Lindt & Sprüngli
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| Type | Aktiengesellschaft |
|---|---|
| Traded as | SIX: LISN |
| Industry | Confectionery |
| Founded | 1845 |
| Founder(s) | David Sprüngli-Schwarz Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann |
| Headquarters | Kilchberg, Switzerland |
| Key people | Ernst Tanner (Chairman and CEO) |
| Products | Chocolate |
| Revenue | 2.589 billion CHF (2011) |
| Profit |  246.5 million CHF (2011) |
| Employees | 7,779 (2011) |
| Subsidiaries | Ghirardelli, Caffarel, Hofbauer, Küfferle |
| Website | lindt.com |
Lindt & Sprüngli AG, more commonly known as Lindt, is a luxury Swiss chocolate and confectionery company.
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History [edit]
The origins of the company date back to 1845. David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son, Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann owned a small confectionery shop in the old town of Zurich, to which two years later a small factory was added to produce chocolate in solid form.
With the retirement of Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann in 1892, the business was divided between his two sons. The younger, 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.).
In 1994, Lindt & Sprüngli acquired the Austrian chocolatier, Hofbauer, 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 them into the company as wholly owned subsidiaries. Since then, Lindt & Sprüngli has expanded the once-regional Ghirardelli to the international market.
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.[1]
Lindt & Sprüngli has six factories located in 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.
After Lindt recorded net profits of 4.7 million in the 2011 calendar year, it was stated by the marketing team that its market share amounted to 29%, surpassing its past years.
Lindor [edit]
Lindor is a type of chocolate produced by Lindt, which is characterized by a hard chocolate shell and a smooth chocolate filling. Originally it was a truffle ball that Lindt & Sprüngli introduced in 1955.[2] It comes in both a ball and a bar variety as well as in a variety of flavours, each flavour having its own wrapper colour as follows:
| 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 |
| 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 Purple | Almond Case |
| Orange | Dark chocolate shell filled with orange chocolate filling |
| Deep pink | Raspberry |
| Green | Mint |
| Purple | Vanilla |
| Light Green | Coconut |
| White with gold | Marc De Champagne |
Most of the US Lindor truffles are manufactured in Stratham, New Hampshire. In Switzerland the chocolates are referred to as "Lindor Kugeln" which translates to "Lindor Balls" or "Lindor Spheres".[citation needed]
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.[3]
Seasonal confectioneries [edit]
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Lindt also produces the Gold Bunny, a hollow milk chocolate rabbit in a variety of sizes available every Easter since 1952.[4][5] Each bunny wears a small red ribbon bow around its neck. The bunny also comes in dark and white chocolate. The dark chocolate bunny wears a dark brown ribbon and the white chocolate bunny wears a white ribbon.
Chocolates wrapped to look like carrots, chicks and lambs are made. The lambs are packaged with four white lambs and one black.
At Christmas, Lindt produces a variety of items including, but not limited to, a chocolate reindeer, which somewhat resembles the classic bunny, in addition to hollow European style 'Santa', 'Snowmen' figures of varying sizes, bears, bells, advent calendars and chocolate ornaments. Various tins and boxes are available in the Lindt stores, the most popular being the red and blue. Other seasonal items include Lindt chocolate novelty Golf balls.[6]
For Valentine's Day, Lindt sell a boxed version of the Gold Bunny which comes as a set of two bunnies kissing.[7] Other Valentine's Day seasonal items include a selection of heart shaped boxes of Lindor chocolate truffles.
Other products [edit]
Other products that Lindt is famous for are its block chocolates. Current flavours from the Excellence range include:
- 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.
- Almond: white chocolate with whole roasted almonds and caramelised almond pieces
- Poire intense: pear flavoured chocolate with almond flakes
- 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: a far East inspired dark chocolate mixed with Wasabi
- Pistachio: a creamy pistachio filling in milk chocolate
- Mandarin: a creamy mandarin filling in milk chocolate
- Strawberry: a creamy white chocolate strawberry filling in milk chocolate
- Strawberry margarita: 'capsule' form with strawberry and margarita filling
- Orange: a creamy orange flavoured filling in milk chocolate
- 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
Their 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.
Lindt has the 'Creation' range of filled chocolate cubes, Milk Mousse, Dark Milk Mouse, White Milk Mousse, Chocolate Mouse, Orange Mouse and Cherry/Chilli.
Lindt Chocolat Café [edit]
Lindt has opened eight chocolate cafes in Australia, four in Sydney and four in Melbourne.
- Sydney - the first is located at Martin Place and opened in 2004, a second store in Cockle Bay Wharf (2006) in Darling Harbour and a third on George Street in 2007. A fourth store opened in Miranda Westfield, in Sydney's Sutherland Shire in November 2008.
- Melbourne - Lindt opened a flagship Chocolat Café at 271 Collins Street[8] in July 2009 and a second store at Chadstone Shopping Centre in August 2009. In June 2011 Lindt opened up their third cafe at 500 Chapel St, South Yarra and their fourth in November on Southbank.
There is also planning in the earliest of stages for the first United States chocolate café in Wrentham, MA.
A "chocolate creation class" is run every month by their Chocolat Maitre Thomas Schnetzler, which focuses both on the history of chocolate and on the different ways of enjoying chocolate. Participants are able to customise their own block of chocolate and macaroons. These classes are held at their flagship store Martin Place in Sydney, and Chapel St in Melbourne.[9]
The café's menu focuses on chocolate and desserts, but also offers breakfast and lunch. Rich hot chocolates are available in milk chocolate or dark chocolate, as well as a hazelnut option in winter. The menu is altered each season. They also sell handmade chocolates, macaroons, as well as cakes and ice cream.
Ice cream flavours include:
- Black forest: dark chocolate ice cream infused with kirsch with chocolate chips and sour cherry ripple
- 70% dark chocolate
- White chocolate framboise: white chocolate ice cream with raspberry sauce ripple
- Sable cookies and cream: a sweet cream ice cream with soft cookies swirled throughout
- Duo: milk chocolate hazelnut ice cream with 70% dark chocolate chips
- Nussor: dark chocolate ice cream with roasted hazelnut pieces
- Almond praline
- White chocolate and Vanilla bean
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Wiggins, Jenny (2009-03-17), "Lindt closes lid on most of its US stores", Financial Times, retrieved 2009-03-17
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Gainey, Tom (2012-08-23). "Roger Federer Loses His Bag For Lindt Chocolate [Video]". Tennis-X. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
- ^ "The LINDT GOLD BUNNY Story > History of chocolate > Secrets of Chocolate > Secrets of chocolate > Lindt & Sprüngli, Master Chocolatier since 1845". Lindt.com. 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
- ^ Forelle, Charles (2009-06-11). "Europe's High Court tries on a chocolate bunny suit".
- ^ "Golf Balls 110g - Our Ranges". Lindt-shop.co.uk. 2011-10-17. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ "Flagship Lindt Chocolat Cafe to Open in Collins Street, Melbourne : Real Estate Source Property and Realestate news". Realestatesource.com.au. 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
- ^ [3][dead link]
External links [edit]
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