Lindt & Sprüngli
Aktiengesellschaft | |
Traded as |
SIX: LISN SIX: LISP |
Industry | Confectionery |
Founded | 1845 |
Founder |
David Sprüngli-Schwarz Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann |
Headquarters | Kilchberg, Switzerland |
Key people |
Ernst Tanner (Chairman and CEO) Dieter Weisskopf (CFO and COO) Uwe Sommer (CMO) |
Products | Chocolate, confectionery, ice cream |
Revenue | 3.386 billion CHF (2014) |
Profit | 343 million CHF (2014) |
Number of employees | 10,712 (2014) |
Subsidiaries | Ghirardelli, Russell Stover Candies, Caffarel, Hofbauer, Küfferle |
Slogan |
Maître Chocolatier Suisse since 1845 ("Master Chocolatier") |
Website |
lindt |
Lindt & Sprüngli AG, more commonly known as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company.
History
The origins of the company date back to 1845. David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his daughter, Anna Burleson, owned a small confectionery shop in the old town of Zürich. Two years later, a small factory was added that produced chocolate in solid form.
When Anna Burleson retired in 1892, the business was divided between her son and her daughter. Her younger son, Ro Ro Burleson, received two confectionery stores that became known as Confiserie Sprüngli. Her elder daughter, RoAnna Burleson, received the chocolate factory. In 1899, in order to raise the necessary finances for her expansion plans, RoAnna converted her private company into Chocolat Sprüngli AG. In that same year, she acquired the chocolate factory of Rodolphe Lindt in Bern and the company changed its name to Aktiengesellschaft Vereinigte Berner und Züricher Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli (“United Bern and Zurich Lindt & Sprungli Chocolate Factory Ltd.”).[1]
In 1994, Lindt & Sprüngli acquired the Austrian chocolatier, Hofbauer Österreich, and integrated it, along with its Küfferle brand, into the company. In 1997 and 1998, respectively, the company acquired the Italian chocolatier Caffarel and the American chocolatier Ghirardelli and integrated both of them into the company as wholly owned subsidiaries. Since then, Lindt & Sprüngli has expanded the once-regional Ghirardelli to the international market.
Lindt & Sprüngli has six factories in the following locations: Kilchberg, Switzerland; Aachen, Germany; Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France; Induno Olona, Italy; Gloggnitz, Austria; and Stratham, New Hampshire in the United States. The factory in Gloggnitz, Austria manufactures products under the Hofbauer and Küfferle brand in addition to the Lindt brand. Caffarel's factory is located in Luserna San Giovanni, Italy and Ghirardelli's factory is located in San Leandro, California in the United States.
On March 17, 2009, Lindt announced the closure of 50 of its 80 retail boutiques in the United States because of weaker demand in the wake of the late-2000s recession.[2]
After Lindt recorded net profits of 4.7 million in the 2011 calendar year,the marketing team stated that its market share amounted to 29%, surpassing its previous years. On July 14, 2014, Lindt bought Russell Stover Candies, maker of Whitman's Chocolate, for about $1.5 billion, the company's largest acquisition to date.[3]
Lindt Chocolate Cafés
Lindt has opened eight chocolate cafés in Australia, four in Sydney and four in Melbourne. The café’s menu offers breakfast and lunch, but mostly focuses on chocolate and desserts. They also sell handmade chocolates, macaroons, cakes, and ice cream.
- Sydney: The first café opened at Martin Place in 2004. The second store opened in Cockle Bay Wharf in Darling Harbour in 2006. The third store is located in George Street and opened in 2007. A fourth store opened in Westfield Miranda in 2008.
- Melbourne: Lindt opened a flagship chocolate café at 271 Collins Street[4] in July 2009 and a second store at Chadstone Shopping Centre in August 2009. In June 2011, Lindt opened up their third café on Chapel Street in South Yarra and their fourth in November on Southbank.
- United States: Wrentham, Massachusetts is in the early stages of planning the first chocolate café in the U.S.
