Ghirardelli Chocolate

Domenico Ghirardelli is born in Rapallo, Italy, to an exotic foods importer and his wife. At a young age, Domenico is introduced to the chocolate and confectionary trade when he apprentices with a local candy maker. Ghirardelli changes his Italian first name to the Spanish equivalent, Domingo.  1849 Ghirardelli sails to America and opens a general store in Stockton, California, offering supplies and confections to miners. Ghirardelli opens a second store on the corner of Broadway and Battery in San Francisco, which becomes his first establishment in the city.

1852 At Kearny and Washington streets in San Francisco, Ghirardelli opens a confectionary shop, Ghirardely & Girard, which eventually becomes the modern-day Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. 1865 A Ghirardelli employee discovers that by hanging a bag of chocolate mass in a warm room, the cocoa butter drips out, leaving a residue that can be processed into ground chocolate. This is known as the Broma process and produces a more intense chocolate flavor than other techniques.

1884 Three of Domingo's sons become partners in the business, which ships products throughout the West and to the eastern U.S., China, Japan and Mexico. 1892 Domingo retires as head of the company, turning over its management to his sons. In 1894 Domingo dies during a trip to Italy. 1892 In need of more space, the company buys the Pioneer Woolen Building on San Francisco's northern waterfront, and manufacturing moves there; this is the present site of Ghirardelli Square.

TRACEABILITY

WE KNOW WHERE OUR BEANS COME FROM. Farmer organization and traceability is the base for all activities to improve the farmers’ and communities’ livelihoods. Lindt & Sprüngli wants to know who grows the cocoa and what the conditions on the ground are to be able to support the farmers and communities according to their needs. Training and capacity building activities include good agricultural practices (crop protection, harvesting, post harvesting), good environmental practices (biodiversity, protection of the environment) and good business practices (professionalization of the business).

INVESTMENT

Farmer investments and community development activities include access to planting appliances in farm shops, personal protective equipment such as gloves and goggles, access to planting appliances in farm shops, nurseries with new cocoa plants and demonstration plots. Community Development includes wells and boreholes, Village Resource Centers, access to information and communication technology infrastructure, mosquito nets for malaria protection and reconstruction of a school.

Lindt & Sprüngli strengthens the farming program through internal monitoring to measure continuous progress, external audits to enable the progress made to be verified and corrective actions if indicated.