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François-Louis Cailler

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François-Louis Cailler
Born11 June 1796
Vevey, Switzerland
Died6 April 1852(1852-04-06) (aged 55)
Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland
NationalitySwiss
OccupationChocolatier
Known forFounder of the oldest chocolate brand in Switzerland still in existence
RelativesDaniel Peter (son-in-law)

François-Louis Cailler (11 June 1796 – 6 April 1852) was a Swiss entrepreneur and early chocolatier who founded Cailler, the first modern brand of Swiss chocolate and the oldest still in existence, in 1819.[1][2]

Biography

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Cailler was born in Vevey, in the canton of Vaud, on 11 June 1796, in a family originally from Daillens. After an apprenticeship as a grocer in Vevey, he travelled to northern Italy where, in Turin, he learned the art of chocolate-making from Ticinese chocolatiers based there.[1][3]

After returning to Switzerland in 1818, Cailler began a partnership with Abram L.C. Cusin of Aubonne, operating a grocery business in Vevey under the name of Cailler & Cusin.[4] The following year, in 1819, he set up a chocolate factory in a converted former mill, in Corsier,[1] near Vevey, thus establishing what would become the Cailler company, and the world’s first mechanised chocolate factory.[2] Cailler perfected a technique to solidify chocolate and make tablets.[5][6]

Starting in 1820, Cailler rented additional factory space in the area in order to produce chocolate in larger scale. The partnership with Cusin, however, was dissolved the following year, and by 1826 Cailler's business went bankrupt.[4] Around this time he married Louise-Albertine Perret, from Boudry.[7] After the company's recover, Cailler bought two new water powered factories in Corsier-sur-Vevey and Vevey.[4]

He died in Corsier on 6 April 1852. His wife Louise-Albertine continued to run the company along with their sons, Auguste and Alexandre.[4]

Legacy

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In 1875, his son-in-law Daniel Peter had the idea of combining the chocolate with his neighbor Henri Nestlé's condensed milk to make milk chocolate. The companies of Peter and Charles-Amédée Kohler, which were already partners, merged with Cailler in 1911, then run by François-Louis' grandson, Alexandre-François-Louis Cailler (1866–1936),[8] to form the firm Peter, Cailler, Kohler, Chocolats Suisses S.A,[4] which was later purchased by the food industry giant Nestlé, in 1929.

Notes and references

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  1. ^ a b c Marion, Gilbert. "Cailler, François-Louis". Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (in French). Après un apprentissage chez un épicier de Vevey, C. séjourne en Italie du Nord où il découvre les chocolatiers tessinois de Turin et s'initie à la fabrication du chocolat. De retour à Vevey en 1818, il crée des machines pour ce qui devient en 1819 la première fabrique moderne de chocolat en Suisse, installée au lieudit En Copet, sur la commune de Corsier. [After an apprenticeship with a grocer in Vevey, C. stayed in northern Italy where he discovered the Ticinese chocolatiers in Turin and learned how to make chocolate. Back in Vevey in 1818, he created machines for what in 1819 became the first modern chocolate factory in Switzerland, located at a place called En Copet, in the town of Corsier.]
  2. ^ a b Thomas Stephens (13 December 2017). "The pioneers of Switzerland's 'Chocolate Revolution'". Swissinfo. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  3. ^ Ainardi, Mauro Silvio (2008). Le fabbriche da cioccolata: nascita e sviluppo di un'industria lungo i canali di Torino. Umberto Allemandi. p. 51. ISBN 9788842215639. Dall'elenco dei nominativi emerge come la produzione artigianale della cioccolata a Torino, nei primi decenni del XIX secolo, sia appannaggio di alcune famiglie originarie del Canton Ticino [From the list of names it emerges how the artisanal production of chocolate in Turin, in the first decades of the 19th century, was the prerogative of some families originating from the Canton of Ticino]
  4. ^ a b c d e "About Cailler". Cailler. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  5. ^ Bardoulat, Maria (2005). Le chocolat, du plaisir à la santé: de la fève au chocolat, tous les bienfaits du cacao. Alpen Editions. p. 18. ISBN 9782914923460. François-Louis Cailler met au point une technique qui permet de solidifier le chocolate pour le proposer sous forme de tablettes. [François-Louis Cailler perfected a technique that made it possible to solidify chocolate in order to offer it in the form of tablets.]
  6. ^ Barel, Michel (2021). Du cacao au chocolat: L'épopée d'une gourmandise. Éditions Quæ. p. 102. ISBN 9782759233793. À partir de 1820, ce sont surtout les Suisses qui vont innover, créer, améliorer les techniques de chocolaterie. Le premier est François-Louis Cailler, l'inventeur de la tablette de chocolat telle que nous la connaissons aujourd'hui. [From 1820, it was above all the Swiss who were to innovate, create and improve chocolate-making techniques. The first is François-Louis Cailler, the inventor of the chocolate tablet as we know it today.]
  7. ^ Encyclopédie illustrée du pays de Vaud: Les artisans de la praspérité (in French). 24 heures. 1972. p. 142.
  8. ^ Charrière, Michel. "Cailler, Alexandre-François-Louis". Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (in French). Retrieved 8 April 2021.
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