Swiss chocolate maker tempting Chinese taste buds

When it comes to the league of chocoholics, Switzerland undoubtedly makes the cut.

The average Swiss person will consume around 7 kilograms of chocolate in 2026 — enough to rank the country's residents among the world's most avid chocolate lovers, according to global research company Statista.

But the Swiss are not only passionate consumers of chocolate, they are also renowned for making it.

Among the globally known brands to come out of the country, Lindt & Sprüngli, which was founded in 1845, now has a presence in more than 120 countries and around 620 of its own stores.

"Globally and strategically, we have our core markets with the highest chocolate consumption, which are traditionally the European markets … We have various emerging markets. Among others, obviously, the Chinese market has a massive potential for future growth," said Michal Spiller, CEO of Lindt & Sprüngli Germany, with country responsibility for Austria, China, and Japan.

"We established our own company more than 10 years ago, based in Shanghai, and employ more than 100 employees. Over the past five years, we have grown by an average of 20 percent every year (in terms of annual sales). So, we see a dynamic response to high-quality chocolate products," said Spiller. 

Achieving double-digit growth is no small feat in a market where chocolate is not as deeply embedded in everyday consumption habits as it is in Europe, with estimated per capita consumption in 2026 standing at just 0.3 kilograms, according to Statista.

Since taking responsibility for China in 2025 and spending time on the ground in the country, Spiller has come to see China's consumer landscape as fast-moving, premium, and dynamic.

And chocolate in China is no longer a niche indulgence. Consumers are constantly demanding higher-quality products, flavor innovation, and faster service, while shopping channels, both online and offline, are also rapidly evolving, all of which ask companies to be equally agile, Spiller said.

"We have Swiss-heritage premium products, but the Chinese consumer has a certain habit in eating and consuming chocolate. There, we need to find the match," he said.

Chinese palate

One of the key lessons Lindt has learned throughout its journey in China is the importance of having the right people on the ground, who can put their finger on the pulse of the market.

"We have a very decentralized approach," Spiller said, adding that Lindt is a Swiss heritage company, but in China, it operates with a Chinese team in charge of the business.

To the General Manager of Lindt & Sprüngli China, Clare Ma, China's per capita chocolate consumption, sitting at the opposite end of the scale from mature European markets, points to huge untapped potential, and she believes chocolate gifting could serve as one of the company's growth engines.

Chocolate is often viewed in China as something to be gifted, either in a spirit of romance or appreciation.

At Chinese weddings, for example, guests are traditionally given small boxes of sweets known as xi tang, or "happy candy", as a token of joy and a wish for a sweet future.

In some regions during the Chinese New Year, chocolate is a staple. Designs such as gold-colored packaging are particularly appealing to the Chinese palate.

Since 2024, Lindt has introduced limited-edition zodiac-themed gift boxes for the Chinese New Year.

In the Year of the Snake in 2025, for example, the edition resonated well with Chinese people's New Year wishes for good luck and fresh beginnings, said Ma.

Chocolates were arranged in individual compartments within a rotating gift box and consumers could reveal one each day throughout the New Year period, from Chinese New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival. The design drew on the Chinese idea of zhuan yun, or turning one's fortunes around.

The gift boxes sold out shortly after their online release, Ma said.

"In China, chocolate has become a way for people to connect with one another, convey good wishes, and share moments of joy. That is why traditional culture and emotional resonance will continue to be central to our localization efforts," she said.

"Chocolate is a highly seasonal category, and that is particularly true in China. Getting the timing right around key occasions is extremely important for us, especially for events such as the 'Double 11' shopping spree and the Chinese New Year. So, we make sure we are showing up in the right channel at the right time, with the best products and services," Ma added.

Catering to local preferences can also mean creating something entirely new.

Behind every Lindt creation is a passionate and skilled master chocolatier who experiments, tests, and crafts chocolate. One of them, Stefan Bruderer, who was born within sight of the Lindt factory in Switzerland, said he has plenty of ideas for the Chinese market.

"I have been to China three times," he said. "On my last visit to Shanghai, I did a food tour that was really amazing. One example is that dumplings are all over the place. You have fried dumplings or steamed dumplings. Although the ingredients are the same, the texture is completely different.

"If I were to create a recipe specifically for China, I probably would do something with texture. Maybe, Excellence Sichuan Pepper Brittle, with spicy croquants. China's tea culture is something very important. I, maybe, will do a green tea or black tea mixture for Lindt chocolate, with tea flavors to give this smooth, melting experience."

