Lindt
| File:Lindt & Sprüngli.png | |
| Company type | Aktiengesellschaft (SIX: CH0010570759CHF4) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Confectionery |
| Founded | 1845 |
| Founder | David Sprüngli-Schwarz Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Ernst Tanner (Chairman and CEO) |
| Products | Chocolate |
| Revenue | 2.586 billion CHF (2006) |
 209.0 million CHF (2006) | |
Number of employees | 7,000 (2006) |
| Subsidiaries | Ghirardelli, Caffarel, Hofbauer, Küfferle |
| Website | www.lindt.com |
Lindt & Sprüngli, more commonly known as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolate and confectionery company. It was founded in 1845 by David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son, Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann.
It should not be confused with Confiserie Sprüngli; the companies split in 1892.
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.
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 Ghiradelli's factory is located in San Leandro, California in the United States.
Truffle Balls
Lindt are famous for their truffle balls, also known as Lindor, that come in a variety of flavours. Each flavour has its own colour wrapper, as follows:
| Colour | Flavour |
|---|---|
| Yellow | White Chocolate |
| Red | Milk Chocolate |
| Blue | Dark Chocolate |
| Black | Extra Dark (60% Cocoa) |
| Pink | Raspberry |
| Green | Mint |
| Orange | Orange |
| Light Brown | Hazelnut |
| Brown (with print 'Peanut Butter') | Peanut Butter |
| Dark Brown (with print 'Café') | Mocha |
| Light Blue | Stracciatella |
| Gold with blue | Cinnamon |
Gold Bunny & Reindeer
Lindt also produce the 'Gold Bunny', a hollow milk chocolate rabbit in a variety of sizes available every Easter. Each bunny wears a small red ribbon bow around its neck, with a bell attached. At Christmas, Lindt produce a chocolate reindeer, which somewhat resembles the classic bunny.
Other Products
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
- Poire intense: pear flavoured chocolate with almond flakes
- Cherry intense
- Dark chocolate for degustation: available in 70%, 85% 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
- Pistachio: a creamy pistachio filling in milk chocolate
- Strawberry: a creamy white chocolate strawberry filling in milk chocolate
- Orange: a creamy orange flavoured filling in milk chocolate
- Cuba: 55% cocoa beans, origin Cuba
- Madagascar: 65% cocoa made with beans from Madagascar
- Ecuador: 75% cocoa, origin Ecuador
- Vanilla: White chocolate with vanilla bean
- Coffee
- Chili: a 49% cocoa dark chocolate with red chilli extract
Their Petit desserts ranges attempt to embody famous European dessert in a small cube of chocolate. Flavours include Tarte au chocolat, Crème Brulée, Tiramisu, Creme Caramel, Tarte Citron and Noir Orange.
Lindt has opened three chocolate cafes in 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 final in George Street in 2007.
The cafe is famous for its rich hot chocolates which are available in dark or milk. They also sell crafted chocolates, cakes and ice cream.
Ice cream flavours include:
- Black forest: dark chocolate ice cream 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: hazelnut ice cream with chocolate chips
- Almond praline
- Vanilla bean