Sprüngli-Lindt is a Swiss chocolate maker that has been in the family for six generations. The business has survived a period of great turmoil, but has miraculously survived to become the only family-owned Swiss chocolate maker to survive among the many innovators of fine chocolate in the 19th century. Sp?tlese has been profitable for more than 100 years, with current global sales of 1.7 billion Swiss francs (equivalent to about $10.1 billion) and more than 6,000 employees in Europe, Asia and the United States.
Its chocolate brands include Caffarel, Fioretto, Chirardelli, Lindor, Lindt (Lindt), NouvelleConfiserie and SwissTradition, which cover all chocolate-related products such as marzipan, sandwich candies, chocolate bars, chocolate Crunchies, Easter Chocolate Eggs & Chocolate Bunnies and more.
The company began in Zurich in 1845 as an artisanal confectioner's store for local sweet tooths, and transformed itself into an innovative chocolate manufacturer in 1892, selling in France, Germany and Italy in the 1920s. In the 1960s, the European operations were consolidated. Since 1992, when the three main markets - Switzerland, Germany and France - still accounted for 80% of turnover, the company has expanded to become a truly global player. Today, turnover outside its core markets has grown to 55% of the market, with the US and Canada alone accounting for 24% of the total, with local specialty stores (Lindt Fine Chocolates) experiencing double-digit growth.
The chocolate market has been hit hard by civil war and unrest in the Ivory Coast, a major supplier of cocoa, which has led to high cocoa prices. In particular, chocolate makers began to destroy themselves in a devastating price war, jeopardizing their brands. On the other hand, Lindt adopted the brand strategy of premium chocolate, using only top quality raw materials and paying great attention to purity, freshness and flavor, which has worked wonders in the global chocolate market in a downturn. As the most important Swiss newspaper "Zurich" (NeueZürcherZeitung) described it: "Drive away the static, let a person refreshing."
This positive development didn't just fall out of the sky; since it started out as a small store, Spenglerian has often encountered tough challenges. However, in a capitalist society of survival of the fittest and the best, the company eventually survived and continues to expand and prosper.
The story of Sprinellen begins this way: In 1819, David Sprüngli, originally a very poor temporary bakery employee, went to work for a very large local Zurich confectionery and pastry store. When the owner of this store died in 1836, Sprüngli, then 60 years old, bought all the shares of his widow and became the owner of the famous local confectionery store, and he himself became a member of the local bourgeoisie in Zurich. The story might have ended there if his son, Rudolf, hadn't begun experimenting with improved chocolate-making in 1845. At the time, the northern Italians had a trade secret for making "Cioccolattieri", but the quantity produced was too small and the quality too inconsistent to satisfy the popularity of women sipping hot chocolate. For a woman of high social status, drinking hot chocolate was the only socially acceptable thing for her to do when she was alone in a café or not accompanied by a male friend. The challenge of the experiment was to mechanize the process: crushing and grinding roasted cocoa beans, mixing them with sugar and spices (mainly vanilla), and creating a brown chocolate paste.
Rudolf Spinelli was just one of many people in Switzerland who were keen to innovate in chocolate production. There was also Cailler in Vevey on Lake Geneva; Suchard in Neuchatel, who in 1879 set up a foreign production base in Loratz (L?rrach) in south-west Germany and registered a trademark to modernize the marketing of his products by including a picture of the chocolate packet for collection; and Henry Birdseye, who was the first Swiss chocolate maker to use his own brand. The modernization of the marketing of chocolate by including a picture in the package for collection, and Henri Nestlé, who in 1867 invented powdered milk, which allowed milk to be stored for a longer period of time. There was also Daniel Peter, who managed to mix milk and chocolate, two fats and oils that were incompatible, by taking the fat out of the cocoa, heating it up, putting in powdered milk and sugar, and then putting the cocoa butter back in, so that in 1825 "milk chocolate" (Chocolateaulaula) was created, and the "milk chocolate" (Chocolateaula) was made in the same way. " (Chocolateaulait) was born. Most of these great chocolate inventors lived in the French-speaking part of Switzerland - "SuisseRomande". There were some pioneers of chocolate making who, influenced by the Calvinist work ethic and being workaholics themselves, threw themselves into the making of an indulgent luxury, one of the few sins that Calvinists, morally constrained in the extreme, would not frown upon.
In the 1880s, when the production of chocolate increased and its price fell, Swiss chocolatiers justified the mass production of this new "food for the masses" by claiming that chocolate was good for the health of a generally malnourished populace, because it was a nutritious and healthful tonic. It is a nutritious and wholesome tonic for a generally malnourished population.
