Hans Imhoff

Hans Imhoff (March 12, 1922 – December 21, 2007) was a German chocolate producer and founder of the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum (Imhoff Chocolate Museum) in Cologne, Germany.[1]

Imhoff was born in Cologne to Franz and Charotte Imhoff (née Gallé). After leaving Elementary School he then joined a Trade School, where he trained in Commercial and Vocational Studies. Imhoff founded a chocolate and sugar factory after World War II where he produced non-branded chocolates, which became very successful. In 1969 he took over the Hildebrand chocolate company in Berlin – Germany's oldest chocolate manufacturer - who held the chocolate brand "Scho-Ka-Kola". In 1972 Imhoff took over the failing Stollwerck chocolate company, and managed to convert it into a successful business. He built up a European Chocolate group through acquiring other brands such as Sprengel and Sarotti. Imhoff retired from the company in 2002.[1]

In 1993 Imhoff opened the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum (Imhoff Chocoilate Museum) in Cologne which creates around 650,000 visitors per year.[1][2] In 2001 the city of Cologne gave Imhoff an honorary citizenship.

Imhoff was married to Clare Gerburg Schmitt, with whom he had four children. He died on 21 December 2007 (aged 85) of an infection caused by lung inflammation.[3]

Titles

Literature
  • Claus Jacobi: Der Schokoladenkönig. Das unglaubliche Leben des Hans Imhoff. Langen Müller, München 1997, ISBN 3-7844-2650-6 (German)

References
  1. Official Website of the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum Cologne Archived 2009-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Das Schokoladenmuseum – from geschichte.nrw.de (German)". Archived from the original on 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  3. „Schokoladenfabrikant Imhoff gestorben“, Spiegel Online, 22. December 2007
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.