Lindt & Sprüngli expands cocoa processing plant  

The company's bean-to-bar processing begins in Olten. Keystone/Gaetan Bally

Chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli has expanded its cocoa mass production plant in Olten, canton Solothurn, at a cost of CHF100 million ($111 million).

After a construction period of around three years, the expansion of the Lindt Cocoa Centre was opened on Friday.  

In addition to new production lines, the expansion also includes a modernised loading hall for cocoa mass, a laboratory and the redesign of the plant administration, the company announced. The expansion will lead to a doubling of production capacity. Twelve additional jobs have been created.  

Cocoa paste for the Lindt brand has been produced in Olten since 1991, initially exclusively for the production site in Kilchberg (canton Zurich). Since then, the Olten plant has steadily grown in importance for the entire Lindt & Sprüngli Group. It is the largest cocoa mass plant within the global production network.  

Several of Lindt & Sprüngli’s European production sites are supplied with Swiss cocoa mass from Olten, according to the company’s statement. The cocoa mass is further processed and refined there in accordance with Swiss manufacturing standards.  

The cocoa beans are delivered to Olten in railway wagons and stored in special silos until further processing. In a first step, the beans are cleaned while still in their shells and then broken open, Lindt & Sprüngli explained.  

The cocoa nibs contained therein are roasted in a specially developed process in which the temperature and roasting time are harmonised.  

In the next step, the nibs are crushed into cocoa mass in mills, whereby pressure and friction produce the viscous cocoa mass – the starting product for further processing into chocolate. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kc

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