Krasny Oktyabr (confectionery brand)

Krasny Oktyabr
Open joint-stock company
Traded as MCX: KROT
Industry Confectionery
Founded 1851
Headquarters Moscow, Russia
Parent United Confectioners Ltd
Website www.uniconf.ru/factories/krasny-octyabr

OJSC Krasny Oktyabr (Russian: ОАО "Красный Октябрь") is a Russian confectionery manufacturer and a member of the United Confectioners holding company. Its parent company was 17th in the list of the largest candy companies in the world, with sales amounting to $1.196 billion.[1]

History

"I eat cookies from the Red October factory, the former Einem". Advertisement from the early Soviet era.

Krasny Oktyabr was founded by Theodor Ferdinand von Einem.[2] Von Einem sold his stake in the enterprise to Julius Heuss,[3] who became its director in 1878, retaining the position until his death in 1907.[4] In 1896, Einem factory won a gold medal at the All-Russian Industrial and Artistic Exhibition, and it was allowed to supply confectioneries to the court of the tsar.[5]

At the turn of the 20th century, the Einem factory won chocolatiers' competitions across Europe, and its advertising was displayed prominently in Moscow. After the October Revolution of 1917, the company was nationalized and given its current name.[4] During World War II, the factory reoriented its production towards the manufacturing of military rations, including high-caffeine chocolate.[3]

After the fall of the Soviet regime the company continued to use the Krasny Oktyabr name for its brand recognition, but it began to decorate the boxes and labels with Tsarist-era motifs. Krasny Oktyabr was privatized in 1993. In the 1990s, it became one of the few large business concerns in Moscow to be successfully privatized. At the same time, it had to compete with foreign companies such as Mars Inc.[4]

Alyonka

Produced since 1965, this is one of the most famous chocolate bars of the Krasny Oktyabr factory.[6] Today they are still just as popular as when they just arrived on the market. Alyonka can be described as a long thin bar of chocolate weighing 100 grams. The bar is subdivided into 3x5 tiles, each of which have the name of the factory imprinted on it in Russian - «Красный Октябрь».[7]

The wrapper depicts a blue-eyed girl wearing a traditional Russian head scarf, who is presumably "Alyonka", an endearing form of the name Alyona. The illustration is based on a photograph of the daughter of one of the artists working at the factory. Though many women have claimed to have been the famous child, the company denies that the image was based on a real girl.[8]

Former plant

Former factory building of the "Red October" confectionery

The production site of Krasny Oktyabr was formerly located on the Moskva River embankment, a couple of kilometers from the Kremlin. The plant was relocated to the outskirts of Moscow in 2007, and the iconic red brick factory was redeveloped into apartment complexes, cafes and restaurants.[9]

The development hosts art and photo galleries and designer studios, being described as Moscow’s answer to New York’s Tribeca.[10] Among the organizations to make use of the former factory site are Strelka Institute, the Baibakov Art Projects, the Moscow Biennale (in 2009) and the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography.

References

  1. ↑ "2017 Global Top 100: Part 4". Candyindustry.com. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "About company - History and Traditions". konfetki.ru. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  3. 1 2 "Soviet Yum-Yum: Russia’s Red October Chocolate Factory". WebUrbanist. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "Chocolate for the Masses". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  5. ↑ "End Of An Era For Red October Chocolate". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  6. ↑ http://www.uniconf.ru/ru/catalog/?gid=1322&id=2316
  7. ↑ Krasny Oktyabr Chocolate Factory and Museum, Lonely Planet.com, September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Janitor Demands $3M as Face of Russian Chocolate Bar 'Alyonka'". Moscow Times. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Oktyabr Getting Facelift, Residents Concerned". Moscow Times. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  10. ↑ Kishkovsky, Sophia (12 November 2010). "In Moscow, an Island Village for the Arts". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
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