“We’re the biggest among the small chocolate producers,” says Daniel Bloch during the tour, “there’s only a jump between us and Lindt.” The owner, who is the third generation to run the family business of Chocolats Camille Bloch based in the Bernese Jura, is alluding to the very different companies that produce chocolate in Switzerland.
Almost everyone knows the name couple Lindt & Sprüngli: Their gold bunnies are regularly on the supermarket shelves at Easter. Or the triangular Toblerone, which can be found in duty-free shops at almost every airport in the world. In contrast, chocolate names such as Halba, Favarger, Felchlin or Taucherli are less well-known abroad.
However, in recent years, large and small manufacturers alike have set up extensive exhibitions about the process of chocolate extraction and production in addition to their factory outlets, since factory tours are not possible due to food law reasons. These have long since become permanent fixtures on the tourist map of Switzerland. What’s more, some have opened studios where visitors can make their own bars and truffles in small groups by prior arrangement.
1.5 tons of flowing chocolate
Market leader Lindt & Sprüngli applies the thickest in the Zurich suburb of Kilchberg. In the Lindt Home of Chocolate, which is run by a foundation, up to 2,000 visitors a day can first admire an oversized chocolate fountain with a whisk hovering above it in the foyer. 1.5 tons of liquid chocolate are continuously pumped through this superlative construction.
The Stuttgarter Studio Brueckner responsible for designing the new Museum of the Future in Dubai.
The dark side of chocolate
The House of Chocolate tells less about transparent supply chains and about the loss of biodiversity and deforestation of rainforest in the cultivation areas due to the monoculture of the cocoa plantations. According to Lindt, it has only been refraining from sourcing cocoa beans obtained with the help of child labor since 2022.
Daniel Bloch is one step further with his ingredient tracking program. Instead of using middlemen or cooperatives, he relies on a network of 600 small farmers in Ghana and Peru, and has acquired 650 hectares of land in Georgia to grow hazelnuts there. “We can also control what we do ourselves,” says Daniel Bloch.
Incidentally, according to the latest figures from the Chocosuisse association, per capita consumption in Switzerland is 11.3 kilograms per year. Germany only ranks second with a consumption of 9.6 kilograms of chocolate products – more than 90 bars per person.
Sources: https://camillebloch.ch , www.lindt-home-of-chocolate.com, www.chocosuisse.ch
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