After 110 Years, Czechs Will No Longer Produce Lentilky

Lentilky, the iconic multi-colored, sugar-coated chocolates are no longer produced in the Czech Republic.

Nestlé has been making Lentilky for more than 110 years in Holešov, Moravia. Now the company moved production of the much-loved Czech sweet to Hamburg, Germany, where it will share a “new recipe” with Smarties.

According to the company, factories in the Czech republic couldn’t manage the ‘technological demands’ of producing paper packaging.

Vratislav Janda, the company’s director of corporate affairs, told Radiožurnál: “We are unifying the recipe between Lentilky and Smarties, which means that there will be less sugar and more chocolate in Lentilky, which was based on consumer tests.”

The spokesperson explained Nestlé believes the Hamburg plant is better equipped in terms of the “reduction in maintenance costs for production technologies, and better capacity utilization… Which is sufficient for the production and distribution of the product to all EU countries”.

Janda also revealed that Nestle will pack Lentils in paper packaging, which is technologically demanding and cannot be produced in the Czech Republic but can in Hamburg.

This is not the first sweet treat that has been moved from the Czech Republic. Five years ago, Mondeleez Czech Republic moved its Opavia sponge cake production to Poland.

Similarly, the Hamé company no longer produces Znojmo cucumbers in Znojmo, but in Bzenec, which is about a hundred kilometres away.

History

Brothers Philipp and Rudolf Kneisl started making Lentilky in Holešov in 1907. The name chocolate candies come from the Latin word for Lentilky. The brothers patented the product. Thanks to them, the Sfinx factory was established in the town, which still produces Lentilky.

At the end of last year, about 400 people worked in the Holešov plant. More than half of its production consists of jelly products sold on the domestic market, mainly under the Jojo brand.

The company also produces hard candies Bon Pari or Hašlerky, and dragees, including Lentilky and Smarties. Chocolate for smarties is imported from Nestlé’s second confectionery plant in the Czech Republic, Olomouc’s Zory.

About 1.6 million Lentilky are produced in the Sphinx in one shift. Sphinx also makes marshmallows and semi-finished products for caramels.

The history of confectionery production in Holešov dates back to 1863. It then moved to the current factory on Palackého Street in 1910. Sphinx is, therefore, one of the oldest confectionery factories in the Czech Republic and has been a part of Nestlé since 1992. The year before, it produced almost 15,900 tons of confectionery.

Outside of Europe, Nestlé’s largest production facility for Smarties is in Toronto, Canada, where Nestlé has been manufacturing products since 1918.