The chocolate manufacturer
After the war, Hans Imhoff received permission from the French occupying powers to operate a food wholesale business on the Moselle, which soon became the largest food supplier in the region. It was here that the foundations were laid for what would later become the "chocolate empire":
In1948, Hans Imhoff set up his first own chocolate factory in Bullay on the Moselle. And success was not long in coming: by 1958, he already employed 400 people there.
Until then, Imhoff had only produced no-name products. In 1969, he took over the branded product "Scho-Ka-Kola" for the first time with Hildebrand, Kakao- und Schokoladenfabrik in Berlin - Germany's oldest chocolate factory.
In1972, Imhoff took over the Stollwerck chocolate factory in Cologne's Südstadt district. He restructured the ailing company and expanded it in the following years by taking over a number of traditional chocolate manufacturers, including Eszet in 1975, Waldbauer in 1977, Sprengel in 1979, the merger with Chocolaterie Jaques S.A. in 1982 , Rotstern in 1991, Sarotti in 1998 and Gubor in 1999.
In 2002, Imhoff sold its shares in the group to the world's largest chocolate producer, the Swiss group Barry Callebaut AG. The chocolate museum became the property of the Imhoff family with the sale of the majority of shares.
"I am the only person who has a heart of chocolate"