Operating a chocolate fountain 9 meters high in Switzerland

The Swiss chocolate maker "Lint & Sprungli" unveiled a nine-meter-high chocolate fountain in its new center near Zurich, in a move that would polish the group's image and help it face the economic challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.


This huge fountain, a metaphor for a whisking device from which chocolate flows, sits in the middle of the new complex, which the Swiss company hopes will have about 350,000 visitors a year.


The advertising face of the brand, tennis champion Roger Federer, occupied the fountain, along with Group President Ernest Tanner and the Minister of Finance in the new headquarters, of which the museum and the chocolate factory are the most prominent departments.


In remarks on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony, Tanner said that the fountain is a landmark that "those who visit the center will not forget," stressing that the goal is to "create a unique design" that represents all aspects of the brand.


The chocolate house located in Kilchberg, on the banks of Lake Zurich, and in which nearly 100,000 Swiss francs have been invested, will be a magnet for tourists in Switzerland who will be able to prepare their own bars of chocolate.


The share of "Lint" is 5.3% of the chocolate market, according to the estimates of the research company "Euromonitor International" for the year 2020. It is ranked sixth in the world in the chocolate industry, far from the Americans "Mars Inc." and "Mondelez", Italian "Ferrero" and the Swiss. " Nestle".


The Swiss group did not face major problems during previous crises, which made it one of the preferred companies for investors in the Swiss Stock Exchange, but its sales declined in the first half of the year as a result of measures to limit the spread of the epidemic.


 During the first six months of the year 2020, its turnover decreased by 12.7%, at an annual rate, to 1.5 billion francs, due to the closure of its stores during the Easter period and its stores in the airports and the decrease in restaurant orders.


 Tanner said, "Lint has lived through all the wars in Europe and all the economic and financial crises, and she will also overcome this epidemic crisis as she did before," acknowledging that the task will be "difficult" but not "intractable."

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