At the outset, the Swiss chocolate pioneers had to struggle hard for
their subsequent sweet success. When, in the second half of the 18th cen-
tury, natives of Yal Blenio in the Tessin popularised chocolate in this
country, too, nobody dreamt that, just a few decades later, a handful
of Swiss would lay the foundations of the world-wide reputation of our
chocolate industry. Neither our geographical position nor the customs
and habits of our forefathers argured well for the success of such a
venture. However disunited the efforts of the Swiss chcolate pioneers
may have been, they were firmly united by a single purpose - to improve
the quality of the chocolate. Only in this way could they keep abreast of
the large foreign manufacturers who had already made a name for
themselves throughout the world. The technical genius nf these pioneers
seems to have been almost inexhaustible; their inventive skill showed it-
self not only in the development of ever more efficient machinerv, but
also in their constantly more refined recipes for the manufacture of
chocolate.
Many of the names which make our mouths water when we see them as
well known trade marks on the boxes of all the best chocolates, recall to
our memories the work and the lasting achievements of the pioneers of
Swiss Chocolate. From small beginnings, for the most part, they laid the
foundation stones of concerns which uphold the reputation of Swiss
chocolates right up to the present day.
FRANCOIS-LOUIS CAILLER (1796-1852) saw chocolate for the first time
at a local fair. Italian chocolate makers were stirring the exquisite potion
which so titillated the nostrils of the young François that he went to
Italy as a Swiss "immigrant labourer". For four years he worked in the
Caffarel chocolate factory in Milan. He then returned home as a master
chocolate maker, and had a press with stone rollers built to his own de-
sign. In 1819 he opened the first Swiss chocolate factory at Corsier, near
Vevey.
At the age of 12, PHILIPPE SUCHARD (1797-1884) was sent to Neuchâtel
to collect a pound of chocolate from the local apothecary for his ailing
mother. The tonic preparation cost 6 francs, which, in those days, repr-
sented a labourer's wages for three days ! In 1815, he was allowed to start
work as an apprentice confectioner with his elder brother in Berne. In
1824 he left Switzerland to visit the United States. At the end of the year
he returned and opened a confectioner's business in Neuchâtel. In
Serrieres, he set up a chocolate factory, powered by a water-wheel. With
only one assistant, he was producing at that time between 25 and 30 kilo-
grams of chocolate a day. In 1880, Philippe Suchard opened the first
Swiss foreign branch in Lorrach, Germany.
In 1826, JACQUES FOULQUIER (1798-1865) started the production of
chocolate by hand in Geneva. His son-in-law, jean-Samuel Favarger, later
became his successor.
As a wholesale provision merchant, CHARLES-AMEDEE KOHLER (1790-
1874) started by buying ready-made chocolate, but finally went over to
producing his own in 1830. Like Cailler and Suchard before him, he
strove constantly to improve and perfect thc popular types of chocolate.
In one of his experiments he succeeded in developing something which
was going to be of great benefit to the chocolate industry - hazelnut
chocolate. In partnership with his son, he manufactured this new speciality
in Lausanne. The Kohler factory became a large operation following its
amalgamation with the firm of Daniel Peter.
After the founding of the first chocolate factories in French Switzerland,
1845 saw the establishment of the first factory in the German-speaking
part of the country. In that year, RODOLPHE SPRÜNGLI-AMMANN (1816-
1897), using an improved method of manufactrure, produced chocolate
for the first time in his confectioner's shop in Zurich. In 1899, his son,
Rodolphe Sprüngli-Schifferli or, more accurately, Chocolat Sprüngli
A.G., took over the factory of Rodolphe Lindt. The reputation of Lindt
chocolate was so great that the price paid for the secret recipes, the
trade-mark rights and the equipment was 1 1/2 million gold francs !
AQUILINO MAESTRANI (1814-1880), whose father was one of those
natives of Tessin who emigrated to Lombardy in the middle of the
18th century to learn "the chocolate trade", and who, himself, gained
valuable experience in Milan, opened a chocolate factory in Lucerne in
1852. Soon space became too limited for the constantly expanding factory,
and Maestrani moved to St. Gallen.
JACQUES KLAUS (1814-1909), a native of the canton of Zurich, made an
extended "journeyman's" tour through Switzerland and France before
setting up in business as a confectioner in Le Locle. In 1856 he established
a chocolate factory which rapidly achieved a considerable reputation.