In 1892, Rudolf Spinelli's sons split into the "Confiserieline" (currently in Zurich's "Parade Square") because of divergent ideas about production methods, marketing strategies, and financial requirements. (which still operates a top-notch café in Zurich's "Parade Square"), and the "factoryline".) The latter, in order to raise funds for the purchase of its new production facilities on the outskirts of Zurich, including expensive new machinery and freezers, was publicly traded in 1898 as a joint-stock company called ChocolatSprüngliAG, with the majority of the shares being held by members of the family, senior managers, and friends (and since then, has followed this fine Swiss tradition of a board of directors that is always in charge of the company. In the fine Swiss tradition, the board of directors has always been made up of family members and friends, and the shareholders have been delighted with regular dividends and thoughtful souvenirs). In 1899, Rodolphe Lindt in Berne invented a special chocolate mixture that not only had an excellent flavor, but also melted in the mouth (no need to bite or chew). This invention attracted worldwide attention and was favored by the Spenley family, which had always been very strict about chocolate production, and in 1899 Rudolf Spenley made a decisive move by acquiring Rodolphe Lindt and branding the product under his family name, Lindt (Lindt). After receiving a large amount of cash and shares in Spenley, Rodolfo Lindt agreed to **** enjoy the secrets of making its exclusive top quality chocolates, its customer base, and its production facilities. Although a creative man, Rodolfo Lane soon fell out of favor with the Spengler family, as he was impatient and unpredictable, a quirky "gentleman producer" with no interest in sales and business promotion. He began to ignore his merger obligations and continued to produce his own chocolates. For this reason, they fought a 10-year war of lawsuits, and finally, this cross-pollinated merger confirmed in 1927 that the original terms of the merger should be enforced. As a result, after 1930, the company was called ChocolatefabrikenLindt&SprüngliAG.
But it was at this time that Sprüngli and the Swiss chocolate industry were hit by World War I. The Russian market was lost because of the revolution, hyperinflation in Germany and finally the Great Depression in 1929. Swiss chocolate makers used the years of the Great War to expand rapidly abroad. However, after Black Friday, both Peter & Keller chocolate makers were swallowed up by Nestle. Suchard and Tobler were bought by what is now Philip Morris, and it was only a joint venture with Berlin-based Rowntree in 1928, and then with its UK-based company in 1932, that made them the only Swiss chocolate makers to remain independent to this day.
World War II deprived the chocolate industry of most of its export markets and disrupted the supply of raw materials to landlocked Switzerland. Wartime rationing limited a person to one chocolate bar a month. Nevertheless, Spinelli managed to maintain its profitability and its position as a medium-sized regional producer. This would have been the position of the company if Rudolph Spüngli had not succeeded in succeeding to the business in 1962 in the fifth generation. His doctoral thesis was on the financial and strategic failures of the competitor Tobler, and he embarked on a series of European market expansion initiatives. Rudolf Spinelli's marriage to a wealthy construction company heiress gave him the strength to buy up the shares of dissenting family members and other minority shareholders, thus allowing his arbitrary and increasingly self-centered management style to flourish. He even reinforced his control by changing managers frequently.
Twenty years later, Lane Spenley acquired ChocolateGisonAG in Chur, ChocoladefabrikGubor in Langenthal, and NagoN?hrmittelAG in Olten, all in Switzerland. It also continued its partnership with Rowntree in the UK (Lindt England Ltd) and started production of the "Consortium Fran?aisdeConfiserie" in France. In Italy, it owns 11% of Bulgheroni SpA in Varese. After an Italian bribery scandal erupted, Spengli bought the remaining 89 percent.In 1993, the factory was renamed Sprüngli&LindtSpA.Its licensed producer in Germany, Leonard Monhard in Aachen, provided a new factory for Its German licensee, Leonard Monhard in Aachen, is owned by Peter Ludwig, a famous collector of contemporary art. Perhaps because he cared more about his paintings than the company's profits, he went bankrupt in 1986. Afterwards, Lane Spenley acquired it in 1987 for 120 million DM. They then invested a further DM 220 million in the new production site to replace the obsolete post-war machinery and equipment.
In 1989, in Stratham, New Hampshire, Lane Spenley set up a facility specializing in production and distribution on the East Coast of the United States, as well as a sales company in Hong Kong. By the late 1980s, Lane Spencer had hit a rough patch, both publicly and privately. Branding strategies were inconsistent in the four core markets of the time: top brands in Germany and Italy, promotional discounts in France, and "whatever works" in Switzerland.
The "Decision Group Meeting", made up of Swiss and foreign managers***, concluded that foreign operations were generating profits, but that the traditional Kilchberg production centers were a source of losses. This was a harsh statement for Rudolf Spinelli, the champion of the traditionalists. The aging despot was smitten by a charming but disreputable female faith healer named Heidi Gantenbein (the lady still offers paid spiritual counseling services on the Internet). He divorced his wife of many years and married Miss Gantenbein, and later also fired many of his managers on the spiritual advice of his new wife. The new management, in turn, was forced to attend Miss Gunterburne's spiritual courses. The spiritual bastion of gastronomy in all of Switzerland thus fell into the hands of a former stripper and really shook up the Lake Zurich neighborhood. By 1993, Dr. Rudolf Sprüengli retired as chairman emeritus and appointed the decent Ernst Tanner as CEO, and Rudolf Konrad Sprüengli, Rudolf's son, who had previously been disliked by both his father and Miss Gunterburne, was reinstated as chairman of the board. . Subsequently, the company adopted a proper European branding strategy, the former joint venture became a subsidiary, and cost-cutting measures were taken at the production site in Gischberg.
After 10 years of sustained progress, as well as consistent production, marketing and innovation, Ernst Tanner's efforts brought a string of results, while effectively maintaining the independence of Lotus Spinelli. This is why the company was not swallowed up in the merger and acquisition frenzy of the early 1990s.