Marabou is aSwedish chocolate brand owned byMondelez International.
The brand was founded by the NorwegianchocolatierJohan Throne Holst (1868–1946), who already had launched the same chocolate recipe inNorway under the nameFreia with great success — in the beginning of the 20th century Freia owned over 50% of the Norwegian market.[2] During theFirst World War, the continental European markets were closed, so the company decided to expand to Sweden.
In 1916, the brand Marabou was created in Sweden;[3] as the name Freja was already taken in Sweden, the company decided to name their Swedish branch after thestork in the logo.[4] However, the actual production didn't start until 1919 due to shortages incocoa supply caused by World War I.
Throne Holst's second son,Henning, took over Sweden's first chocolate factory inSundbyberg, just north ofStockholm, in 1918. He was in charge of creating the brands which are still present today:Japp [sv;no],Daim,Twist,Fortuna [sv] andNon Stop [sv]. The first Marabou chocolate to be established was milk chocolate (Mjölkchoklad), which was produced using the same recipe as Freia. From the mid-1950s on, Marabou chocolate wascaramelized, which significantly changed its taste. Over time, the Sundbyberg factory was not sufficient for the growing demand, so in the 1970s, production moved, after 60 years in one location, to newly built premises inUpplands Väsby, where it remains today.
At the end of the 1960s, the symbol of Marabou was changed from astork to the rounded "M" in the company logo. It was designed bySigvard Bernadotte.[3] This also marked the beginning of the first commercials starringYvonne Lombard who created the slogan "Mmm... Marabou!".[3] Marabou chocolate is widely available in Sweden in assorted varieties.
Freia and Marabou later merged, and, in 1993, were purchased byKraft Foods for 3 billionNorwegian kroner. Marabou chocolate is available in a number of European countries and was until September 2011 sold byIKEA inCanada,Israel, andPoland. Marabou chocolate is sold by IKEA in 23 countries:Australia,Austria, Canada,Czechia,Germany,Hungary,Iceland,Japan,the Netherlands,Portugal,Russia,Serbia,Slovakia,Spain,Switzerland,Taiwan,Turkey,Ireland, theUAE, theUnited Kingdom and theUS.
In 2013, there was press coverage about Marabou's use ofpalm oil, which, according toGreenpeace, has a negative effect on the animals and people of the world'srain forests.[5][6] According to the Marabou website (in 2020), Marabou milk chocolate (Mjölkchoklad) does not contain palm oil, but some other products of the company do. The company claims to cover their palm oil demands from aRSPO-certified system since 2013.[7]
In January 2025, Bloomberg noted that Mondelez had removed previous commitments to make its Russian operations independent and that the company had withdrawn profits from Russia during 2024, which should not be possible for an independent company.[8]
Media related toMarabou Chocolate at Wikimedia Commons
