Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli has announced it is streamlining its merchandising team with an estimated 300 sales and executive jobs set to be lost from its US operation.
One of the brands rumoured to be affected by the news is Russell Stover Candies, which was founded by Russell and Clara Stover in 1923, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and bought by Lindt in 2014.
Lindt spokesperson Cindy Calvert told ConfectioneryNews: “Lindt & Sprüngli (North America) Inc. used a combined retail merchandising team to support our brands in the United States – Lindt, Ghirardelli and Russell Stover. We’ve decided to transition the work performed by our retail team to specialized third-party retail service companies.
"This will impact approximately 300 positions nationwide (a low single digit number in the Kansas City area). We greatly appreciate the dedication and hard work of the team as they have supported our brands and we are doing everything we can to ease the transition for them. All affected individuals will receive severance benefits based on their length of service, bonus payment for 2019, and will have an opportunity to be eligible to fill roles with the third-party retail service companies.”
Lindt is one of the top 10 chocolate companies in the world and its purchase of Russell Stover, which is the top manufacturer of boxed chocolates in the US, helped the Swiss company increase its presence in the US behind Hershey and Mars.