 Felchlin factory in Ibach | |
| Type | Aktiengesellschaft |
|---|---|
| Industry | Confectionery |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Founder | Max Josef Felchlin |
| Headquarters | , Switzerland |
Key people | Thomas Truttmann (CEO) |
| Products | Chocolate, baking ingredients, confectionery ingredients |
Number of employees | 150 [1] |
| Website | felchlin |
Max Felchlin AG is a company headquartered in Schwyz, Switzerland which produces chocolate and other baking and confectionery ingredients.
Max Felchlin AG manufactures semi-finished products and supplies trades such as confectioneries and bakeries. This includes producers, restaurants and confectioners in Switzerland and abroad. The largest customers abroad are the USA and Japan. [2] The company is considered a niche producer in the field of fine chocolate and manufactures it entirely in its Schwyz plant.
In 2019, around 150 employees worked for the company. [3] Max Felchlin AG delivers to over 40 countries worldwide through distribution partners. [4] Max Felchlin AG is a member of IG Bio. [5]
Businessman Max Josef Felchlin opened a honey shop in Schwyz in 1908, and expanded to chocolate by the 1920s. [6] [7] In 1913 he renamed his business Honigzentrale Schwyz. In doing so, he laid the foundation for the company. [8] In 1928, Felchlin relocated the business to a rural estate in Seewen, Schwyz, called Liebwylen, and continued to expand the product line to other confections and ingredients.
In 1937, Felchlin developed a new type of praline and nougat mixture, the ‘Pralinosa’, which is still being sold today. During World War II, Felchlin produced Sowiso, a milk powder. [7]
Felchlin transferred control of the company to his son, Max Felchlin Jr., in 1962, and died in 1970, at the age of 87. In 1974, the company became a public limited corporation, the Max Felchlin AG, and established a new factory in Ibach, Schwyz, [7] and the sole proprietorship was converted into a stock corporation. In 1980, the company exported their products to Japan and the USA for the first time.
In 1991, Felchlin, Jr. arranged for an association of local Schwyz residents to take majority ownership of the company after his death. [6] [7] The association named Christian Aschwanden as CEO, subsequent to the death of Felchlin in 1992. The company moved to a new factory in Ibach in 2000. [7] Development, processing and administration were also combined at the site in a new building added later. [9] By 2006, Felchlin produced 2,500 tons per year. [6] On the occasion of the centenary in 2008, a book was published by gastronomy journalist Paul Imhof. [10] In 2016, Jamie Oliver visited the Felchlin chocolate manufacture in Schwyz for series Jamie's Super Food on Channel 4. [11]
In 2012, the company started construction for a new cacao roasting plant, which was finished in 2014. In the same year Felchlin acquired a new property next to their current facilities in Ibach and started planning and construction of new and centralised headquarters. In 2018, the entire company moved into the new building complex.
In September 2022, Felchlin announced that after 30 years Christian Aschwanden would step down from Group Management in 2023. [12] Thomas Truttmann then took over the position from August 2023. [13]
Max Felchlin primarily sells wholesale to other confectioners, such as Sprüngli. [6] [14] The most prominent retail product is the Grand Cru line, introduced in 1999, which includes the Maracaibo Clasificado 65%. Felchlin proposes milk and white chocolates made exclusively with milk from the Entlebuch Biosphere, named "Grand Cru Opus Lait de Terroir". [15]
Since 1988, the company has also offered on-site training for pastry chefs and other customers at its Condirama building in Schwyz. [16] [7]
Various fine chocolate manufacturers have their products produced by Felchlin. [17] The company also supplies various confectioneries and confectioneries in Switzerland. [18] In addition, Felchlin also offers training courses, seminars, recipe creations and technical support for business customers. [9]
In 1999, the company was the first Swiss chocolate manufacturer to introduce the term "Grand Cru" for a selection of their couvertures (high-quality chocolate that is processed further). [19] This means that only fine cocoa from a defined origin is used for these couvertures. Felchin processes beans from regions where the fine cocoa Criollo and Trinitario grows. These varieties are lower yield than the forastero beans processed by much of the cocoa industry, but are said to be more flavorful. [20] To do this, Felchlin's chief buyer regularly travels to the regions of origin and buys the cocoa directly there. [21] Max Felchlin AG is therefore taking on a pioneering role in the chocolate industry when it comes to sustainability. This peculiarity has been documented several times in the media. [22] [23]
A chocolate from the company's Grand Cru line, the Maracaibo Clasificado (65%), is named as the "World's Best Chocolate" by the Accademia Maestri Pasticceri Italiani in 2004. [7]
Emmi AG is a Swiss milk processor and dairy products company headquartered in Lucerne. The company employs a total of around 8,900 people in Europe, North America, South America and North Africa (Tunisia). Emmi AG is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. The company generates about 42.5 percent of its sales locally and the other 57.5 percent abroad. Numerous production companies in Switzerland belong to the Emmi Group. Outside of Switzerland, Emmi has production facilities, in Chile, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Tunisia, Brazil, Canada and the USA. Emmi is one of the 500 largest companies in Switzerland.
