History
Businessman Max Josef Felchlin opened a honey shop in Schwyz in 1908, and expanded to chocolate by the 1920s. In 1913 he renamed his business Honigzentrale Schwyz. In doing so, he laid the foundation for the company.[6] In 1928, Felchlin relocated the business to a rural estate in Seewen, Schwyz, called Liebwylen, and continued to expand the product line to other confections and ingredients.
In 1937, Felchlin developed a new type of praline and nougat mixture, the ‘Pralinosa’, which is still being sold today. During World War II, Felchlin produced Sowiso, a milk powder.
Felchlin transferred control of the company to his son, Max Felchlin Jr., in 1962, and died in 1970, at the age of 87. In 1974, the company became a public limited corporation, the Max Felchlin AG, and established a new factory in Ibach, Schwyz, and the sole proprietorship was converted into a stock corporation. In 1980, the company exported their products to Japan and the USA for the first time.
In 1991, Felchlin, Jr. arranged for an association of local Schwyz residents to take majority ownership of the company after his death. The association named Christian Aschwanden as CEO, subsequent to the death of Felchlin in 1992. The company moved to a new factory in Ibach in 2000. Development, processing and administration were also combined at the site in a new building added later.[7] By 2006, Felchlin produced 2,500 tons per year. On the occasion of the centenary in 2008, a book was published by gastronomy journalist Paul Imhof.[8] In 2016, Jamie Oliver visited the Felchlin chocolate manufacture in Schwyz for series Jamie's Super Food on Channel 4.[9]
In 2012, the company started construction for a new cacao roasting plant, which was finished in 2014. In the same year Felchlin acquired a new property next to their current facilities in Ibach and started planning and construction of new and centralised headquarters. In 2018, the entire company moved into the new building complex.
In September 2022, Felchlin announced that after 30 years Christian Aschwanden would step down from Group Management in 2023.[10] Thomas Truttmann then took over the position from August 2023.[11]