The road which led DANIEL PETER (1836 - 1919) to chocolate was any-
thing but straight. The son of a butcher, he was employed by a woman
in Vevey who owned a grocer's shop and made candles as a sideline.
Since his employer, Madame Clement, saw straight away where the
boy's real interest lay, she let him take over the candlemaking on his own
account. Unfortunately - or rather, fortunately for the chocolate in-
dustry - the paraffin lamp became popular just at this time, and
from then on the Swiss, like most of us, used candles mainly to decorate
their Christmas trees. But Daniel Peter's interest in Vevey was not
confined to candles; he also had an eye on Fanny Cailler, the eldest
daughter of François-Louis Cailler. And so, almost accidentally, he
discovered chocolate. But he didn't let matters rest there. Like a true
Swiss, he took milk and combined it with chocolate. 1875 was the proud
year of Daniel Peter's invention of milk chocolate. We should be grateful
to him; for most of us, chocolate without rnilk wouldn't taste half as
nice.
HENRI NESTLE (1814 - 1890) was a latecomer to the chocolate industry.
His story started with milk. But not the milk we find on the doorstep
every morning or buy in the grocer's shop. Henri Nestle had invented
the manufacture of children's groats and, in this connection, had per-
fected the making of condensed milk, without which Daniel Peter could
not have industrialized his milk chocolate. The Nestle and Peter com-
panies worked so closely, following the death of the two founders, that
in 1905 Messrs. Peter, who had meantime joined forces with Kohler,
produced, to cater for the French taste, a very sweet chocolate devel-
oped by the Nestle company.
In 1874 JOHANN GEORG MUNZ set up a confectionery works in Flawil.
Some time later, Albert Munz also began to manufacture chocolate.
Below the cathedral in Berne, RODOLPHE LINDT (1855 1909) opened a
chocolate factory powered by a water-wheel. A born manufacturer, his
genius for invention led him to a new process by which he produced the
first melting, or fondant, chocolate. The refining effect, which we know
today as "conching", was first noticed by Rodolphe Lindt while pro-
cessing chocolate over several days in a narrow mixing trough. He in-
corporated this into his production methods and, at the same time, devel-
oped equipment on principles still in use today. The addition of cocoa
butter to the chocolate, to give it the necessary melting quality, was an-
other epoch-making discovery of this man from Berne. These discov-
eries and the invention of milk chocolate by Daniel Peter were
essential to the manufacture and success of the fine Swiss chocolate we
know today.
In 1893 CHARLES MšLLER and KARL. BERNHARDT founded the first, and
to this day the only chocolate factory in the canton of Grison. As a
result, it traded under the name "Grison". It changed hands in 1961 and
then carried on under the name of Lindt & Spr?ngli.
In the L„nggasse area of Berne, JEAN TOBLER (1830-1905), a native of
Appenzell, had conducted his "Confiserie sp‚ciale" since 1868. He had
learned the confectionery trade in St. Gallen and in Paris. On opening
his shop in Berne, he sold mainly specialities which he rnade himself, us-
ing chocolate coatings supplied by various manufacturers. Very soon he
was selling so much chocolate that he thought that he should make it
himself. And so he was forced by circumstances to become a chocolate
manufacturer. In the year 1899, he and his sons founded the "Fabrique
de Chocolat de Berne, Tobler & Cie.". Today, this firm belongs - to-
gether with Suchard - to the Jacobs Suchard Tobler company.
In the twentieth century, the Swiss chocolate industry has proved its un-
broken ability for pioneer performances as well. Further companies
were founded and have helped to build up the image of the Swiss cho-
colate's high standing all over the world by their successful activity over
many decades and as members of Chocosuisse:
1902 NAGO AG, Olten (1971 merger with Lindt & Spr?ngli)
1908 MAX FELCHLIN AG, Schwyz
1928 STELLA SA, Lugano
1929 CAMILLE BLOCH SA, Courtelary
1931 CARMA AG, D?bendorf
1933 BERNRAIN AG, Kreuzlingen
Innovations, continuous investments in their plants and efforts in re-
search and development will ensure the Swiss chocolate manufacturers
to remain up-to-date. "Only the best quality is good enough" is the
maxim, today as ever!
