POSH CHOCOLATE MAKER DELVES IN TO BISCUITS

Barry Callebaut is the world’s leading manufacturer of quality chocolates with sales of £5bn

Its cocoa products are used in catering, croissants, cakes, drinks and ice cream The firm is 150 years old and owns around 6,000 recipes

It produces one in four of all chocolate products made in the world – 12,000 tons a year

The firm has 10,000 staff, 53 factories, has chocolate academies and grows cocoa plants

No more than 40 of the thousands of flowers on a cocoa tree will develop into a cocoa pod

THE world’s largest high-end chocolate maker Barry Callebaut is branching out into biscuits and meringues.

The Swiss firm has bought Italian family-owned D’Orsogna Dolciaria for an undisclosed sum.

Though largely unheard of in the UK, Barry Callebaut’s products are in about 25pc of all chocolate made around the world.

It is responsible for growing and harvesting cocoa crops, and takes the chocolate-making process right through to the end product. Its choc- olate is used by caterers and makers of croissants and hot drinks – and it also runs chocolate-making schools around the world.

D’Orsogna Dolciaria produces amaretti (round almond-flavoured biscuits), meringues, cookies, glazings, and other products for ice cream, yoghurts, snacks and chocolate decorations.

With production facilities in Italy, India and Canada, it saw revenues of roughly £46.6m in 2016 and sales volumes of around 12,000 tons a year.