Its chocolate brands include Caffarel, Fioretto, Chirardelli, Lindel, Lindt (Swiss Lotus), NouvelleConfiserie and SwissTradition, covering all chocolate-related products, such as almond candy, sandwich candy, chocolate bars, chocolate biscuits, Easter chocolate eggs and chocolate rabbits.
The company started in Zurich. At that time, it was still a handmade candy store of 1845, and the consumers were mostly local candy lovers. 1892 transformed into an innovative chocolate manufacturer. During 1920, the products were sold in France, Germany and Italy. In the1960s, the business located in Europe was integrated. From 1992, when the turnover of the three major markets-Switzerland, Germany and France still reached 80% of the total turnover, the company began to expand and become a truly global enterprise. Now, its turnover outside the core market has increased to 55% of the market share, and the US and Canada markets alone account for 24%, among which the unique local store (Swiss Lotus Boutique Chocolate Store) has increased to double digits.
Due to the civil war and turmoil in C? te d 'Ivoire, the main cocoa supplier, the price of cocoa is too high, which has caused heavy losses to the chocolate market. What's more, chocolate manufacturers began to destroy the Great Wall in the devastating price war, thus endangering the brand. Swiss Lotus, on the other hand, adopts the brand strategy of high-grade chocolate, using only top-grade raw materials and paying great attention to purity, freshness and taste. This strategy has created a miracle in the global depressed chocolate market. As described by NeueZürcherZeitung, the most important newspaper in Switzerland, "It is refreshing to get rid of the sameness."
This positive development did not fall from the sky. From the beginning, from a small shop, Spahring often encountered severe challenges. However, in the capitalist society where the fittest survive, the company finally survives and continues to expand and prosper.
Spellinglian's story begins like this: 18 19, Edgeworth Beresford David Sprü ngli, who used to work as a temporary worker in a poor bakery, went to work in a very large Zurich candy and pastry shop. When the owner of this store 1836 died, 60-year-old Spinley bought all the shares of his widow and became a famous local candy store owner, and he himself became a member of the local bourgeoisie in Zurich. If his son Rudolph hadn't started experimenting to improve chocolate manufacturing in 1845, the story might have ended here. At that time, there was a trade secret called "Cioccolattieri" in northern Italy, but the production quantity was too small and the quality was unstable, which could not meet the popular craze of women sipping hot chocolate. For a lady with high social status, drinking hot chocolate is the only thing that can be accepted by society when she is alone in a coffee shop or has no male friends around her. The challenge of this experiment is to mechanize the production process: how to crush and grind roasted cocoa beans and mix them with sugar and spices (mainly vanilla) to make brown chocolate sauce.
Rudolph Spinley is just one of many Swiss people who are keen on innovative chocolate production. There was Cailler); In Warwick, Lake Geneva. Su Chad, set up a foreign production base in Neuchatel, 1879, located in Lolac < L? Rrach >, and registered the trademark, and started modern marketing, that is, adding a picture to the chocolate package for collection; And Henry Nestle, who invented milk powder at 1867, extended the shelf life of milk. There is also a man named DanielPeter, who successfully mixed milk and chocolate that are incompatible with each other. His secret is to take out the oil in cocoa, heat it, add milk powder and sugar, and finally put the cocoa oil back. Thus, 1825, "chocolate for milk" was born. Most of these great chocolate inventors lived in the French-speaking area "Romand". Some pioneers of chocolate making, influenced by Calvinist work ethics and workaholics themselves, are committed to producing an indulgent luxury, which is one of the few evils that Calvinists are extremely restrained in morality and will not frown.
In the1880s, the output of chocolate increased and the price decreased. At that time, Swiss chocolate manufacturers found a grandiose reason for the mass production of this new "popular food". They claim that chocolate is good for health, because it is a nutritional and healthy supplement for those who are generally malnourished.
During the period of 1892, due to different ideas about production mode, marketing strategy and capital demand, Rudolph Spinley's sons split into "Confiserieline" (currently a top coffee shop is still operated in the "Parade Square" in Zurich) and "factoryline". In order to raise funds to buy its new production equipment in the suburbs of Zurich, including expensive new machines and freezers, the latter was publicly issued in 1898 and became a joint-stock company called ChocolatSprüngliAG, in which most of the shares were held by family members, senior managers and friends (since then, it has always adhered to this fine Swiss tradition, that is, the board of directors has always been composed of family members and friends, while shareholders. 1899, RodolpheLindt in Bern invented a special chocolate mixture, which was not only delicious, but also melted in the mouth (without biting and chewing hard). This invention has attracted the attention of the whole world and won the favor of the Spenley family, which has always been strict about chocolate making. 1899, Rudolph Spenley acted decisively and decided to buy Rudolph Lian, and took his surname Lindt (Swiss Lotus) as the product brand. After receiving a large amount of cash and Spinley shares, Rudolf Lian agreed to enjoy the secret, customer base and production equipment for making top chocolate. Although Rodolphe Lian is a creative person, he is impatient and unpredictable. He belongs to an eccentric "gentleman producer" and has no interest in sales and commercial promotion. Therefore, Rudolph Lian soon fell out with the Spenleys. He began to ignore his merger obligation and continued to produce his own chocolate. To this end, they fought a legal battle of 10 years. Finally, this hostile merger confirms that the original merger conditions should be implemented in 1927. Therefore, after 1930, the company was called Lotus Bentley Chocolate Co., Ltd.
