Ritter Sport

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Ritter Sport is a German chocolate bar, distributed throughout Europe, North America, South America and elsewhere throughout the world. Each 100 gram square-shaped bar is divided into 16 smaller squares, creating a four-by-four pattern. Large bars weighing 250 grams and 16.5 gram mini bars are also available, although in fewer varieties.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Corporate responsibility 2 Ritter Museum 3 Visiting Ritter 4 Varieties 5 Quality 6 Slogans 6.1 Motto 1 6.2 Motto 2 6.3 Motto 3 6.4 Mascot 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

In 1912, Alfred Ritter and newly wedded wife, Clara, founded a chocolate factory in Stuttgart-Cannstatt. Later it introduced its own brand of chocolate named "Alrika (Alfred Ritter Cannstatt)." When production needs required a factory expansion, the company moved to Waldenbuch in 1930, a couple of miles outside Stuttgart. The chocolate brand Ritter's Sport Schokolade produced as the square tablet known today was launched in 1932 after Clara suggested creating a chocolate bar that would fit into every jacket pocket without breaking.^[1]

[edit] Corporate responsibility

The company's current generation of owners, Alfred T. Ritter and his sister Marli Hoppe-Ritter, are engaged in ecological and fair trade projects. In 1990 they launched project "Cacaonica", which supports organic cocoa agriculture and reforestation in Nicaragua. The Ritter company owns a CHP power plant and buys additional electricity from renewable resources. The monomaterial chocolate packaging is designed to minimize its ecological footprint.

On the whole, their products are neither certified organic nor certified fair trade. However, in April 2008 they launched an organic product line called "Ritter Sport Bio".

[edit] Ritter Museum

The Ritter museum is a »Hommage to the square« - to describe the Sammlung Marli Hoppe-Ritter. The collection consists of nearly 600 paintings, objects, sculptures and graphic works, a breadth of painterly and sculptural confrontation with the square form used as the design for the Ritter chocolate.

[edit] Visiting Ritter

Ritter's factory is located in Waldenbuch, outside of Stuttgart. They have a shop and museum there as well that is open to visitors.

[edit] Varieties

1. Vollmilch – Plain milk chocolate, now contains Butter Fat. (Royal Blue Wrapper)
2. Dunkle Vollmilch – Plain medium dark chocolate, 40% cacao
3. Halbbitter – Plain dark chocolate, 50% cacao. (Burgundy Wrapper)
4. Edelbitter – Plain dark chocolate, 71% cacao. (Pink Wrapper)
5. Knusperkeks – Milk chocolate with a butter biscuit
6. Pfefferminz – Chocolate with peppermint, now contains Butter Fat
7. Joghurt – Yogurt, now contains Butter Fat. (White Wrapper)
8. Erdbeer Joghurt – Milk chocolate strawberry and yogurt filling, now contains Butter Fat
9. Voll-Nuss – Milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts, now contains Butter Fat
10. Dunkle Voll-Nuss – Dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts, now contains Butter Fat
11. Weiße Voll-Nuss – White chocolate with whole hazelnuts
12. Knusperflakes – Milk chocolate with corn flakes. (Yellow Wrapper)
13. Voll Erdnuss – Milk chocolate with whole peanuts, now contains Butter Fat
14. Ganze Mandel – Milk chocolate with whole almonds, now contains Butter Fat
15. Marzipan – Dark chocolate with marzipan center. (Red Wrapper)
16. Cocos – Milk chocolate with flakes of coconut in the center
17. Trauben-Nuss – Milk chocolate with raisins and hazelnut pieces, now contains Butter Fat
18. Rum Trauben Nuss – Milk chocolate with rum-soaked raisins and hazelnut pieces , now contains Butter Fat
19. Cappuccino – Milk chocolate and cappuccino cream, now contains Butter Fat
20. Alpenmilch – Special milk chocolate with high milk proportion
21. Nugat – Milk chocolate with hazelnuts nougat center, now contains Butter Fat
22. Feinherb à la Mousse au Chocolat – dark chocolate filled with chocolate mousse, now contains Butter Fat. (Black Wrapper)
23. Williams Birne Truffel – dark chocolate filled with pear brandy mousse
24. Haselnuss – Milk chocolate with hazelnuts
25. Praline – Milk chocolate with hazlenut praline filling. (Navy Wrapper)

From time to time, various special and limited edition flavours are released, sometimes with seasonal themes. For example, Marc de Champagne contained a truffle-like center with a champagne flavour.

[edit] Quality

Since December 2008 some of their chocolate bars ingredients have changed, substituting some of the cocoa butter with cheaper butter fat (Butterreinfett), which changes the taste and texture of some of their products.^[2]

[edit] Slogans

[edit] Motto 1

• German packaging: "Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut." ("Square. Practical. Good.")
• French packaging: "Carré. Pratique. Gourmand."
• English packaging: "The handy chocolate square"
• English packaging (UK): "Quality in a Square."
• Italian packaging: "Quadrato. Pratico. Buono."
• Danish Packaging: "Kvadratisk. Praktisk. God."
• Russian packaging: "Квадратный. Практичный. Хороший."

[edit] Motto 2

"Qualität im Quadrat."

Literal translation used on English language packaging: "Quality in a square." English packaging now features "Quality. Chocolate. Squared." to provide a similar pun.

[edit] Motto 3

"Knick Knack auf Zack."

Literal translation in English language would be: "Knick Knack to be up to snuff." The first two terms are the clicking noises that you are supposed to hear when breaking the chocolate bar twice in the middle. This motto aired on German TV in the early 1990s.

[edit] Mascot

Ritter Sport is sometimes represented by "Quadrago", a banner-carrying baby dragon. This may be partly attributed to the German word "Ritter" meaning "Knight".

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ritter Sport's Official Website