Godiva Logo — Godiva Chocolatier is a manufacturer of chocolates and other luxury products. The company, founded in Belgium in 1926, was acquired by the Yıldız Holding Turkish owner of Grupo Ülker in early 2008. Godiva owns and manages more than 450 boutiques and shops in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and its products are available through some 10,000 specialty retailers.
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Besides chocolates, Godiva also sells truffles, coffee, cocoa, cookies, fruit and candy coated, chocolate liquor (“Chocolixir”), gifts for weddings and other celebrations and arranged in gift baskets. Godiva’s flagship product is the Gold Ballotin of chocolates. Godiva chocolates also produces seasonal and limited edition with special packaging for all major holidays. It also has licensing agreements for the production of ice cream, cheesecake, coffee capsules and spirits with various flavors associated with chocolate.
Godiva was founded in 1926 in Brussels (Belgium) by Joseph Draps. Draps opened its first boutique in the Grand Place of Brussels under its present name in honor of the legend of Lady Godiva. The first Godiva shop outside Belgium was opened in Paris in 1958. In 1966, the company’s products came to the U.S., where they were sold in department stores of luxury. The following year was purchased by the Campbell Soup Company. In 1972 he opened his first boutique in North America at Godiva Fifth Avenue New York.
In 2007, Godiva had annual sales of approximately $ 500 million. In August of that year, Campbell announced that he would “explore strategic alternatives, including possible divestiture, for Godiva Chocolatier business.” The company said that “the luxury chocolate business does not fit with Campbell’s strategic focus on simple meals. On December 20th of 2007, Campbell announced it had signed an agreement to sell Godiva to the company based in Istanbul (Turkey) Yıldız Holding, owner of Group Ülker, the leading manufacturer of food products industry in Turkey. The acquisition ended March 18, 2008 by $ 850 million.
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