Zotter chocolate
| Zotter Schokolade GmbH
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|---|---|
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1999 |
| Seat | Riegersburg , Austria |
| management | Josef Zotter |
| Number of employees | 200 (2019) |
| sales | 24 million euros (2019) |
| Branch | Chocolate production |
| Website | zotter.at |
The Zotter Chocolate GmbH is a 1999 Zotter GmbH Manufacturer of biological and fair produced chocolate , located in the village of Bergl of the Styrian municipality of Riegersburg . The predecessor was the Zotter pastry shop, founded in 1987. In January 2020 the company was renamed Zotter Schokolade GmbH.
Around 200 tons of organic cocoa beans and 150 tons of cocoa butter are refined there with around 400 other organic ingredients each year to make over 500 types of chocolate, pralines, drinking chocolate and other chocolate products. Zotter is a bean-to-bar manufacturer that produces its own chocolate from the cocoa bean. The Austrian company achieves almost half of its sales with over 4,000 sales outlets worldwide.
Beginnings
The company, which specializes in chocolate production, was founded in 1999 by the chef and confectioner Josef Zotter in what was then the municipality of Kornberg in Styria . Before that, Zotter had operated a pastry shop with four branches for twelve years, whose Zotter cakes achieved regional fame. In 2004 Zotter became a contractual partner of Fair Trade . In the same year, the chocolate factory was awarded the Gourmet Trophy in the Gourmandisen category for unusual creations.
In 2005 Josef Zotter was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the handicraft category. In 2005, social engagements were also stepped up: A “setting an example” chocolate was created for sponsorship projects. The “VinziSchilcher” chocolate followed in 2006, which is dedicated to the homeless project Vinzi-Dorf in Graz . Since August 2006 only organic raw materials have been purchased for the entire range .
expansion
In the summer of 2007, Zotter opened its own cocoa roasting plant, in which the cocoa beans are refined from roasting to conche in the in-house chocolate factory ( bean-to-bar production method). In the same year, the tasting station, which opened in 2002, is expanded into a chocolate shop-theater , where visitors can take a tasting tour after watching a film in the cocoa cinema, thanks to the glass architecture, to gain an insight into the production process - from the bean to the finished chocolate can.
In 2011 Zotter opened the Edible Zoo as an open-air part of the Schoko-Laden-Theater. 27 hectares of adventure agriculture (a total of 85 hectares of organically farmed agriculture, 27 hectares of which are accessible to visitors) with an eco-eating bar that cooks farm-to-table and serves organic food to visitors directly from the company's own pastures and gardens. From the drink to ice cream to the main courses, the entire range is certified organic.
In 2014 Josef Zotter opened the Chocolate Theater in Shanghai , led by daughter Julia Zotter. A chocolate adventure world with tasting tour based on the Austrian model was created on 2,400 square meters. Almost the entire range is available. Production takes place at the location in Austria and shipped to China. Only pralines and individual chocolates are produced on site in Shanghai. The Chocolate Theater is frequented by expat Europeans and Americans as well as native Chinese. The Shanghai Wall Street Journal and Smart Shanghai rank it among the top destinations.
Company details
On peak days, up to 60,000 bars of chocolate are made by hand in the manufactory in Bergl , which, including the drinking chocolate, corresponds to around 600 tons of processed chocolate annually. The company achieved sales of around EUR 20.5 million in 2016. The largest foreign sales market is Germany. It is now exported worldwide. Around seven percent of sales are generated through online sales.
In Austria, Zotter Schokolade is mainly available in gourmet and organic shops and online shops. In addition to Rewe, Spar Österreichische Warenhandels-AG is also supplied; Some types of chocolate bars and chocolate ice cream are offered there under the Spar Premium brand . In Germany , the goods are also offered in chocolate shops and since 2005 - imported and sold by WeltPartner eG - in world shops , they are also available in other EU countries. Zotter chocolate is available in around 4,000 stores and numerous online shops worldwide.
The design of the packaging comes from the artist Andreas H. Gratze, alias AHG, who masters a wide variety of styles from comics to abstract painting and develops his own visual language for each new product.
The company in Bergl near Riegersburg, which offers tours and tastings, has around 270,000 visitors annually.
Zotter uses renewable energies with green electricity from Energie Steiermark Natur GmbH and generates its own energy using the photovoltaic system in the edible zoo. The raw materials come from fair trade and are certified organic. Preference is given to using raw materials from the region, and the family business also works with the Slow Food movement.
In 2013, Zotter won the European Business Award at national level as Ruban d'Honneur 2012/13 in the sustainability category.
According to the industry work "Chocolate - The Standard Work. The Chocolate Tester 2015. ”Zotter is one of the 25 best chocolate manufacturers in the world. The confectioner and management consultant Georg Bernardini tested 550 brands from 70 countries and 4,000 products for the newly published standard work, which comprises 919 pages.
In October 2015 Josef Zotter received the “Entrepreneur Of The Year” award from the audit and consulting organization EY. Josef Zotter won in the Retail & Consumer Goods category and represented Austria at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award 2016 in Monte Carlo.
Products
Zotter is known for his hand-scooped chocolates, which he invented in 1992 and which are available in 365 different types of chocolate with unusual flavors such as B. Pumpkin seed with marzipan, caipirinha, altar wine and incense, chilli, gram nuts, forest berries with vanilla, mountain cheese and walnuts grapes or cherry brandy with marzipan.
