Philippe Suchard confectionery company

In 1814, Philippe Suchard started an apprenticeship in confectionary with his older brother Frédéric in Berne. In the year 1825 Suchard opened his first confectionery shop in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He offered fine chocolate made by hand and laid the cornerstone for Suchard's success.

In 1826 he built his first chocolate factory in Serrieres, where he raised manufacturing standards and lowered prices. He invented various machines and devices. The one that is very important to the chocolate production is a special machine to mix sugar and cocoa powder to make the chocolate a homogeneous mass.

By 1833 Suchard was the largest chocolate company in Switzerland, producing half of the nation’s total production, employing approximately 250 people.

The Suchard Company opened its first plant outside Switzerland, in Lörrach, Germany, in 1880, the first in a series of international expansion efforts. In 1901 Suchard established the Milka chocolate brand, one of Europe's oldest and most popular brands of milk chocolate.

The Suchard and Tobler companies joined forces in 1970 to form Interfood, which Jacobs’ coffee company joined 12 years later to form Jacobs Suchard. The Tobler company began in 1867 when Jean Tobler, formally Johann Jakob Tobler, opened a small shop called Confiserie Spécial in Switzerland.

In 1990 Kraft General Foods acquired Jacobs Suchard, making it number one in the European roast and ground coffee market and a leader in confectionery.
Philippe Suchard confectionery company

Jelly Bean

Jelly Beans became famous in the 1980s as US President Ronald Reagan’s favorite candy treat.

Historically, jelly beans may have derived from Turkish delight, a confection composed of gelatin that has been boiled, cubed and dusted with sugar. Turkish delight is sweet that dates back to biblical times.

A more modern version, considered to be the origin of the popular jelly bean, can be traced back to the late 1700s. Haci Bekir, a confectioner to the Ottoman court, is said to have developed a confection that sultans would eat to wash away the bitter taste of Turkish coffee.

In an 1861 advertisement, William Schrafft, Boston candy maker urged people to send jelly beans to soldiers in the Union Army.

The earliest located print reference to jelly beans appears in an advertisement dated 1886 in Illinois, where they were touted as Christmas candy. They were commonly sold in glass or in vending machines as an Easter candy. By 1905 the phrase ‘jelly beans’ had been added to Webster’s American Dictionary.

One traditional jelly bean manufacturer was launched by Gustav Goelitz in 1869, when he opened an ice cream and candy store in Belleville, Illinois. The company then made butter creams and purportedly invented candy corn in about 1900.

The jelly bean was revolutionized in 1976 with the introduction of Jelly Belly, a new style of small, intensely flavored beans created with natural flavors.

David Klein, a small candy entrepreneur, developed the name and the idea and teamed up with the Herman Goelitz Candy Company to manufacture the product.
Jelly Bean