Kalev (company)
Encyclopedia
Kalev Chocolate Factory (formerly AS Kalev) is an Estonia
n confectionery
company. The company can trace its origins back two hundred years, it was founded in 1806, and is now a part of the industrial conglomerate Orkla Group
. Since 2003, it has been based in Põrguvälja near Jüri
, Rae Parish, Harju County
.
at Pikk Street, where the Café Maiasmokk (Sweet Tooth) is now located.
In 1864, the business, which had changed hands many times, came into the possession of Georg Johann Stude. After ten years of operation, Stude decided to expand the business: he bought a neighbouring house and in place of these two houses constructed a new and more solid building, which is still there.
Out of Stude’s production, marzipan
figures and hand-made chocolate
candies were in especially high demand. Stude’s sweets were also known outside Estonia. Thus, for example, the court of the Russia
n tsar
was a regular customer at the turn of the 20th century.
Recipes and working methods originating from Stude’s confectionery are still held in great esteem in today’s Kalev – to this day the marzipan figures and hand-made candies that were well-known even in the 19th century are exclusively hand-made.
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
company. The company can trace its origins back two hundred years, it was founded in 1806, and is now a part of the industrial conglomerate Orkla Group
Orkla Group
Orkla Group is a Norwegian industrial conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. The company's main divisions are branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions, materials, associates and financial investments.-Operations:...
. Since 2003, it has been based in Põrguvälja near Jüri
Jüri
Jüri is a small borough in Harju County, northern Estonia. It's located southeast of the capital Tallinn, by the Tallinn–Tartu road , directly after the intersection with Tallinn Ring Road . Jüri is the administrative centre of Rae Parish...
, Rae Parish, Harju County
Harju County
Harju County , or Harjumaa , nowadays one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland, and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the south-east, Rapla County to the south, and Lääne County to the south-west.528,468 people...
.
19th century
The birth of the Estonian confectionery industry dates back to 1806 when a pastry cook, Lorenz Caviezel, opened a confectionery business in TallinnTallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
at Pikk Street, where the Café Maiasmokk (Sweet Tooth) is now located.
In 1864, the business, which had changed hands many times, came into the possession of Georg Johann Stude. After ten years of operation, Stude decided to expand the business: he bought a neighbouring house and in place of these two houses constructed a new and more solid building, which is still there.
Out of Stude’s production, marzipan
Marzipan
Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal. Persipan is a similar, yet less expensive product, in which the almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels...
figures and hand-made chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
candies were in especially high demand. Stude’s sweets were also known outside Estonia. Thus, for example, the court of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
was a regular customer at the turn of the 20th century.
Recipes and working methods originating from Stude’s confectionery are still held in great esteem in today’s Kalev – to this day the marzipan figures and hand-made candies that were well-known even in the 19th century are exclusively hand-made.
Beginning of the 20th century
At the beginning of the 20th century there were other pioneers of the confectionery industry in Tallinn that could be considered as the predecessors of Kalev. Perhaps one of the most renowned was Kawe confectionery, founded in 1921 by brothers Karl and Kolla Wellner at Müürivahe Street 62. Kawe's products, the greatest confectionery in Estonia, were well known in Estonia and abroad, and the company exported a significant share of its output to destinations such as the United States of America, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Of other big sweet producers of the time, the factories of Ginovker, Brandmann and Klausson should also be mentioned. At the end of the 1930s, Kawe and these three confectioneries employed 75% of all Estonian confectionery workers. Competing with big factories were a number of smaller enterprises: Riola, Endla, Eelis, Efekt and others.
Soviet era
The change in policyOccupation of Baltic Republics
The occupation of the Baltic states refers to the military occupation of the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union under the auspices of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 14 June 1940 followed by their incorporation into the USSR as constituent republics, unrecognised...
in 1940 brought along big changes for the confectionery industry. This was the time of nationalisation
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
and company mergers. In 1940, the Riola factory was joined with the Brandmann business and the enterprise was renamed the Karamell Sweet Factory. Later on, Karamell was joined by the marzipan and chocolate candy unit of Georg Stude’s business. Cakes and tarts continued to be made at the Pikk Street building, still known as the Café Maiasmokk.
