Festive season success for Läderach, as Toronto store becomes company’s 250th chocolaterie

Swiss premium confectionery firm Läderach has successfully proven its international appeal, as the business opened its 250th chocolaterie store, located in Toronto, Canada, reports Neill Barston.

While broader markets appears to be experiencing a slowdown for luxury product ranges, the company has continued on its growth track, as consumers have clamoured for its fresh chocolate options that have garnered the business a strong reputation around the world.

The company’s latest store on Bloor Street, Toronto, comes after a particularly notable year, in which 50 chocolateries have been opened, including the 100th chocolaterie in Europe in Hanover. A similar number of openings are planned for the coming year.

Furthermore, as the business noted from January to October this year, Läderach again achieved sales growth of around 20 percent compared to the same period last year. Sales rises of around 20 percent is also forecast for 2025 at the end of the year. This reportedly came in roughly equal parts from organic growth and new store openings.

As the business added, in 2025, 43 new chocolateries were added, further driving growth, including in new markets such as Japan, Egypt, Thailand, and Turkey. The family-owned company now employs over 2,500 people worldwide and is represented in 28 countries, not including the employees of franchise partners in the Middle East and Far East.

Third production site opened in the canton of Glarus
“On time and on budget,” Läderach opened its third production site in the Glarus region in August, sending a clear signal for the future: Läderach chocolate will continue to be produced exclusively in Switzerland. The “Bilten 2” site offers additional space and long-term business security for further growth. The building can be expanded modularly and, if necessary, two additional floors can be added in the future. Around 150 employees currently work at the new production site, 100 of whom are existing employees from Ennenda, with around 50 new employees joining them.

Notable innovations
Significantly, there have been two key innovations of the past twelve months that have made a sizeable impact. This includes FrischSchoggi Dubai,  which emerged in December 2024as a limited edition.

According to the company, this exceeded all expectations and has been among the top 5 most popular FrischSchoggi creations worldwide for months – only FrischSchoggi Hazelnut Milk has been and remains the customer favorite for years. The Dubai line has been expanded in recent months with the addition of FrischSchoggi Dubai Dark and Dubai Pralinés.

In addition, this autumn the company launched another product innovation with impressive results: FrischSchoggi Minis. The company became famous worldwide with the open sale of FrischSchoggi. Now the eight most popular varieties are available in mini format.

Moreover, the company has also emerged with key ratings from its own employee satisfaction studies, which recognised the business as a great place to work around the world. 

The results of its study found there were positive ratings regarding understanding of strategy and fair treatment of all employees are particularly noteworthy. The above-average participation rate of almost 80 percent, combined with a particularly high overall approval rating of 88 percent, demonstrates the impressive commitment of employees worldwide. Over the next few weeks, the results will be communicated to the teams and opportunities for improvement will be discussed.

Johannes Läderach,  CEO and chairman of the board, enthused at its progress this year. He commented: “It is impressive what our more than 2,500 employees have achieved over the past year,”

 “In 2025, we were able to maintain the momentum of our growth strategy – every week, a Läderach Chocolaterie opened somewhere in the world. And that was despite ongoing challenges such as consistently high cocoa prices and tariffs in the US,“

.”We are planning similar growth for the coming year, as well as product innovations, of course.”