FELCHLIN

Felchlin produces high-quality couverture for bakers and confectioners using sustainably grown cacao beans. On the basis of a long-term, value-based culture, space is created for ideas and innovation.

It is truly an unusual job advertisement: on April 24th, 1991, Max Felchlin looks for his successor as company manager in the regional newspaper "Bote der Urschweiz".
Contrary to all conventional job advertisements, the full-page advertisement only contains a profound, written, company mission statement of Max Felchlin AG in the form of a letter. This begins with a Goethe quote and the sentence: "Through service we want to earn money - freely, honestly, cheerfully and optimistically.” At the same time there’s a passing comment: "We are looking for a person (woman or man) to succeed the owner Max Felchlin (68). He has written this mission statement and tries to live by it. Time budget approx. 2 years, please contact us today, without documents."

A MEETING IN THE LIVING ROOM
This particular job advertisement appeals to Christian Aschwanden and like 90 other interested parties, he makes contact. Part of the multi-stage, unconventional selection process means that Max Felchlin visits the Aschwanden couple at home. "He also wanted to get an insight into my private sphere and to see which pictures were hanging on our walls", Christian Aschwanden remembers with a smile. After all, Max Felchlin was also a passionate art collector and patron of many cultural projects in Schwyz. Last but not least, Christian Aschwanden has to outline in a strategy paper where Felchlin's journey could take him. His thoughts under the title "The vision of an extra-terrestrial" are so convincing that in 1992 on St. Joseph's Day he is awarded the contract and is chosen by Max Felchlin as his successor. A few months later the company patron dies - knowing that he has placed his life's work in good hands. The way in which the generation change at Felchlin is carried out is evidence of a sustainable, value-based company culture. For Christian Aschwanden, this is the basis for realigning the traditional company in the 1990s and positioning it as an internationally renowned producer of high-quality couverture.

FROM BEAN TO COUVERTURE
The chocolate industry is by this time highly concentrated worldwide. But Aschwanden is convinced that small chocolate makers will be able to find a place between the legs of the giants. They can focus on areas that are not lucrative for the big players. This is why, to this day, he has pursued a consistent quality strategy at Felchlin. Sustainable thinking and action are also connected to striving for perfection, explains the Felchlin CEO. Anyone who wants to manufacture and sell fine chocolate products places corresponding importance on the origin and quality of the raw materials, on careful processing and long-term relationships. All this not only results in better tasting products, but also has positive consequences for biodiversity. In Ecuador, for example, the rainforest still contains original mixed crops that are managed by small farmers. If a company produces large quantities of chocolate, it has to rely largely on cacao beans from monocultures, says Christian Aschwanden. Felchlin, on the other hand, as a niche supplier, does not work with economies of scale, but buys the cacao varieties directly from farmers' cooperatives that grow the cacao in a natural way.
The name "Felchlin" comes from the Alemannic and means falcon. The Felchlins are an old-established family in Schwyz. The resourceful merchant Max Felchlin senior first began trading in honey in Zurich in 1908 and then set up a "honey centre" in Schwyz. He also produced artificial honey, which he sold to bakers, confectioners and hoteliers. Soon other products were added, such as baking powder, cream powder, praline and nougat mass and especially couverture. With the production and trade in coating chocolate for confectioners, Felchlin can be classed as a pioneer throughout Switzerland. In 1962 his son takes over the company. Max Felchlin junior also widens his horizons overseas, with private consequences. He marries an American woman and brings her to Switzerland. Under his management, the company develops into a manufacturer of semi-finished confectionery products known throughout Switzerland. In addition, it already exports 20 percent of its products abroad, with deliveries going mainly to the USA and Japan. In 1974 Felchlin built a new production facility at the current company site in Ibach and in 1987 opened the "Condirama" training centre for bakers and confectioners in Schwyz. Max Felchlin is an old school patron and sees himself as a humanistic businessman. He promotes cultural projects, deals with folkloristic questions, travels to distant countries and is fascinated by Japanese culture. As a free spirit, Max Felchlin is considered a flamboyant personality in the canton of Schwyz. At his memorial service, a representative of each of the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths as well as a personal friend make a speech. Just as unconventional as the life of Max Felchlin is his succession plan.

