It is a museum with a difference. While most museums start and end with offering food for thought to their visitors, this museum in Zurich has a lot that can be savoured as much by the mind as the palate of visitors.

Welcome to the Lindt Home of Chocolate, situated in the global headquarters of one of the world’s most renowned chocolate manufacturers. Set up in 2020, its main aim is not just to educate the visitors about the entire lifecycle of chocolate, starting from the cultivation of cocoa plants, right through the process of making chocolates and also allow the visitors try their hands at making their own chocolate.

Lindt Home of Chocolate is situated in the global headquarters of one of the world’s most renowned chocolate manufacturers

With such a wide variety of activities being offered by the museum, it is no surprise that it has become very popular with the visitors, including Indian tourists.

Kai Spehr

“The Lindt Home of Chocolate opened its doors to public in September 2020. With the growing inbound tourists from India to Switzerland, the Indian market has become one of our top source markets with both individual and group visitations. We recently achieved 500,000 visitors to the museum and hope to achieve higher milestones in the near future,’’ Kai Spehr, Managing Director of the Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation, tells India Outbound.

Indeed, in order to create greater awareness in the Indian market to welcome guests for an immersive experience in the whimsical world of premium Swiss chocolate, Lindt Home of Chocolate has undertaken several focused activities in India. As part of this awareness campaign, Lindt hosted an exclusive networking luncheon for select media in New Delhi. It included a first-hand virtual tour of the museum with stimulating facts about chocolate and the history of chocolate through the millennium.

Spehr tells India Outbound that amongst the numerous activities possible at the museum is a comprehensive and exciting chocolate tour, that is basically split into six parts. It starts with cocoa cultivation where guests are made aware of the cocoa plantations and then told about the history of chocolate and why it became so popular.

History of Swiss chocolatiers

Another part of the tour deals with the Swiss pioneers and why Swiss chocolate is amongst the most famous in the world. From here, the tour goes on to explain the process of production of chocolate and then trivia about largest cocoa producers and chocolate consumers in the world.

For most guests, perhaps, the last part of the tour is by far the most appetising as it involves tasting of different flavours and kinds of chocolates.

Swiss chocolate is amongst the most famous in the world

Another highlight of the museum is a research facility that was set up in early 2020, after more than five years of planning and preparation. The facility combines maximum flexibility and functionality with highest quality implementation and is available to chocolate producers and research institutes as well as universities.

“For the visitors, however, the highlight is the impressive open-view production taking place in the so-called molding line. Here, the making of a filled chocolate square can be followed step by step,” says Spehr.

Make your own chocolate

For those keen to try their own hands at making chocolate, the museum offers a variety of courses. “In our Chocolateria guests can see what it is like to be a real Lindt Master Chocolatier and they have the chance to make their own chocolate creations. We offer two types of courses and specific event courses such as Christmas workshops or for Valentine’s Day,’’ adds Spehr.

The courses are reasonably priced. For instance, the course Creative with all your senses: Creating a chocolate bar costs only CHF 28 (USD 28) and another course, Molding and refining: Creating chocolate lollipops and different figures is priced at CHF 36.

The museum offers a variety of courses for those keen to try their own hands at making chocolate

Another highlight of the museum is a gigantic chocolate fountain. “The chocolate fountain is unique and at over 9 m high, it is the largest free-standing chocolate fountain in the world. There are 1,400 litres of chocolate flowing in a closed circuit. The fountains has 94 metres of piping connecting to a tank in the basement, where the chocolate mass is stirred and heated before being pumped back up into the fountain. The chocolate fountain at the LHOC is the most photographed object,’’ says Spehr.

For those wanting to buy chocolates, the museum also comes with the world’s largest Lindt shop, sprawling over 500 sqm. There is also a Lindt Café on site, offering sweet and savoury delights, says Spehr.

Lindt Café on site offers sweet and savoury delights

‘‘The museum is paradise for chocolate lovers. Indians love and know their sweets, they are keen on learning about the history of Swiss Chocolate. Our chocolate making classes are with some of the best of chocolatiers in Switzerland. Our visitors from India and around the world truly enjoy the combination of all experiences in the museum,’’ Spehr says, while talking of the Indian visitors’ preferred activities at the museum.

For companies wanting to organize events at the Lindt Home of Chocolate, the museum comes with an exclusive area where MICE activities with about 100 persons can be organised. Spehr says a lot of international events have already taken place at the museum.