It is one of the famous chocolate companies in the world. Some facts regarding this scrumptious treat.
The ‘Time’ magazine voted the Toblerone chocolate bar as being one of the most influential chocolate bars of all time.
The word Toblerone comes from the the last name of the creator, Theodore Tobler and the Italian word for ‘nougat’. Torrone. It all started in 1908 when Tobler and his cousin, Emil Baumann discovered a special nougat product during a business trip. The very same evening, the two cousins worked together in Tobler’s kitchen and attempted to combine milk chocolate and the white honey almond mixture.
The come in a distinctive shape- Traiangular Prism. There are two theories to this shape, first is that Tobler got the idea from human pyramid that the exotic dancers from the Foiles Bergere- a cabaret music hall, located in Paris. The other is that the bar takes it shape from Matterhorn- a mountain of the Alps.
It was patented in 1909. Tobler was concerned that the idea of unique shape would be stolen, so he applied for the patent for the manufacturing process with Federal Institute of Intellectual property. It became the first chocolate product ever to be patented.
The original logo on the packaging was an eagle. Now the logo consists of a mountain with the hidden bear. The bear is the heraldic animal of the city of Berne, and that is where the Toblerone company began.
Some Toblerone bars have the letter ‘K’ stamped on the box. It is the symbol of Kosher and it signifies that the bar is prepared under Jewish dietary law.
The distinct shape of the bar lent its name to the Toblerone line, a series of anti tank emplacement prevalent in the Switzerland border areas
The interior of the Tobler factory in Switzerland was the location where the title sequence of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was filmed.
In 1995, it was revealed that the Swedish politician Mona Sahlin had misused her government-issued credit card for unauthorized purchases. Because she had bought, among many other more expensive items, two bars of Toblerone, pro-Sahlin journalists attempted to downplay her abuse of parliamentary financial privileges as the “Toblerone affair”. These attempts were ultimately unsuccessful, and Sahlin was forced to step down as a candidate for the post as Prime Minister. She returned to politics in 1998.
The company remained independent until 1970 when it merged with another company and became known as interfood. In 1990 Kraft acquired this company.