Barry Callebaut AG is a Swiss-Belgian cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer, with an average annual production of 2.3 million tonnes of cocoa & chocolate . It was created in 1996 through the merging of the French company Cacao Barry and the Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut. It is currently based in Zürich, Switzerland, and operates in over 30 countries worldwide. It was created in its present form by Klaus Johann Jacobs.
Chocolat Frey AG, commonly Frey, based in Buchs in the Swiss Canton of Aargau, manufactures chocolate and chewing gum. The products of the leading chocolate manufacturer on the Swiss chocolate market are sold both in Switzerland and abroad under the brand name of Frey as well as additional private labels. The company, founded in 1887, is a business enterprise of the M-Industry and has been a part of the Migros Group since 1950.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:
Digitec Galaxus AG is the biggest online retailer in Switzerland. It operates the digitec and Galaxus online shops as well as ten stores in the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland.
HeiQ is HeiQ Group. The mother company of the group is a Swiss specialty chemistry company, HeiQ Materials AG, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It was founded in 2005 as a spin-off of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH).
Ruby chocolate is a style or distinct variety of chocolate that is pinkish or purple in colour. Barry Callebaut, a Belgian–Swiss cocoa company, introduced it as a distinct product on 5 September 2017 after beginning development of their product in 2004. It has a pink color, and Barry Callebaut says it is a fourth natural type of chocolate. Some other industry experts have said that some cacao pods are naturally pink or purple in colour, and thus pink chocolate has been available before.
Fenaco is an agricultural cooperative federation in Switzerland, headquartered in Bern. Fenaco is an acronym of its French name fédération nationale des coopératives agricoles. Members of the federation are 165 agricultural cooperatives trading under the name Landi as well as some others. This makes Fenaco indirectly owned by the around 43,000 members of the Landi cooperatives, 22,000 of them being active farmers.
Dadvan Ismat Yousuf Yousuf is an Iraqi cryptocurrency investor and businessman whose early bitcoin investments made him the youngest self-made billionaire in Switzerland. Yousuf and his companies have been involved in a number of allegations.
Villiger Sons is a Swiss multinational concern which manufactures and sells cigars and cigarillos and other tobacco products. Founded in 1888, the company is family owned and managed in the third, respectively fourth generation, and employs over 1,500 people worldwide. Villiger produces over 16 brands and has a revenue of approximately $220 million (2017). Besides owning several factories as subsidiaries in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Indonesia.Villiger is also present on the U.S. market and has opened a new subsidiary of Villiger North America, Inc. in Doral, Florida in 2016.
Gabriela Suter is a Swiss non-profit executive and politician. She currently serves as a member of the National Council (Switzerland) for the Social Democratic Party. She is also served as the president of the Aargau chapter of the Social Democratic Party until 2022. Suter previously also served as a member of the Grand Council of Aargau from 2017 to 2019.
Hans Jakob Vontobel was a Swiss private banker and philanthropist. He was the former president of Vontobel between 1984 and 1994 and honorary president until his death. He held approximately 20% of controlling shares of the private bank. He was the patriarch of the Vontobel banking family.
Pirmin Schwander is a Swiss businessman, economist and politician. He has served as a member on the National Council for the Swiss People's Party since 2003. In the 2023 Swiss federal election Schwander was nominated to serve on the Council of States, which he won.
Läckerli Huus is a Swiss manufacturer of confectionery and baked goods based in Frenkendorf in the canton of Basel-Landschaft.
Georg Kreis is a Swiss historian. He is a professor emeritus of modern general history and history of Switzerland at the University of Basel and was head of the University’s Europa Institute until July 2011. Aside from his academic duties, Kreis was the President of the Swiss Federal Commission against Racism, a Swiss government-supported commission of experts, from its founding in 1995 until 2011.
Adelheid Franziska Z’graggen commonly known as Heidi Z’graggen is a Swiss political scientist and politician who currently serves on the Council of States (Switzerland) for The Centre since 2019. She previously served on the Executive Council of Uri between 2004 and 2020. In 2018, she was briefly a candidate for Federal Council (Switzerland) to succeed Doris Leuthard.
Gratian Dietrich Bela Anda known as Gratian Anda is a Swiss business magnate and industrial heir who is currently the controlling shareholder of IHAG. He also holds participations in companies such as Barilla, Pilatus Aircraft and hospitality ventures. Anda is also a member of the board of trustees of Foundation E.G. Bührle. Bilanz estimated the net worth of the Anda-Bührle family at CHF 800m+ (2023).
Orior AG, based in Zurich, is a listed food group specializing in fresh convenience food, processed meat as well as organic vegetable and fruit juices. The company additionally produces charcuterie specialties, fresh pasta, pies and terrines, poultry and pork products, vegetarian and vegan specialties for retail and catering in Switzerland and neighboring countries. The Orior Group employed around 2,300 people and generated sales of around 596 million Swiss francs in 2019.
Dominik Blunschy is a Swiss software engineer and politician who currently is member-elect of the National Council (Switzerland) for The Centre after being elected during the 2023 Swiss federal election. He assumed office on 4 December 2023.
Cremo S.A. based in Villars-sur-Glâne, is a Swiss milk processing company and the second largest dairy company in Switzerland after Emmi and ahead of Hochdorf, Estavayer Lait and Züger Frischkäse.
