Freia is a Norwegian

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 ...

brand. The brand is known for Freia Melkesjokolade and Kvikk Lunsj, as well as for other

candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

and

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

products. The company was acquired by

Mondelez International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...

in 1993.

History

Freia was founded by Olaf Larsen (1867–1920) and Fredrik Wilhelm Hjorth Christensen (1851–) in 1889. Larsen had been experimenting with chocolate for some time and Christensen arranged supplies with cocoa suppliers and paid for machines and the required facilities. A few years later in 1892, the operation was bought by aspiring entrepreneur and businessman

Johan Throne Holst Johan Throne Holst (7 February 1868 – 13 February 1946), was a Norwegian industrialist and politician for the Liberal Left Party (''Frisinnede Venstre''). He was the founder of Marabou and CEO of Freia, now owned and operated by Mondelez Inter ...

(1868–1946). In his first six years, he grew the enterprise from 7 to 60 employees, and incorporated Freia as a public company in 1898. Holst realized that there was a potential market for edible

milk chocolate Milk chocolate is a form of solid chocolate containing Chocolate liquor, cocoa, sugar and milk. It is the most consumed types of chocolate, type of chocolate, and is used in a wide diversity of chocolate bar, bars, tablets and other confectione ...

, in addition to the

dark chocolate Dark chocolate is a form of chocolate made from cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar. It has a higher cocoa percentage than white chocolate, milk chocolate, and semisweet chocolate. Dark chocolate is valued for claimed—though unsupported— ...

and other minor products Freia were producing at the time. Holst built up Freia to be Norway's leading chocolate manufacturer. By the turn of the century, Freia was the leading Norwegian brand in

sweets Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, and sugar can ...

. Since its inception the factory has been in the

Rodeløkka Rodeløkka is a neighborhood in Grünerløkka in Oslo, Norway. History From 1900 to 1961, it was served by the Rodeløkka Line of the Oslo Tramway. The name The property was bought by the dean ''Frederik Rode'' in 1854. The last element is t ...

neighborhood in the borough of

Grünerløkka Grünerløkka () is a borough but also a neighborhood of the city of Oslo, Norway. Grünerløkka became part of the city of Oslo (then Christiania) in 1858. Grünerløkka was traditionally a working class district; since the late 20th century t ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. In 1916, based on the success in Norway, the Throne-Holst family founded the chocolate factory Marabou in

Sundbyberg Sundbyberg Municipality ( or ''Sundbybergs stad'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, just north of the capital Stockholm. Sundbyberg is wholly within the Stockholm urban area and has a 100% urban population. Sundbybe ...

outside of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and in 1943, moved to the present location in

Upplands Väsby Upplands Väsby () is a locality and the seat of Upplands Väsby Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 48,907 inhabitants in 2020. History The municipality has a long history with clear traces of settlements from the pre-Christian time ...

. The name Freia (or Freja) could not be used due to a conflicting

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

in Sweden. The name Marabou was chosen instead and is based on the

marabou stork The marabou stork (''Leptoptilos crumenifer'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae native to sub-Saharan Africa. It breeds in both wet and arid habitats, often near human habitation, especially landfill sites. It is sometim ...

which was part of Freia's logo at the time. Production started in 1919, due to shortages in cocoa supply caused by World War I. In 1990, Freia bought all the shares in Marabou. On 12 October 1992,

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around th ...

, Procordia and Finnish

Paulig Paulig is a Finland, Finnish family-owned food and drink company, founded in 1876. The company's brands are Paulig, Santa Maria, Risenta and Poco Loco. Paulig has 2,000 employees in 13 countries and its net sales in 2019 were EUR 921 million. H ...

sold their shares in Freia Marabou to the Philip Morris company Kraft General Foods, a total of 55% of the shares. A few weeks later,

Hershey Foods The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. The Hershey Company is one ...

sold its shares (18.6%), giving Philip Morris full control of Freia. On 22 April 1993, the Ministry of Trade and Industry granted Kraft General Foods Holding Norway Inc a license to take over all the shares in Freia Marabou AS. Freia was purchased by Kraft Foods Nordic for

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

3 billion. After Kraft's acquisition, most of the operation remains at Freia's factory in Oslo. Parts of production have been outsourced to Lithuania, Estonia and Sweden, following restructuring from the parent company in the mid-2000s. Since 2012, the owner has been Mondelēz International.

Products

The company's flagship product has since then been the

candy bar, Freia Melkesjokolade. On the basis of this product, Freia produces several other

candy bars A candy bar is a type of portable candy that is in the shape of a bar. The most common type of candy bar is the chocolate bar, including both bars made of solid chocolate and combination candy bars, which are candy bars that combine chocolate wi ...

, with added

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed * Nut (food), a dry and edible fruit or seed, including but not limited to true nuts * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut, NUT or Nuts may also refer to: A ...

raisin A raisin is a Dried fruit, dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and South Afri ...

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

s and

Daim DAIM (, like the coin ''dime''; born 1971 as Mirko Reisser) is a German graffiti artist who lives and works in Hamburg. He is particularly known for his large-size, 3D-style graffiti works. This has become known as his trademark. For his technic ...

pieces. The brand has constantly been marketed in a

national romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

spirit – as the essence of everything that is Norwegian. Their slogan is ''Et lite stykke Norge'' (A little piece of Norway).

References

Additional sources

*Ibsen, Hilde (1998) ''Et lite stykke Norge : Freia 100 år'' (Tano Aschehoug) ,

External links

Freia official websiteKraft Foods Nordic official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freia (Chocolate) Norwegian chocolate companies Food and drink companies established in 1889 Manufacturing companies based in Oslo Norwegian brands Mondelez International brands 1993 mergers and acquisitions Norwegian companies established in 1889

History

Products

See also

References

Additional sources

External links