Hachez

Hachez was a chocolate manufacturing company based in Bremen in northern Germany. It was founded in 1890 by Joseph Emile Hachez and Gustav Linde. One of its most famous products was the Feodora brand of pralines and chocolate, which joined the company in 1953.

In 2012, the company became part of Toms, a confectionery business from Denmark. Since then, it has operated under the name Hanseatisches Chocoladen Kontor. Today, its chocolate is made in Nowa Sól, a town in Poland, where production moved in 2020. The story of Hachez shows how chocolate companies grow and change over many years.

History

The company was founded by Joseph Emile Hachez and his business partner Gustav Linde in 1890. Joseph Emil Hachez was the great-grandson of Joseph Johan Hachez, who was born in Bruges, emigrated to Bremen in the 18th century and married the daughter of a local merchant in 1785. In 1894, the company moved from the Bremer Altstadt district to the Weserstrasse in the Neustadt district left of the Weser, where the company's headquarters remained until it was taken over by Toms.

During the Second World War, the company's factory was almost completely destroyed, but it was rebuilt after the war. In 1953, the company began producing the popular Feodora pralines. Over the years, the company changed ownership several times, and in 2020, production moved to Nowa Sól in Poland. The HACHEZ brand is now distributed by Hanseatisches Chocoladen Kontor GmbH & Co. KG in Bremen.

Production

The cocoa used by Hachez mainly comes from South America. To bring out the flavor, the cocoa is roasted using hot-air currents in traditional drums. After roasting, the cocoa is ground and rolled to an average diameter of 0.0010 to 0.0014 mm. The final step, called conching, can take up to 72 hours. In total, it takes more than 100 hours to make the chocolate products.

Distribution

Hachez had distribution partners in many countries around the world. Some of these countries included India, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. This helped the company share its chocolate products with many people across different parts of the globe.