Lindt & Sprüngli

"Lindt" redirects here. For other uses, see Lindt (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Confiserie Sprüngli.
Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG
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)
Dieter Weisskopf (CEO)[1]
Products Chocolate, confectionery, ice cream
Revenue 3.65 billion CHF (2015)[2]
Profit Increase 381 million CHF (2015)
Number of employees
 13,180 (2015)
Subsidiaries Ghirardelli
Russell Stover Candies
Caffarel
Hofbauer
Küfferle
Website www.lindt.ch
www.lindt-spruengli.com/investors/
Headquarters and factory in Kilchberg, Zürich.

Lindt & Sprüngli AG, more commonly known as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company founded in 1845 and known for their chocolate truffle balls and chocolate bars, among other sweets.

History

The origins of the company date back to 1836, when David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann bought a small confectionery shop in the old town of Zürich, producing chocolates under the name David Sprüngli & Son. Two years later, a small factory was added that produced chocolate in solid form. In 1845 they moved to the Paradeplatz.

David Sprüngli

With the retirement of Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann in 1892, the business was divided between his two sons. The younger brother David Robert received two confectionery stores that became known under the name Confiserie Sprüngli. The elder brother Johann Rudolf received the chocolate factory. To raise the necessary finance for his expansion plans, Johann Rudolf converted in 1899 his private company into "Chocolat Sprüngli AG". In that same year, he 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.).[3]

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.[4]

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.[5]

Lindt Chocolate Cafés

Lindt shop and cafe in New York City

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.

Products

Lindor

A Lindor milk chocolate truffle
A Lindor dark chocolate truffle

Originally Lindor was a truffle ball that Lindt & Sprüngli introduced in 1949.[3] 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.[7]

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.[8]

Seasonal confectioneries

Display of Lindt chocolate bunnies
Gold Bunny (Goldhase) advertisement on the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (ZSG) ship Wädenswil in Zürich

Lindt also produces the Gold Bunny, a hollow milk chocolate rabbit in a variety of sizes available every Easter since 1952.[9][10] 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, the hazlenut bunny wears a green 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.[11]

For Valentine's Day, Lindt sells a boxed version of the Gold Bunny, which comes as a set of two kissing bunnies.[12] Other Valentine's Day seasonal items include a selection of heart shaped boxes of Lindor chocolate truffles.

Chocolate bars

A Lindt excellence Chocolate Bar

Lindt sells a variety of chocolate bars. Flavours from the Excellence range include:[13]

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.[14]

Lindt makes a "Creation" range of chocolate-filled cubes: Milk Mousse, Dark Milk Mousse, White Milk Mousse, Chocolate Mousse, Orange Mousse and Cherry/Chili.[15]

Liqueurs

Bâtons Kirsch are Lindt Kirsch liqueur-filled, chocolate-enclosed tubes dusted in cocoa powder.[16]

Ice cream

In Australia, Lindt manufactures ice cream in various flavours:[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Group Management" (in German). Lindt Sprüngli AG. 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  2. ↑ "Key Figures" (in German). Lindt Sprüngli AG. 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  3. 1 2 Shop & Explore. "Story of Lindt | Lindt Chocolate". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  4. ↑ Wiggins, Jenny (17 March 2009). "Lindt closes lid on most of its US stores". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 January 2016.(subscription required)
  5. ↑ Neil MacLucas (2014-07-14). "Lindt & Spruengli to Buy Russell Stover Candies - WSJ". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Shop & Explore. "Story of Lindt | Lindt Chocolate". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  8. ↑ Tennis-X.com. "Roger Federer Loses His Bag For Lindt Chocolate [Video]". Tennis-x.com. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
  9. ↑ "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.
  10. ↑ Charles Forelle (2008-06-11). "Europe's High Court tries on a chocolate bunny suit". The Australian. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  11. ↑ "Golf Balls 110g". Lindt-shop.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  12. ↑ "Lindt Kissing Gold Bunny 100g | Lindt Milk Chocolate Gold Bunnies Kissing". Web.archive.org. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  13. ↑ Shop & Explore. "Chocolate Bars | Lindt". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  14. ↑ Shop & Explore. "Chocolate Boxes | Lindt". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  15. ↑ Shop & Explore. "Popular Chocolate Sellers | Lindt". Lindtusa.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  16. ↑ "Single masterpieces... > Lindt & Sprüngli, Maître chocolatier suisse depuis 1845". Lindt.com. 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
  17. ↑ "Ice Cream | Menu | Lindt Australia". Lindt.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-08.

External links

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