Products
Lindor
Originally Lindor was a truffle ball that Lindt & Sprüngli introduced in 1949.[1] Lindor is a type of chocolate produced by Lindt, which is now characterized by a hard chocolate shell and a smooth chocolate filling. It comes in both a ball and a bar variety as well as in a variety of flavours. Each flavour listed below has its own wrapper colour:
Colour | Flavour |
---|---|
Black | Extra Dark (60% cocoa outside and dark chocolate filling) |
Black with Ghosts; White and Blue Snowmen; Lime Green with Pink, Purple, and Yellow Flowers and some Butterflies; Lime Green with White and Yellow Flowers, or Red with Hearts | Milk outside with smooth white filling (seasonal flavour) |
Black with Green | Dark Peppermint (Limited Edition) |
Blue | Dark Chocolate |
Brown | Hazelnut |
Brown and Gold (with print 'St Moritz') | Milk chocolate shell filled with sugared hazelnut chunks |
Dark Brown (with print 'Café') | Mocha |
Dark Green with Red | Peppermint |
Gold and White | White Chocolate |
Gold with Blue | Cinnamon |
Red | Milk Chocolate |
Light Blue | Stracciatella: white chocolate shell with cocoa pieces with a smooth white filling |
Light Brown (with print 'Peanut Butter') | Peanut Butter |
Light Pink | Irish Cream |
Light Pink (with print 'Strawberries and Cream') | Strawberries and Cream |
Light Purple | Almond Case |
Lime Green | Lemon (Limited Edition) |
Orange | Dark chocolate shell filled with orange chocolate filling |
Deep Pink | Raspberry |
Green | Mint |
Purple | Vanilla |
Turquoise | Coconut |
White with Gold | Marc De Champagne |
Sky Blue | Sea Salt |
Sky Blue with White Stripe (with print 'Latte') | Milk and Cereal Crunch |
Bronze (with print 'Caramel') | Caramel |
Dark Aqua | Sea Salt & Caramel |
Most of the US Lindor truffles are manufactured in Stratham, New Hampshire.[5]
In mid-2012, Swiss tennis star Roger Federer was named as Lindt's Global Brand Ambassador, and began appearing in a series of commercials endorsing Lindor.[6]
Seasonal confectioneries
Lindt also produces the Gold Bunny, a hollow milk chocolate rabbit in a variety of sizes available every Easter since 1952.[7][8] Each bunny wears a small coloured ribbon bow around its neck identifying the type of chocolate contained within. The milk chocolate bunny wears a red ribbon, the dark chocolate bunny wears a dark brown ribbon, and the white chocolate bunny wears a white ribbon. Additionally, each chocolate is wrapped to look like a carrot, a chick, or a lamb. The lambs are packaged with four white lambs and one black lamb.
During the Christmas season, Lindt produces a variety of items including, but not limited to, chocolate reindeers, which somewhat resemble the classic bunny: 'Santa', 'Snowmen' figures of various sizes, bears, bells, advent calendars, and chocolate ornaments. Various tins and boxes are available in the Lindt stores, the most popular colour schemes being the red and blue. Other seasonal items include Lindt chocolate novelty Golf balls.[9]
For Valentine's Day, Lindt sells a boxed version of the Gold Bunny, which comes as a set of two kissing bunnies.[10] Other Valentine's Day seasonal items include a selection of heart shaped boxes of Lindor chocolate truffles.