Christian Aschwanden, CEO

QUALITY AS AN OPPORTUNITY
On 1st January 1993, Christian Aschwanden starts as managing director of Max Felchlin AG with 75 employees. The initial years were difficult, Aschwanden remembers. As a supplier of semi-finished products for the confectionery industry, Felchlin had no doubt established a good basis with a considerable export share, but the production facilities were outdated. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the industry environment changed dramatically in the 1990s. The total number of bakeries, pastry shops and confectioners was constantly decreasing. This is because the traditional bakery and confectionery trade was being affected by the brisk growth of the large-scale distributors and a fundamental change in living, working and eating habits. People want to be more flexible regarding their food and are paying more attention to quality and enjoyment, which also challenges suppliers such as Felchlin to develop new ideas and products.
Christian Aschwanden and his team recognise early on that luxury foods such as chocolate are experiencing a new significance in the age of opening markets and globalisation, and that with increasing mass production an attractive niche market for quality chocolate is opening up. For this reason, he increasingly relies on the traditional Felchlin strategy of making the work of bakers and confectioners easier with prefabricated products. Felchlin's semi-finished products enable them to expand their range with home-made pralines and chocolate products. "The bakers soon noticed how the Felchlin couvertures help them to refine their range and thus achieve a higher profit", explains Aschwanden. Word of this is also getting around in confectioners’ circles, many of whom are also switching to Felchlin. "In this way we have grown in an existing market and have also benefited from the fact that some large chocolate producers have withdrawn from trading in semi-finished products". Felchlin produces exclusively for business customers. "With this clear stance we have created a lot of goodwill in the industry," Aschwanden explains. In 1999 Felchlin launched a Grand-Cru-Couverture made using superior quality cacao, a Swiss-wide innovation, emphasises Christian Aschwanden. Five years later, Felchlin's Grand Cru "Maracaibo Clasificado 65%" is awarded the title of best premium chocolate in the world by the "Accademia Maestri Pasticceri Italiani". "Such successes have motivated us to position Felchlin even more strongly as a producer of high-quality chocolate for business customers".

IN SEARCH OF SUPERIOR QUALITY CACAO
Around the year 2000, Felchlin's chief buyer, Felix Inderbitzin, is entrusted with the task of finding premium cacao varieties in South America and Africa, for example in Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia and Bolivia as well as Ghana and Togo, or on São Tomé e Principe or Madagascar. Because Inderbitzin is looking for aroma-intensive cacao beans in smaller quantities, only direct procurement without intermediate trade is possible. So, he sets out to track down the best cacao in the regions of origin. He doesn’t only travel by plane, but sometimes by boat or even on foot as well, because he often has to visit remote tropical regions. There he finds special types of cacao with a specific aroma. His suppliers are mostly small farmers organised in cooperatives, who grow bananas, pineapples or papaya in addition to cacao, which is good for the formation of fertiliser. For these cooperatives long-term cooperation is important and it is also in the interest of Felchlin. Accordingly, Felix Inderbitzin, as he reports, pays a fair and good price for the cacao beans. During his on-site visits, Inderbitzin also pays attention to the maintenance of the trees, the health of the fruits, the correct drying of the beans as well as sensible transport. For Felchlin, sustainability also means providing selective financial support. In the current "1 + 1" project, customers are encouraged to pay one additional franc into a fund for each kilogram of couverture, and Felchlin doubles the amount. The farmers can then decide locally how to invest the money in a sustainable project. This campaign is well received by commercial customers, comments Aschwanden.
From the cultivation of the beans to the conching of the cocoa mass according to traditional methods using longitudinal grinders, Felchlin has built up extensive expertise over the last 30 years. Customers can obtain detailed information about the aroma and intensity of the products or receive further training in the in-house training centre "Condirama". Since 2019, administration, development, production and customer service have been combined in the new Felchlin building in Ibach, Switzerland. In the meantime, 150 people work here. The building with a suspended dark wooden facade stands out with its striking upper floor. It has a cantilevered roof form with a large span, which is reminiscent of Japanese temple construction and at the same time creates a connection to the mountain panorama in the background with its three peaks. The building thus embodies the bridge between regional ties and international orientation.

SUSTAINABLE AND CREATIVE
Christian Aschwanden is convinced that sustainability-oriented companies like Felchlin have a lot of stamina. When they pursue a topic, they do so consistently so that the investment is also worthwhile. Sustainable companies have a culture of continuous improvement. As a result, they often recognise trends earlier and develop new ideas together with business partners or customers. "Our children and grandchildren will look at the world with different eyes and will be more critical of sugar and fat in their diet, for example," says Aschwanden. Felchlin is therefore currently working together with an ETH start-up that extracts the fruit juice from the cacao harvest and wants to use it as an aromatic sweetener. In the future, the amount of fat and sugar in chocolate-containing products could be reduced and cacao farmers could be provided with an additional income. Chocolate is regarded as a luxury food par excellence. The prerequisite for enjoyment is high quality. Those who want to achieve this must handle resources carefully and remain curious and innovative - just like Felchlin.