Cailler could be our international premium chocolate platform, says Nestlé

By Oliver Nieburg

- Last updated on GMT

Could Nestlé fill its premium chocolate gap with Cailler?
Could Nestlé fill its premium chocolate gap with Cailler?

Related tags Premium chocolate Chocolate Switzerland Marketing

Nestlé is aiming to reposition its Swiss Cailler brand as a high-end chocolate for international markets to fill a gap analysts have identified in its premium chocolate portfolio.

The company’s CEO last year called premium chocolate his “small intimate frustration”​ at a conference in Boston, but added that Nestlé had the “métier in chocolate. We just have to do it".

The firm’s chairman Peter Brabeck-Lemathe told Bloomberg​ this week that his company was premiumizing its Cailler brand in the hope of international recognition.

Cailler premiumization

ConfectioneryNews contacted Nestlé and it said it would share details of Cailler’s rollout in due course.

Cailler is currently mainly sold in Switzerland. It was introduced in 1796, making it the oldest Swiss chocolate brand still around today.

Nestlé recently introduced ‘Les Recettes de l‘Atelier’, an artisanal range to the Cailler brand. The product contains fruit & nut inclusions that are visible on the product surface.

Lindt and Ferrero no longer viable?

Euromonitor food analyst Pinar Hosafci told this site​ last year that Nestlé’s existing premium chocolate brands weren’t cutting it and said it should look to acquire brands such as Vosges Haut Chocolat or Lebanese chocolate brand Patchi.

Jon Cox, head of European consumer equities at Kepler Cheuvreux, told us in 2013 that fellow Swiss firm Lindt would be a good option​ but would cost around $13.7bn.

Lindt has since strengthened by adding US boxed-chocolate maker Russell Stover and posted double digit sales and net profit growth in 2014.

Nestlé had also been linked to Ferrero, before and after the death of long-time owner Michele Ferrero.

However, his son Giovanni Ferrero said last month the group “is not and will not be up for sale.”

Ferrero also posted strong sales​ an operating profit gains in its fiscal 2014 results this week.

Nestlé’s chairman said Ferrero had made it clear it was not for sale, so it was not an issue.

Related topics Manufacturers Chocolate Nestle Premium

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2 comments

MRS

Posted by Vivian Martino,

Where in Miami,FL. Could I buy Nestle L'ATELIER chocolate?

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Cailler and Nestlé have a long history

Posted by Fazal Majid,

Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate with the help of his neighbor, Henri Nestlé, and his chocolate company merged with Cailler, so when Nestlé bought Cailler, it was a return to origins (Daniel Peter was also a cofounder of Nestlé). Nestlé's retrenchment of Cailler to the Swiss market was disappointing, here's hoping to see Frigor more widely distributed again.

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