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Lindt & Sprüngli
Despite its global growth and international presence, Lindt & Sprüngli remains deeply connected to its Swiss roots.
Today, the average Swiss citizen consumes about one LINDOR truffle every day.
This is the history of how Lindt & Sprüngli became a Swiss obsession and a worldwide premium chocolate brand.
In 1845, candy maker and his son Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann established a small candy shop in Zurich’s old town.
This was the first solid chocolate bar in German-speaking Switzerland.
They marketed it under the name “David Sprüngli et fils” and quickly gained popularity among locals.
Just two years after opening up shop, the Sprünglis moved their chocolate production from their small bakery to a factory in Horgen on Lake Zurich’s upper end.
This strategic location provided direct water access and employed ten workers to meet increasing demand.
In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt made a discovery that revolutionized chocolate production.
Based on company lore, Lindt left his mixing machine running over a weekend—either accidentally or by design.
When he returned Monday morning, he found the chocolate had transformed into a silky, smooth consistency with enhanced flavor.
This discovery led to the invention of the conching machine, a lengthwise stirring device that gives chocolate a finer consistency while allowing undesired bitter flavors to evaporate.
In 1899, Johann Rudolf Sprüngli-Schifferli acquired Rodolphe Lindt’s chocolate factory in Bern and merged the two companies under the name “Aktiengesellschaft Vereinigte Berner und Zürcher Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli” (United Bern and Zurich Lindt & Sprüngli Chocolate Factory Ltd.).
This acquisition gave the new company Lindt’s conching secrets and recipes.
Sprüngli paid 1.5 million Gold francs for these rights (equivalent to about 100 million Swiss francs today)—a lot of money that showed the future potential for growth.
By 1915, despite the challenges of World War I, Lindt & Sprüngli was exporting about three-quarters of its chocolate production to twenty different countries.
They incorporated in New York State in 1925, a licensed production facility in Berlin in 1928, and opened a subsidiary in England in 1932.
Although solid milk chocolate was invented in Switzerland in 1875, Lindt surprisingly did not begin making it until 1934.
Before this, the company only produced dark chocolate according to Rodolphe Lindt’s original recipes.
They launched the Lindt Cream and Lindt Milk chocolate bars for the Swiss market.
The famous LINDOR product line was created in 1949 as a chocolate bar, not the truffles we know today.
The name combined “Lindt” with the French word for gold (“or”), symbolizing the chocolate’s exceptional richness.
In 1967, the LINDOR truffle was introduced, originally intended as a Christmas tree ornament.
The truffles would become its fastest-growing product line.
In 1972, Lindt & Sprüngli developed a new and improved chocolate manufacturing process called the Lindt & Sprüngli Chocolate Process (LSCP).
It was the most important advancement in chocolate production since conching.
The LSCP improved product quality and required less energy and space than traditional methods, which used dozens of conches.
In 2013, Lindt & Sprüngli established two important foundations:
The Cocoa Foundation promotes sustainable agriculture and better working conditions for cocoa farmers.
The Chocolate Competence Foundation aims to strengthen Switzerland’s position in chocolate production and preserve Swiss chocolate-making expertise.
In 2020, as part of the company’s 175th anniversary, Lindt & Sprüngli opened the Lindt Home of Chocolate in Kilchberg, Switzerland.
This museum houses interactive exhibits, a research facility, the world’s largest Lindt chocolate shop, a café, and a chocolateria for chocolate courses.
It also features a spectacular chocolate fountain measuring over nine meters tall and containing 1,500 liters of chocolate.
Today, Lindt & Sprüngli offers more than 2,500 products.
The company operates 11 production sites across Switzerland, Europe, and the United States, with distribution through 28 subsidiaries, 500 retail shops, and a network of over 100 distributors in more than 120 countries worldwide.
They’ve also made some strategic acquisitions over the years, including:
Lindt is one of the largest premier chocolate manufacturers globally.
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