Emil Gerbeaud (,

Carouge Carouge () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Carouge is first mentioned in the Early Middle Ages as ''Quadruvium'' and ''Quatruvio''. In 1248 it was mentioned as ''Carrogium'' while i ...

Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of forty-five Municipality, municipalities, and the seat of the governme ...

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, 22 February 1854 –

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

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, 8 November 1919) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

-born Hungarian confectioner, chocolate producer, industrialist and entrepreneur. Several famous traditional Hungarian cakes were first introduced by him like the ''macskanyelv'' (), the ''konyakos meggy'' (), the ''csokoládé drazsé'' () and he was the first in

who sold French cakes filled with

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with Eggs as food, egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in con ...

. The ''zserbó'' cake, a well-known product of the

Café Gerbeaud Café Gerbeaud, situated at Vörösmarty tér 7 in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is a traditional coffeehouse opened in 1858. It was built in Gründerzeit style. In 2009 Café Gerbeaud opened its second confectionery in Tokyo, Japan. His ...

is named after him, although it was not available in his lifetime.

Life

Early life

Émile Gerbeaud was born in

on 22 February 1854 into a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

merchant, confectioner family. His father, Simon-Jean-François Gerbeaud was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

confectioner and trader. His mother was Jeanne-Marie Gros. During his younger years he was trained in the family business and later worked in several confectioneries in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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and

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. In 1879 Gerbeaud opened his own confectionery in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, Loire Department,

Café Gerbeaud

In 1884 he came to

at the request of the famous Hungarian confectioner Henrik Kugler and became shareholder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Henrik Kugler's Confectionery (''Kugler Henrik Cukrászdája'') (which later became his own company under the name

). In 1886 he expanded the company with a new chocolate factory. He gained reputation for the Hungarian confectionery industry and won the gold medal for his products on the

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s in

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

and

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

. In recognition of this he received the

Franz-Joseph Order The Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph () was founded by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on 2 December 1849, on the first anniversary of his accession to the imperial throne. Classes The order was originally awarded in three classes: ''G ...

and the French Honorary Order. He was elected President of the Division of Sugar Production of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Hungary in 1903. In 1904 he moved the chocolate factory to Duna Street. In 1907 he became president of the international bakery and confectionery exhibition. In 1896 at the Millennium Exhibition he demonstrated his modern fabrication method of chocolate which brought him a reputation. In 1907 he bought and renewed a chocolate factory in

Fiume Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and in 2021 had a po ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(today

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Death

After his death on 9 November 1919 his wife led the company successfully further until 1940. In 1948 the communist regime deprived the heirs, the five daughters of Emil Gerbeaud, of the shares of the company and they confiscated it. Since 1984 the company is again under the name '

' registered and since 1995 owned by the German billionaire, Erwin Franz Müller, the owner of the Müller drugstores.

Personal life

He married Esther Ramseyer (1853 – 7 February 1940), the daughter of a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

chocolatefabric owner and confectioner from

Saint-Imier Saint-Imier () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Jura bernois (administrative district), Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Be ...

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

. They had together five daughters. * Gabrielle (?–?) * Marcella (Budapest, 14 January 1883 – 30 January 1971) * Erzsébet Kamilla (Budapest, 15 November 1885 – ?) * Ilona Janka (Budapest, 23 April 1888 – ?) * Margit Magdolna (Budapest, 23 October 1890 – )

Sources

* ANTAL, Zsuzsanna - Ki sütött először süteményt a Gerbeaud-ban? Kugler Henrik története. (7 September 2017, Forbes Hungary)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerbeaud, Emil 1854 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholics Businesspeople from Austria-Hungary Expatriates in France Hungarian people of Swiss descent Immigrants to Austria-Hungary People from Carouge Swiss Roman Catholics