FRANZ HAUSWIRTH

The Hauswirth Confectionery (Pastry Shop) was founded in the Gablenzgasse in Vienna, Austria in the year 1949 by Franz Hauswirth senior. A short time later, the Hauswirth product palette was expanded from classic Confections to include chocolate Figures using an innovative hollow-casting process, which were, in addition to sales in their own shop, sold wholesale to other Confectioneries. Shortly thereafter, the expanding development of supermarket chains opened an additional market to the innovative Hauswirth Manufactory, most especially for the attractive and light hollow cast Easterbunny and Santa Claus figures. As time went by, the manufacture and processing of chocolate gained primary importance for the Company, while the attached confectionery dwindled in relative importance, leading to the concentration of the company focus totally on manufacture and processing for the wholesale market. The Company premises were removed to a newer and greatly expanded production facility in the Wichtelgasse, 16Th District of Vienna, where the production was concentrated on hollow cast figures and high quality sweets. The continued corporate success and concurrent increases in production capacity soon found the new premises to be insufficient and in the early sixties, once more , the premises were removed to a new and expanded facility, this time in the Austrian Burgenland, in Franz Hauswirth senior’s hometown – Kittsee, Austria. Upon the retirement of Franz Hauswirth sen., Franz junior succeeded to the company management. Franz junior initiated major investments in new technologies for the automated quantity production of hollow cast chocolate figures. These investments in technology enabled them to become the market leader in Austria for holiday season chocolate products. This high technological standard enabled them not only to compete successfully on an international basis, subsequent to the Austrian entry into the European Union in 1995, but also to expand their market share throughout Europe. Wien15 Their product palette was fürther expanded through the acquisition of a production system to make chocolate Bananas and the addition of a separate department for Lozenge production. Currently, the Hauswirth Company produces a wide variety of Products, that are found all year long in stores around the world. The company has been in the hands of the third generation of the Hauswirth family since 2006, when the brothers Roman and Peter Hauswirth succeded to the company management. Through consequent investment in ever expanded production and technology, Hauswirth Chocolate has remained not only a major regional employer, but also an aggressively successful source of superior confectionery products far beyond the borders of their home country.