Founded in 1819, Cailler celebrated its 200th birthday in 2019. Along with Peter, Kohler, and Nestlé, the four men founded the four most prominent chocolate manufacturers of their time along Lake Geneva. With a plentiful supply of milk from the cows grazing the nearby pastures, it still is the perfect place for a chocolate business.
During the Great Depression, Cailler went into financial difficulty and asked Nestlé, who was already a 40% shareholder at the time to help. Fortunately, Nestlé agreed to acquire the company and save it from bankruptcy. Although now a part of a larger conglomerate, its chocolates are still made in the traditional way. Visitors are guided through the history of chocolate in the museum and taught how chocolate is made all the way from the farm to final delivery to the supermarket.
At the end of the tour, you can even test eight different kinds of chocolates already included in your ticket price. From what I tasted, I think the Ambassador is my favourite offering a more mature flavour of dark chocolate on the outside with subtly sweet hazelnut paste on the inside. Oh yeah, you can actually eat some of their cocoa beans, almonds, and hazelnuts in their roasted form as well!
From what I saw, the chocolate deals in their museum shop are actually competitive with supermarket prices. I’d recommend taking on some of their bulk offers to lower your per-piece price as Cailler chocolate bars (not the gift boxes) are of great value and make for excellent gifts from Switzerland.
I visited this factory is part of the Chocolate Train tour, but visitors can also drive themselves to the factory for a visit.
