VEVEY, Switzerland
The year 1825 saw many things that could be argued to have changed the course of history – everything from the invention of the shirt collar to the patenting of tin cans for food storage.
It was also the year that one of Switzerland’s oldest and best-loved chocolate brands was born.
François-Louis Cailler, then owner of a grocery business in Vevey, Switzerland, had returned from a holiday in Italy, where he had discovered a yet-unknown mixture of ground cocoa beans and sugar.
François-Louis Cailler was no stranger to chocolate. He had been selling it under the Cailler name since 1819 in his grocery store. The chocolate he sold however was a bitter paste of crushed cocoa beans, used mainly as a restorative tonic or addition for drinks.