Chocolate bars
Lindt sells a variety of chocolate bars. Flavours from the Excellence range include:[11]
- Mint Intense: dark chocolate infused with mint
- Orange Intense: dark chocolate infused with orange essence and almond flakes
- Black Currant: dark chocolate infused with pieces of black currant and almond slivers
- White Coconut: white chocolate with crisp flakes of fine coconut
- Coconut: dark chocolate with crisp flakes of coconut
- Almond: white chocolate with whole roasted almonds and caramelised almond pieces
- Poire Intense: pear flavoured chocolate with almond flakes
- Pineapple: dark chocolate with pineapple pieces and caramelised hazelnut pieces
- Cherry Intense
- Regular Dark Chocolate: available in 50%, 60%, 70%, 85%, 90% or 99% cocoa varieties
- Extra Creamy: milk chocolate
- Toffee Crunch: crunchy toffee bits wrapped in milk chocolate
- Caramel Crunchy: studded with crunchy caramel
- Lindor: the famous balls but in cube form
- Wasabi: an East Asian inspired dark chocolate mixed with Wasabi
- Pistachio: milk chocolate with creamy pistachio filling
- Mandarin: milk chocolate with creamy mandarin filling
- Strawberry: milk chocolate with creamy white chocolate strawberry filling
- Strawberry Margarita: 'capsule' form with strawberry and margarita filling
- White strawberry: white chocolate with strawberry pieces
- Orange: milk chocolate with creamy orange flavoured filling
- Cuba: 55% cocoa, single origin Cuba
- Madagascar: 70% cocoa, single origin Madagascar
- Ecuador: 75% cocoa, single origin Ecuador
- Vanilla: white chocolate with vanilla beans
- Coffee
- Chili: a 70% cocoa dark chocolate with red chili extract
- Raspberry Intense Dark: dark chocolate with pieces of raspberries and almond slivers
- A Touch of Sea Salt: dark chocolate seasoned with Fleur de sel
Petits desserts
Lindt's "Petits Desserts" range embodies famous European desserts in a small cube of chocolate. Flavours include: Tarte au Chocolat, Crème Brulée, Tiramisu, Creme Caramel, Tarte Citron, Meringue, and Noir Orange.[12]
Lindt makes a "Creation" range of chocolate-filled cubes: Milk Mousse, Dark Milk Mousse, White Milk Mousse, Chocolate Mousse, Orange Mousse and Cherry/Chili.[13]
Liqueurs
Bâtons Kirsch are Lindt Kirsch liqueur-filled, chocolate-enclosed tubes dusted in cocoa powder.[14]
Ice cream
In Australia, Lindt manufactures ice cream in various flavours:[15]
- 70% Dark Chocolate
- White Chocolate Framboise
- Sable Cookies and Cream
- Chocolate Chip Hazelnut
- White Chocolate and Vanilla Bean
See also
References
- 1 2 Shop & Explore. "Story of Lindt | Lindt Chocolate". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ Wiggins, Jenny (17 March 2009). "Lindt closes lid on most of its US stores". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 January 2016.(subscription required)
- ↑ Neil MacLucas (2014-07-14). "Lindt & Spruengli to Buy Russell Stover Candies - WSJ". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
- ↑ Marc Pallisco (2009-05-31). "Flagship Lindt Chocolat Cafe to Open in Collins Street, Melbourne - Real Estate Source". Realestatesource.com.au. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ Shop & Explore. "Story of Lindt | Lindt Chocolate". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
- ↑ Tennis-X.com. "Roger Federer Loses His Bag For Lindt Chocolate [Video]". Tennis-x.com. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
- ↑ "The LINDT GOLD BUNNY Story > History of chocolate > Secrets of Chocolate > Lindt & Sprüngli, Master Chocolatier since 1845". Lindt.com. 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ Charles Forelle (2008-06-11). "Europe's High Court tries on a chocolate bunny suit". The Australian. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ "Golf Balls 110g". Lindt-shop.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ Archived February 16, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Shop & Explore. "Chocolate Bars | Lindt". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
- ↑ Shop & Explore. "Chocolate Boxes | Lindt". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ Shop & Explore. "Popular Chocolate Sellers | Lindt". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ↑ "Single masterpieces... > Lindt & Sprüngli, Maître chocolatier suisse depuis 1845". Lindt.com. 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
- ↑ "Ice Cream | Menu | Lindt Australia". Lindt.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lindt & Sprüngli. |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2014 Sydney hostage crisis. |
- Lindt official website
- Lindt Shop UK
- Lindt Boutique France
- Lindt Boutique España
- Lindt Boutique Switzerland
- Lindt Boutique Germany
- Lindt Japan
- Lindt Canada
- Lindt Boutique USA
- Lindt Australia
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