For Bruderer, any innovation needs to be built on a commitment to quality.

"We never compromise on quality," he said. Lindt produces its own cocoa mass from the cocoa beans it sources, allowing the company to oversee the entire process from bean to bar.

Spiller offered a similar view on Lindt & Sprüngli's values, saying: "The Lindt brand is mainly rooted in Swiss craftsmanship … Essentially, we want to provide our consumers moments of joy and pleasure."

China playbook

Chinese consumers differ not only in what they like to eat, but also in how they shop for chocolate.

"The channel landscape in China offers a level of diversity and complexity rarely seen elsewhere," Ma said. "Beyond traditional supermarkets, we operate across online marketplaces, recommendation-driven shopping platforms, content-driven commerce channels, membership stores, specialty snack retailers, and on-demand delivery services."

The result is an increasingly fragmented and, at the same time, fiercely competitive market, as consumers are presented with an ever-expanding array of brands and products in nearly every channel. The landscape pushed the China team to "overhaul" its channel strategy, Ma said.

Rather than relying on the traditional master-distributor model, in which a single intermediary coordinated sales, the company moved to a channel-specialist approach, with dedicated teams assigned to key channels, and office-based workers asked to move from the back office to the front line, to meet partners and customers face-to-face.

Firsthand market exposure gave the team a deeper understanding of the Chinese palate — for example, many Chinese consumers prefer less sweet flavors, darker varieties, and chocolates with nuts — helping the company identify the ideal offerings from its global portfolio.

The e-commerce arena is another battlefield, Ma said. In the West, e-commerce and social media are largely separate. In China, however, a single platform can serve as a one-stop ecosystem, combining social media, livestreaming, logistics networks, and digital payment systems, while operating under its own set of rules.

Yet navigating such a sophisticated ecosystem has helped forge a "China playbook", Ma said.

During the 2025 "Double 11" shopping festival, Lindt became the top-selling international chocolate brand on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Lessons learned there — including how to build brands, create content, run livestreaming, and optimize digital advertising — now inform the company's global e-commerce strategy, Ma said.

Another example of the company's China playbook is the packaging and logistics distribution center, which began operation in 2025 in Shanghai's Yangshan Free Trade Zone.

Built from the ground up, it is Lindt's first — and so far only — such center worldwide, serving not only China but also the broader Asia-Pacific market.

"It is one of the group's most important investments in recent years," Ma said. "The center helps improve product freshness through cold-chain logistics and local packaging capabilities, which enables us to respond more quickly to local market needs."

In for the long haul

At the heart of every China playbook is a shared belief across the China and global teams: Lindt is in China for the long haul.

Lindt opened its first retail store in China in 2026 — a step that, for both Spiller and Ma, was well worth the decade-long wait.

The retail-store format is especially well-suited to brands with a strong heritage. By then, Lindt had already become a household name in China.

"If we look back, we based it on a lot of learnings," Spiller said. "We were not first movers, as we like to observe, learn, and then enter a market. I don't think anybody can win with short-term thinking in China, maximizing quick wins, but rather steadily building, learning, evolving, and building again."

He said Lindt & Sprüngli has been in Switzerland for more than 180 years, "making nothing else than chocolate".

That long-term commitment, he said, is "a great match with the Chinese approach", noting that China has a tradition of planning, demonstrated by its five-year plans, which have charted the country's development over more than 70 years.

China's latest plan, the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), highlights adhering to the strategic cornerstone of expanding domestic demand, which Spiller said the company is "very happy to hear about" because the policy direction "fully resonates" with its plan for future growth in China.

"Eventually, we need to grow with the Chinese market in a win-win partnership," he said. "If we look ahead, based on this policy environment and these external factors, we feel confident that China is the right place to further invest in growth."

Ma said the China team has set itself the ambitious and challenging goal of tripling its business by 2030, compared to 2023.

"Short-term pressures and challenges are inevitable, but we always take a long-term view," she said. "We believe that demand in China will always be there, and so will market opportunities. Chinese consumers' aspirations for a better lifestyle, as well as for high-quality products and services, will always remain strong."

Bruderer said chocolate has the power to enchant the world.

"One of the successes of chocolate, in general, is that chocolate makes people happy," he said. "Some chocolates are for sharing. It's for connecting people. This is the success, regardless of the culture, because, as long as you love chocolate, you're connected with each other."

Contact the writers at zhengwanyin@mail.chinadailyuk.com