However, at this time, Lotus Bentley and the Swiss chocolate industry suffered a "World War I", the Russian market was lost because of the revolution, hyperinflation occurred in Germany, and finally the Great Depression of 1929 occurred. Swiss chocolate manufacturers used the time during the World War II to rapidly expand overseas. However, after Black Friday, two chocolate manufacturers, Peter and Keller, were annexed by Nestle. While Suchard and Sobler were acquired by Philip Morris. 1928, Lotus Bentley only made a joint venture with Rowntree in Berlin, and then made a joint venture with its British company in 1932, which made them the only Swiss chocolate manufacturer that remained independent.
"World War II" made the chocolate industry lose most of its export market, and also interrupted the supply of raw materials in the interior of Switzerland. Wartime rationing even limited a person to one chocolate a month. However, Lotus Bentley managed to maintain its profitability and maintain its position as a medium-sized regional manufacturer. If RudolphSpüngli did not succeed in obtaining the fifth-generation enterprise inheritance right at 1962, the company originally intended to keep this position. The theme of his doctoral thesis is about the financial and strategic mistakes of his competitor Thobroe, and he started a series of European market expansion actions. Rudolph Spinley married a wealthy heiress of a construction company, which enabled him to buy shares of family members and other dissenting minority shareholders, thus fully demonstrating his autocratic and increasingly self-centered management style. He even strengthened his control by changing managers frequently.
In 20 years of Olten, Lotus Bentley acquired ChocolateGisonAG of Kul, Langenthal and ChocoladefabrikGubor of Nagong? HrmittelAG, these companies are located in Switzerland. It also continued its cooperation with Rowntree (LindtEnglandLtd) in the UK, and began to produce "ConsortiumFran? AisdeConfiserie. owns the shares of Varese BulgheroniSpA 1 1% in Italy. After the Italian bribery scandal broke out, Spinley bought the remaining 89% shares. 1993, the factory was renamed as SPRüngli &；; Lindespa. Its German authorized manufacturer, LeonardMonhard of Aachen, is owned by PeterLudwig, a famous contemporary art collector. Perhaps because this man cares more about his famous paintings than the profits of the company, he declared bankruptcy on 1986. Since then, Shi Lian Li Bin bought it in 1987 for1200,000 Deutsche Mark. Subsequently, they invested 220 million marks in this new production base to replace outdated post-war old machinery and equipment.
1989, in strasser, New Hampshire, Lotus Bentley established an organization specializing in the production and distribution of the East Coast of the United States, and also established a sales company in Hong Kong. By the late 1980s, Shi Lian Bentley had encountered difficulties in both public and private affairs. Brand strategy was inconsistent in the four core markets at that time: Germany and Italy adopted top brand strategy, France focused on promotion and discount war, and Switzerland was "everything is fine".
The "decision group meeting" composed of Swiss and foreign managers thinks that foreign operations are creating profits, but the traditional production center in Kirchberg is the source of losses. This statement is quite harsh to Rudolf Spinley, a supporter of the traditional school. The old authoritarian was fascinated by a charming but infamous female faith therapist named HeidiGantenbein (who still provides paid spiritual counseling online). He divorced his wife who had been married for many years and married Miss Gunter Ben. Later, he fired many managers according to the spiritual advice of his new wife. The new management was forced to attend the spiritual course of Miss Ben in Gunter. The spiritual fortress of Swiss cuisine fell into the hands of a former stripper, which really shook the surrounding area of Lake Zurich. 1993, Dr. Rudolf Spinley retired and became honorary chairman, and appointed decent Ernst Tanner as CEO. RudolfKonradSprüengli, Rudolf's son, who was previously disliked by his father and Miss Gunter Bourne, was also restored as chairman. Subsequently, the company adopted an appropriate European brand strategy, the original joint venture became a subsidiary, and the production base in Gisborne also took measures to reduce costs.
After 10 years of continuous progress and consistent production, marketing and innovation, Ernst Tanner's efforts have brought a series of achievements and effectively maintained the independence of Lotus Bentley. This is also the reason why the company was not swallowed up in the M&A frenzy that started at 1990.