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  • Toblerone is a Swiss chocolate bar brand owned by US-American Mondelēz International, Inc.,

  • which acquired the product from former owner Jacobs Suchard in 1990. It is produced in

  • Bern and is well known for its distinctive prism shape.

  • History Toblerone was created by Theodor Tobler in

  • Bern, Switzerland in 1908. Theodor Tobler, with his cousin Emil Baumann, developed a

  • unique milk chocolate including nougat, almonds and honey with a distinctive triangular shape.

  • The image of a bear is hidden in the Matterhorn high mountain, symbolizing the town of the

  • chocolate's origin. The triangular shape of the Matterhorn in

  • the Swiss Alps is commonly believed to have given Theodor Tobler his inspiration for the

  • shape of Toblerone. However, according to Theodor's sons, the triangular shape originates

  • from a pyramid shape that dancers at the Folies Bergères created as the finale of a show

  • that Theodor saw. Some early advertisements for Tobler chocolate

  • appeared in the international languages Esperanto and Ido.

  • Theodor Tobler applied for a patent for the Toblerone manufacturing process in Bern in

  • 1909. The Toblerone brand was trademarked in 1909, at the Federal Institute for Intellectual

  • Property in Bern. The Tobler company was independent for many

  • years. In 1970, it merged with Suchard, the makers of Milka, to become Interfood. Tobler

  • company merged with the Jacobs coffee company in 1982 to create Jacobs Suchard. Mondelēz

  • acquired the majority of Jacobs Suchard, including Toblerone, in 1990.

  • Name The product's name is a portmanteau combining

  • Tobler's name with the Italian word torrone. The name also contains the name of the place

  • where it is produced: Toblerone. And the logo contains a bear, the emblem of the city.

  • Sizes and variants

  • Bar sizes range from ten centimetres to nearly one metre, all similarly proportioned. According

  • to Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany the sizes and number of peaks for Toblerones are as

  • follows: For the Toblerone Schoggifest starting in

  • 2008 a special bar has been created, each with 11 peaks. The weight represents the years

  • of Toblerone. In 1932 Tobler made the first filled bars

  • of chocolate, the Tobler-O-rum. Since the 1970s, other variants of Toblerone

  • have been produced. These include: Plain chocolate

  • (dark chocolate) in a green or black triangular box

  • White chocolate in a white triangular box

  • Snowtop editions with white chocolate peaks, also

  • in a white/silver triangular box Filled editions

  • milk chocolate with a white chocolate centre OneByOne

  • individually wrapped triangular chunks Toblerone Pralines

  • released in 1997, a single peaked version in the distinctive yellow packaging

  • Fruit and Nut in 2007 with a half purple triangular cardboard

  • box Honeycomb crisp

  • with a half white box with honeycomb pieces pictured on it

  • Crunchy Salted Almond with honey and almond nougat and salted caramelised

  • almonds Berner Bär

  • 500 g milk chocolate bar, with a relief portrait of the Bernese Bear and the Coat of arms of

  • Bern on its face. The only non-triangular Toblerone.

  • Toblerone Tobelle Toblerone thins in a yellow triangular box

  • Manufacturing Toblerone is today manufactured exclusively

  • in the Swiss city of Bern-Brünnen. It has in the past been manufactured in other

  • locations including Bedford in England. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was manufactured under

  • license for the Yugoslav market by Kraš in Zagreb.

  • Similar products A similar product is the Croatian product

  • Kolumbo, made by factory Kraš from Zagreb. This chocolate is also composed of pyramids

  • of hazelnuts and honey. Kraš was producing Toblerone under license during the 1970s and

  • 1980s. Another comparable product is Mahony, produced by the company Chocolat-Frey AG in

  • Switzerland. Cultural impact

  • The distinct pyramidal shape of the bar lent its name to the Toblerone line, a series of

  • anti-tank emplacements prevalent in Switzerland's border areas.

  • In 1995 it was revealed that the Swedish politician Mona Sahlin had bought, among other things,

  • two bars of Toblerone using her Riksdag credit card. This became known as the Toblerone affair.

  • Sahlin was forced to step down as a candidate for the post as Prime Minister. She returned

  • to politics in 1998. A triangular shaped set of student residences

  • on the Oxford Road, Manchester for students of the University of Manchester built circa

  • 1975 and resembling the chocolate bar are known as the Toblerones.

  • In theatre production, a three-sided, free-standing, wheeled version of the standard theatre flat

  • is commonly called a "Toblerone" or "Tobe" due to its physical resemblance to the confection.

  • Alleged child labour In 2013, Stop the Traffik - a charity that

  • aims to stop human trafficking - ran a campaign titled "When Will Toblerone Be Traffik-Free?",

  • which aimed to target Toberlone's use of children in the harvesting of the ingredient, cocoa.

  • 16,000 'postcards' were sent out to campaigners, which were then signed and returned to Stop

  • the Traffik's London office. These postcards were then hand delivered to Mondelēze's headquarters.

  • References

  • Bibliography Schott, Ben Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany.

  • London: Bloomsbury ISBN 0-7475-6654-2 External links

  • Official website History of Toblerone with packaging perspective,

  • Design Technology

Toblerone is a Swiss chocolate bar brand owned by US-American Mondelēz International, Inc.,

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