Soon after that, Kawe merged with the sweet factories of Efekt, Eelis, Endla, Soliid and the Ermos syrup factory situated in Kloodi manor house near Rakvere
Rakvere
Rakvere is a town in northern Estonia and the county seat of Lääne-Viru County, 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland.-History:The earliest signs of human settlement dating back to the 3rd-5th centuries AD have been found on the present theatre hill. Probably to protect that settlement, a wooden...
. The merged enterprise continued to operate under the name Kawe until 1948. On 1 April 1948, the company was renamed Kalev Confectionery Factory. The name was changed for ideological reasons: someone had complained to a minister that the name “Kawe” had once been formed of the former owners’ initials. This, however, was perceived as inappropriate for a Soviet enterprise. Hence, a name competition was quickly held. There were two name propositions: “Punane Kompu” (Red Candy) and “Kalev”. A majority of only one vote determined that the new name would be “Kalev”.
In 1957, a new confectionery operation named Uus Kalev (New Kalev) was opened at Pärnu Road 139, which merged with Karamell a year later. In 1962, New Kalev and Kalev merged into what is now operating as the Kalev confectionery factory.
Throughout the Soviet period, Kalev produced sweets at full capacity for Estonia as well as almost the whole of the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, also supplying the “uncrowned rulers” of the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
. Kalev’s sweets also found recognition outside the borders of the Soviet Union, bringing home prizes from several international fairs and exhibitions.
Kalev is also known to have produced the first Soviet chewing gum in 1968. Although it was directly banned for propagandizing the capitalist way of life. Eventually the production was restarted in 1979 and even though other factories opened in other parts of Soviet union Kalev captured more than half of the Soviet market.
Post-Soviet period
In 1991, the state enterprise of Kalev was founded on the basis of the Kalev confectionery factory. In 1995, the privatisationPrivatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of the state enterprise became possible and a public limited company
Public limited company
A public limited company is a limited liability company that sells shares to the public in United Kingdom company law, in the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth jurisdictions....
was founded.
As well as manufacturing confectionery, and retailing through cafés and candy shops, the group now also has interests in flour and bakery products, milk products and real estate development and management. The group earns stable profits and now employs about 800 people.
From 1996–2009, the shares of the public limited company AS Kalev were listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange
Tallinn Stock Exchange
The Tallinn Stock Exchange is a stock exchange operating in Tallinn, Estonia. It is one of the OMX Exchanges, which also operates Helsinki Stock Exchange and Stockholm Stock Exchange and is the only regulated exchange in Estonia. It has a pre-market session from 09:00 to 10:00, a normal trading...
. The owner of the majority of shares, Oliver Kruuda took the company private.
The year 2003 was historically important to Kalev: the company moved from Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
to a new factory complex in Harjumaa
Harjumaa
Harjumaa, , was an ancient Estonian county. It corresponded roughly to the present territory of Rapla County.- See also :*Danish Estonia*Harju County*Rapla County*History of Estonia*Livonian Crusade*Rulers of Estonia...
, Rae rural municipality.
In May 2010, the core business – as a separate company called Kalev Chocolate Factory – was sold to the Nordic food industry group Felix Abba, which is a subsidiary of the conglomerate Orkla Group
Orkla Group
Orkla Group is a Norwegian industrial conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. The company's main divisions are branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions, materials, associates and financial investments.-Operations:...
.
Previously, AS Kalev was one of the few Estonian food industry enterprises based mainly on Estonian capital.
Currently, in addition to selling pre-made marzipan, customized painted marzipan can be ordered in the Kalev Marzipan Room (martsipanituba) in Tallinn on Sundays.
The address in Old Town Tallinn is Maiasmoka majas, Pikk tn 16, Tallinn.