Since 1998 there is also drinking chocolate with different flavors.
Since the 2007/08 season, Zotter has also been trading pure couvertures in 130 g bars or large containers under the name BASiC .
Since 2008, Zotter has been offering pure chocolates with Labooko , which are made directly in the bean-to-bar factory. Regional cocoa blends are processed into single-origin chocolate. In addition, Zotter is developing a new chocolate genre: Colorful fruit chocolates, the color of which arises naturally from the high fruit content.
In March 2009, a circular chocolate in various variations was introduced under the name Mitzi-Blue .
Zotter has been producing pralines since 2009, which are sold under the name Biofekt . The pralines are made by hand and the range is adapted to the season.
Zotter has been offering a chocolate dream machine since 2010. With the Mi-Xing bar , customers can choose their own chocolate shape and type, fill it with fillings and top it up; there are over 20 billion possible combinations.
In 2012 Zotter started his own coffee roastery for homemade organic + fair coffee with arabica coffee beans from Colombia and Mexico, mixed with Robusta from India for the coffee crema. Soft batch roasting creates a coffee with little acidity and a lot of aroma. This roasting method is easier to digest because the stomach-intolerable tannic acid ( chlorogenic acid ) is broken down.
In 2013, Zotter launched cash register items in a small snack format. Nutting Hills , the nougat bar with whole nuts and miniatures , hand- scooped chocolates in 20 g format, came onto the market.
In 2014 Zotter brought out a chocolate drink called Overdose , the production of which was discontinued.
In 2014 Zotter presented a range of purely plant-based, vegan milk chocolates made from buckwheat, rice milk, golden millet and soy.
In 2015 Zotter launched Sim Bim cake. What is special about the cake is that they by canning in glass jars are stable for one year.
2016 appeared many new Zotter creations for the first time in the assortment: Pop Art Corn , coated with chocolate popcorn, Globally , the chocolate beads with small roasted cocoa nibs, lettuce , wafer-thin chocolate leaves with different types of chocolate, Nashido , small creamy-filled chocolate bars, Crema , nougat spreads for breakfast bread and Delicate food from the edible zoo , consisting of organic meat, sausage, spreads and table sausage, made in the in-house meat workshop.
In 2016, Zotter also created the Xocitto , a chocolate espresso .
In 2017, twelve new types of Basic Choco Nougat added to the range of couvertures.
In 2017, on the occasion of the company's 30th anniversary, Zotter developed a vintage blend of five different cocoa bean varieties for the first time, which were stored for a year before further processing so that the aroma fully matured. This resulted in the limited Labooko vintage 2016, dry aged chocolate, in which the soft mist roasting process (SNR) was used.
In 2019, instead of Ibiza , Bergl came out with “Ma is die schoaf!” With chilli and currant on the market - as an allusion to Heinz-Christian Strache's statement on the attractiveness of the female decoy in the Ibiza affair .
Awards
The Zotter company was nominated for the Austrian Climate Protection Prize 2017 (companies category) with the project “Environmental Protection as a Concept for Success”. The chocolate producer Zotter pursues a holistic concept to protect the environment and resources: from 100% organic and fairtrade ingredients to the use of green electricity to raising awareness among visitors in the adventure world with organic agriculture. Zotter is EMAS-certified, and its own environmental team is constantly working on the further development of the environmental management system.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l BIOGRAPHY. In: zotter.at . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ↑ production. In: zotter.at . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ↑ Zotter in Shanghai zotter.at, accessed on June 23, 2020.
- ↑ Shanghai Chocolate Factory looks a lot like Willy Wonka's wsj.com, accessed February 1, 2016.
- ↑ Zotter defends Schoko-Wunderland derstandard.at, accessed on September 20, 2012.
- ↑ Spar Premium Edition Zotter ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ You have to live these ideas. ( Memento from September 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: Oberösterreichische Nachrichten on October 21, 2006.
- ↑ Zotter Schokolade: Think Green zotter.at, accessed on June 23, 2020.
- ↑ [1] businessawardeurope.com, accessed on November 16, 2015.
- ↑ [2] kleinezeitung.at, accessed on November 16, 2015.
- ↑ [3] ey.com, accessed on November 16, 2015.
- ↑ Zotter Schokolade: Mi-Xing bar & co , accessed on June 23, 2020.
- ↑ Zotter Schokolade: Organic + Fair Coffee , accessed on June 23, 2020.
- ↑ [4] biorama.eu, accessed on November 16, 2015.
- ↑ a b c Zotter Schokolade: Product Launches , accessed on June 23, 2020
- ↑ Zotter Schokoladen Manufaktur: Labooko / vintage 2016, dry aged 75% , accessed on September 8, 2017.
- ↑ Conrad Seidl : Snacking on Ibiza Gate . In: The Standard . July 13, 2019, p. 16 ( online [accessed July 14, 2019]).
- ↑ "Are you stupid, she's sharp" - quotes from the Ibiza video. In: nachrichten.at. May 18, 2019, accessed May 19, 2019 .
- ↑ [5]
Coordinates: 46 ° 59 ′ 30.3 " N , 15 ° 54 ′ 29.7" E