175 years Lindt & Sprüngli

LINDT&SPRÜNGLI 40 Mr Liechti, we all know the image of the Master Chocolatier from the famous Lindt advert on TV. To what extent does this image resemble reality? We confectioners were the inspiration for the promotional image of the classic Lindt Master Chocolatier. It is therefore not surprising that the advertising is not so far removed from our reality. We Master Chocolatiers really exist. However, my uniform with the golden buttons is just my Sunday dress and my place of work looks somewhat less spectacular than in the ad- verts. How is a praline developed – from the idea through to it being sold in shops? At the very start, you need inspiration. It is important to keep your eyes open as you go through life as inspiration can be found every- where, be it at the market or when you’re traveling. Of course, we also incorporate the latest findings from marketing studies and consumer needs into our work. In product de- velopment in Kilchberg, the new chocolate creations are then initially crafted by hand by an entire team of confectioners. But it can take up to two years for a praline to appear on supermarket shelves. New products are developed according to taste preferences in various countries. Are there actually also differences between the genders? Of course, women, for example, are true fine sensorists and prefer sophisticated recipes. Men, on the other hand, like chocolate with nuts, chocolate that really cracks. Lindt choco- late with whole nuts is a real man’s chocolate, which I have also loved since childhood. At Lindt&Sprüngli, you have been reinventing the world of chocolate time and time again for almost 20 years. How has your day-to-day work changed during this time? A great deal has changed. The world has be- come a lot smaller, and our innovations have far greater international potential nowadays, which makes our work more complicated and multi-faceted. Lindt chocolate is now a global Creation Urs Liechti has been enthu­ siastic about chocolate since childhood, which is why he de- cided to train as a confectioner. After this, he worked in Canada and Australia before running his own confectionery in Spiez in Switzerland for over ten years. He has been working at Lindt&Sprüngli in Kilchberg since 2001 and has become one of the famous Lindt Master Chocolatiers. One of the well-known Master Chocolatiers, who even features in adverts himself, is Urs Liechti. He has been developing new chocolate creations for Lindt&Sprüngli for almost 20 years. To mark the company’s anniversary, he is offering an exclusive glimpse into his life as a Master Chocolatier. Everything you’ve always wanted to know from a Master Chocolatier