Confiserie Sprüngli, Zürich, CH

In 1836, David Sprüngli opened the Sprüngli & Fils confectionery shop on Marktgasse in Zurich. From 1845 onwards, Sprüngli was one of the pioneers of Swiss chocolate production and played a key role in establishing Swiss chocolate’s reputation as the best in the world, which it still enjoys today. In 1859, David Sprüngli and his son Rudolf purchased a property on Zurich’s Paradeplatz, which was still relatively quiet at the time, in the hope that Zurich’s railway station would be built there. However, this did not happen, causing the Sprüngli family many sleepless nights. However, construction activity soon began in earnest around Paradeplatz. Towards the end of the 19th century, Rudolf Sprüngli divided his company between his two sons. Johann Rudolf was given the chocolate factory (today Lindt & Sprüngli), while David Robert took over the confectionery, which is now the famous Confiserie Sprüngli. Since then, they have been two independent companies. The Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate factory became an industrial enterprise, while Confiserie Sprüngli remained a family-run artisan business. The nearby Bahnhofstrasse developed into one of the most prestigious shopping streets in the world. Richard Sprüngli’s nephews, Milan and Tomas Prenosil, took over the business in 1994 and have been running Confiserie Sprüngli with great success ever since: in addition to Zurich and the surrounding area, Sprüngli confectioneries can be found in Switzerland’s major cities and abroad.