CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF MARZIPAN Horst Schluckwerder OHG is one of the world’s largest speciality factories for marzipan products, delivering traditional seasonal items for Christmas and Easter in the domestic German market, as well as year-round marzipan and other items, including nougat, to many export markets worldwide. Piotr Sadowski reports.
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or 55 years the family-owned business Horst Schluckwerder has been engaged in the development of marzipan, pralines and chocolate specialities, all based on the highest quality and using only natural ingredients. When the company started its activities there were around 200 marzipan producers in Germany, but now there are now only three major players in the country, one of them being Schluckwerder. “Over the last decade we have been experiencing stable, but very satisfactory growth,” says Jens Klausen, the company’s export director. “The recession has had no impact on our operations, since we are first and foremost manufacturing very traditional Christmas and
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Easter products for the domestic market. It is a niche area of operations for which we see continuous demand in the country. However, our portfolio also includes a range of yearround products for our clients abroad and over the past 10–15 years we have witnessed a steady increase in exports of marzipan and our other products.”
Overcoming a challenge According to Mr Klausen, the biggest obstacle that the company encounters in some countries is the ‘bad childhood memories’ among
purchasers. “In markets such as, for example, the UK, marzipan is often associated with an overly sweet, almost sickly, product,” explains Mr Klausen. “There is a lack of acceptance of marzipan in general which results from such negative taste connotations. “However, marzipan from Schluckwerder is not that type of marzipan at all: Germany is the only country in the world with a marzipan law, which stipulates the minimum content
