Chocolats Halba is a Swiss

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

Pratteln Pratteln (Swiss German: ''Brattele'') is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, located in the district of Liestal. History Pratteln is first mentioned around 1102-03 as ''Bratello''. Geography Pratteln has an area, ...

(

Basel-Landschaft Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital city is Liestal. It is traditional ...

). Chocolate Halba operates its own factory shops, the so-called Schoggihüsli, in Pratteln and at the former factory in

Hinwil Hinwil is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Hinwil (district), Hinwil in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History The village Hinwil from which the later municipality ...

. It is a division of the retail company

Coop Coop or Co-op most often refer to: * Chicken coop or other animal enclosure * Cooperative or co-operative ("co-op"), an association co-operating for mutual social, economic or cultural benefit ** Consumer cooperative ** Food cooperative ** Housin ...

and processes around 20,000 tons of chocolate into bars, pralines and Easter bunnies every year. Around 40% of the chocolate is delivered to the Coop Group, the rest goes to third-party customers around the world – including those in Switzerland, Germany, France, Holland, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and China. In addition to the Coop brand Swiss Confisa, they also produce for other brands such as "Die Gute Schokolade" by Plant-for-the-Planet and for the processing industry. In 2022, Chocolats Halba had annual sales of CHF 285 million. Chocolats Halba generates 90% of its sales with products that carry sustainability labels. Chocolats Halba generates 73% of its sales with products that carry labels such as Fairtrade Max Havelaar, Bio Suisse, USDA Organic, COR Canada Organic, UTZ or Carbon Neutral Product.

History

The company was founded on May 5, 1933, (the day of the constitutive general meeting; the entry in the commercial register took place on May 19, 1993) by Willy Hallheimer and Werner Baer in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

as Halba AG. Hallheimer contributed 18,000 francs of the 30,000 francs start-up capital and gave Baer a pledged loan of 12,000 francs for his share. Production started in Baer's apartment with four employees. In 1955 the company moved to

Wallisellen Wallisellen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Bülach (district), Bülach in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley (German: ''Glattal''). ...

. Halba has been producing for Coop since 1960. In 1967, the two manufacturers Käppeli and SpoSa (formerly Spoerry and Schaufelberger AG, Wald Zürich) were taken over. In 1968, Coop acquired a share of Halba, which was followed by another milestone in 1970, the automation of production. In 1972 the Coop took over Halba completely. At the end of 2000, production moved from Wald Zürich to

. The company has been called Chocolats Halba since 2003 and has no longer been a company since 2004, but rather a division of Coop. Chocolats Halba was renamed Cocoha AG and then dissolved through a merger with Coop Immobilien AG. In 2013, Chocolats Halba Honduras AG was founded as the first branch in a developing country. Since summer 2014, Chocolats Halba has only purchased Fair trade-certified cocoa beans. In 2017, Chocolats Halba moved into its new production facility in Pratteln, near

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, on the Areal Salina Raurica site which has a production capacity of 15,000 tons per year. The previous locations in Wallisellen and Hinwil were abandoned. The location in Hinwil was taken over by Transgourmet Holding and has been used as a warehouse and sales point. In September 2017, Chocolats Halba was merged with the Coop Sunray division. The new company was named Chocolats Halba / Sunray. Chocolats Halba / Sunray is a member of IG Bio.

Company

Coop owns 75 percent of ''Chocolats Halba S.A. de C.V.'' in

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 701, ...

, Honduras. With the “Halba - Le Chocolatier Suisse” product range manufactured by Chocolats Halba, Coop replaced the “Qualité-&-Prix” range in 2021. The new series is in the mid-price segment and is Fairtrade certified.

Awards

In April 2017, the company, together with two other companies, was awarded the highest ranking by the Südwind Institute and the organization Global 2000 in their test for the ecological and social quality of chocolate bunnies. On April 28, 2018, Chocolats Halba received the Swiss Ethics Award for the "Sustainable Chocolate from

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

" project. The joint project by Chocolats Halba and Coop pursues ecominic, ecological and social goals: e.g. the increase in

living standards Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available to an individual, community or society. A contributing factor to an individual's quality of life, standard of living is generally concerned with objective metrics outside ...

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

and the integration and promotion of young farmers.

Collaborations

Together with Fairtrade Africa, Chocolats Halba supports a project against the deforestation of the forests of West Africa. The project supports 2,500 farmers in converting their cocoa monocultures into mixed crops. In collaboration with the children and youth initiative Plant-for-the-Planet, Halba produces “good chocolate”. Halba forgoes any profit; the money generated is instead used for reforestation projects in Mexico.

References

External links