wrapper)
  2. Schoko-Duo – Plain milk chocolate and white chocolate (Royal Blue Wrapper with chocolate bar on outside)
  3. Dunkle Vollmilch – Plain medium dark chocolate, 40% cacao (Azure Blue Wrapper)
  4. Halbbitter – Plain dark chocolate, 50% cacao (Burgundy Wrapper)
  5. Edelbitter – Plain dark chocolate, 71% cacao (Pink Wrapper)
  6. Knusperkeks – Milk chocolate with a butter biscuit (Brown Wrapper)
  7. Pfefferminz – Chocolate with peppermint filling (Caribbean Green Wrapper)
  8. Joghurt – Yogurt (White Wrapper)
  9. Erdbeer Joghurt – Milk chocolate strawberry and yogurt filling (Light Pink Wrapper)
  10. Voll-Nuss – Milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts (Brown Wrapper with Hazelnut-Pattern)
  11. Dunkle Voll-Nuss – Dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts (Dark Brown Wrapper with Hazelnut-Pattern)
  12. Weiße Voll-Nuss – White chocolate with whole hazelnuts (White/Cream Wrapper with Hazelnut-Pattern)
  13. Knusperflakes – Milk chocolate with corn flakes (Golden Yellow Wrapper)
  14. Voll Erdnuss – Milk chocolate with whole peanuts (Orange Wrapper)
  15. Ganze Mandel – Milk chocolate with whole almonds (Dark Green Wrapper)
  16. Marzipan – Dark chocolate with marzipan center (Red Wrapper)
  17. Cocos – Milk chocolate with flakes of coconut in the center (Silver Wrapper)
  18. Trauben-Nuss – Milk chocolate with raisins and hazelnut pieces (Carmine Red Wrapper)
  19. Rum Trauben Nuss – Milk chocolate with rum-soaked raisins and hazelnut pieces (Crimson Red Wrapper)
  20. Cappuccino – Milk chocolate and cappuccino cream (Amber Wrapper)
  21. Alpenmilch – Special milk chocolate with high alpine milk proportion (Sky Blue Wrapper)
  22. Nugat – Milk chocolate with hazelnut-nougat center (Midnight Blue Wrapper)
  23. Feinherb à la Mousse au Chocolat – dark chocolate filled with chocolate mousse (Bistre Wrapper)
  24. Williams Birne Trüffel – dark chocolate filled with Poire Williams pear brandy mousse
  25. Karamel Nuss - Milk Chocolate with butter caramel cream dropped hazelnuts and crispy rice (Golden yellow wrapper)
  26. Haselnuss – Milk chocolate with hazelnuts
  27. Praline – Milk chocolate with hazelnut praline filling. (Navy Wrapper)
  28. Neapolitan - Milk Chocolate with neapolitan wafers, made with a hazelnut cream filled wafers and praline. (medium dark orange wrapper)

Special Varieties

From time to time, various special and limited edition flavours are released, sometimes with seasonal themes. For example, Marc de Champagne contained a truffle-like center with a champagne flavour and 'Yogurt ai Frutti di Bosco' contained a punchy sour berry center to complement the sweet milk chocolate.

2011 Varieties

  1. Alpensahne Praline – Alpine milk chocolate with praline creme.
  2. Weiss + Crisp – White chocolate with crisp.
  3. Haselnusse Krokant – Milk chocolate with crispy hazelnuts.

Organic Varieties

  1. Mandelsplitter – Milk chocolate with chopped almonds.
  2. Macadamia – Milk chocolate with chopped macadamia nuts.
  3. Trauben-Cashew – Milk chocolate with chopped cashew nuts and raisins.
  4. Vollmilch 35% – Milk chocolate with 35% cacao.
  5. Feinherb 60% – Dark chocolate with 60% cacao.

Slogans

Motto 1

Motto 2

"Qualität im Quadrat."

Literal translation used on English language packaging: "Quality in a square." English packaging now features "Quality. Chocolate. Squared." to provide a similar pun.

Motto 3

"Knick Knack auf Zack."

Literal translation in English language would be: "Knick Knack to be up to snuff." The first two terms are the clicking noises that you are supposed to hear when breaking the chocolate bar twice in the middle. This motto aired on German TV in the early 1990s.

Mascot

Ritter Sport is sometimes represented by "Quadrago", a banner-carrying baby dragon. This may be partly attributed to the German word "Ritter" meaning "Knight".

In Popular Culture

Ritter Sport bars are referenced to comic effect in the BBC Radio Four convenience store comedy Fags, Mags and Bags.

References

  1. ^ "Our chocolate history". ritter-sport. http://www.ritter-sport.com/#/en_GB/company/history/. 

External links