Chocolat Kohler was a

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

producer based in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, founded in 1830 by the Kohler brothers. It is currently a brand owned by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

. Kohler notably introduced hazelnut chocolate, which was perhaps the first combination chocolate bar.

History

The Kohler chocolate factory was one of the first in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, shortly following that of Cailler. The first factory was created in 1830 by Charles-Amédée Kohler, and his brother Frédéric Kohler, sons of Amédée Kohler (1761-1833), a trader in colonial foodstuffs since 1793. In 1849, Charles-Amédée Kohler bought the municipal sawmill in the Sauvabelin forest where he moved the production of chocolate. The newly built factory used the hydraulic power of the Flon river to allow the grinding of the cocoa beans. The installation of a steam engine would replace the hydraulic facility a few years later and allow a considerable development of the factory. Sauvabelin

In 1865, Charles-Amédée sold the business to his two sons Charles-Amédée II and Adolphe, who were succeeded by the sons of the first, Amédée-Louis and Jean-Jacques. From 1894 to 1896, they built a new factory in neighbouring Échandens, which worked until 1907. In 1904, a rapprochement took place with Chocolat Peter managed by

Daniel Peter Daniel Peter (9 March 1836 – 4 November 1919) was a Swiss chocolatier and entrepreneur who founded Peter's Chocolate. A neighbour of Henri Nestlé in Vevey, he was one of the first chocolatiers to make milk chocolate and is credited for inve ...

in Orbe to form the Peter Kohler company, then with Alexandre Cailler in

Vevey Vevey (; ; ) is a town in Switzerland in the Vaud, canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Leman, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used. It was the seat of the Vevey (district), district of the same name until 200 ...

in 1911 to form Peter Cailler Kohler. These various mergers led to the takeover of the brand by the Nestlé company in 1929.

Products

One of the main specialties of the company was hazelnut chocolate. Charles-Amédée Kohler notably created

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to ...

chocolate in 1830. His son Charles-Amédée II also invented the Branche, a praline-filled chocolate and hazelnut bar; the product is described in his recipe book from 1896. The Branche has been produced by Cailler since 1904, and ultimately has become one of the most popular candy bars on the Swiss market. A recurrent advertisement poster showed a wolf attracted by

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

's basket, the latter being full of Kohler chocolates. Chocolat Kohler was also advertised by French artist

Charles Trenet Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001) was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics for nearly 1,000 songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These songs inclu ...

References

{{Nestlé Nestlé brands Companies established in 1830 Brand name chocolate Swiss chocolate companies Swiss brands Food and drink companies established in 1830 1830s establishments in Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Vaud Companies based in Lausanne Hazelnuts European chocolate bars

History

Products

See also

References