Chocolat Suchard

History

The Suchard chocolate factory took off thanks to his son Philippe (1834–1883), then to his son-in-law Carl Russ (1838–1925), who ran the chocolate company from 1884 to 1924. After Philippe's death in 1884 in Neuchâtel, his daughter, Eugénie Suchard and her husband Carl Russ-Suchard, took over the functioning of his factory. Carl Russ-Suchard opened the first Suchard factory abroad in 1880 in Germany, at Lörrach.

The Suchard factory used hydropower of the nearby river to run the mills. A grinding mill consisting of a heated granite plate, and several granite rollers moving forwards and backwards were used to produce chocolate. This design, the melanger, is still used to grind cocoa paste. As a result, chocolate became more affordable. Before opening his factory, Suchard realized that a small tablet sold at a pharmacy was worth three days' wages.

However, chocolate was still an expensive product, therefore limiting the number of potential customers. Suchard struggled financially early in his career as a chocolatier. His success came in 1842, with a bulk order from Frederick William IV, king of Prussia, who was also the prince of Neuchâtel. This triggered a boom, and soon his chocolates won prizes at the London Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Paris Universal Exposition of 1855. By the end of the 19th century, Suchard had become the largest chocolate producer.

A traveller’s book from 1874 features an advertisement for Suchard's chocolate bonbons and creams, as well as its fancy boxes and tourist boxes of chocolates.

In 1896, inspired by the success of Daniel Peter, Carl Russ-Suchard created a first milk chocolate bar. In 1901, the company mechanized its production and launched the Milka chocolate brand for the Swiss market. Carl Russ-Suchard combined an unusual purple packaging with a Simmental cow symbolizing their use of milk.