Cémoi is a French

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 ...

manufacturer founded by Jules Pares in 1814 in

Arles-sur-Tech Arles-sur-Tech (, literally ''Arles on Tech''; ; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occita ...

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

. Cémoi is the biggest French chocolate manufacturer and the 26th in the world. The Cémoi group owns 15 factories and 4 warehouses around the world.

History

The origins

In 1814, Jules Pares founded one of the first French chocolate factories in

, which eventually became Cémoi.

Development and diversification

In 1962, the businessman Georges Poirrier bought the company and changed its name to Cantalou. During the

Trente glorieuses ''Les Trente Glorieuses'' (; 'The Thirty Glorious (Years)') was a thirty-year period of economic growth in France between 1945 and 1975, following the end of the Second World War. The name was first used by the French demographer Jean Fourast ...

and with the development of the consumer society, the group changed its business model to produce mainly

chocolate bar A chocolate bar is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nut (fruit), nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily breakable, chocolate bar is also called a tablet. In some variet ...

s for supermarkets. It started to buy its competitors: Frankonia in 1977, Phoscao in 1979, Aiguebelle and Cémoi, whose name it took, in 1981. In 2007, the group created Moreuil Distribution, bringing together the Arras and Mâcon warehouses, and acquired the Gryf factory in Poland, specialized in bean roasting and industrial products. In the same year, the Cémoi Group takes control of Troyes-based Jacquot. In 2008, a new chocolate factory is inaugurated in Perpignan, on the so-called Torremilla site. It replaces the original site, which had become too cramped for production. In 2010, with production having been transferred to the new chocolate factory, the historic Perpignan d'Orle factory was refurbished as the company's headquarters, housing new laboratories for the R&D center (Cacao, Chocolat, Aromatique), as well as a boutique-museum. Since 2012, the former Cémoi chocolate factory has been transformed into a boutique, the official retailer of Cémoi products. The site offers tours of the group's former factory, as well as a detailed and explained product tasting. In 2015, the Transparence Cacao Program was launched, with the aim of controlling the entire chocolate chain, from planter to consumer. In 2017, the company acquired the American company Chris Candies (Pittsburg-Pennsylvania), specialized in production for supermarkets and wholesalers. Groupe Cémoi, with sales of 750 million euros and 3,200 employees, is acquired in July 2021 by Belgian family group Sweet Products for around 500 million euros, or 10 times its 2020 Ebitda, according to Les Echos. Once combined, the company is expected to have 5,000 employees, sales of 1.2 billion euros and to become "the world leader in private label chocolates".

Factory and warehouses

The Cémoi group owns 15 factories around the world: * 9 factories in France * 1 factory in Germany * 1 factory in Wales * 1 factory in Poland * 1 factory in Ivory Coast It also owns 4 warehouses: * 3 warehouses in France * 1 warehouse in Spain

Cémoi Cocoa

Cémoi Cocoa comes from the following countries: * Ivory Coast * Ecuador *

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álv ...

and Príncipe * Vanuatu

References

External links

Official Website
French chocolate companies Companies based in Languedoc-Roussillon Food manufacturers of France French brands Pyrénées-Orientales French companies established in 1814 {{confection-stub