Kalev (company)

Note: Kalev has also some other meanings.

Kalev is the largest sweets company in Estonia. Since 2003, it is situated in Põrguvälja near Jüri, Rae Parish, Harju County.

External links

• The company's website

The birth of the Estonian confectionery industry dates back to 1806 when a pastry cook, Lorenz Caviezel, opened a confectionery business in Tallinn at Pikk Street, where the Café Maiasmokk (Sweet Tooth) is now located.

In 1864, the confectionery that had changed hands many times came into the possession of Georg Johann Stude. After ten years of operation, Stude decided to expand the business: he bought a neighbouring house and instead of these two houses constructed a new and more solid building, which is still there.

Out of Georg Stude’s production, marzipan figures and hand-made chocolate candies were in especially high demand. Stude’s sweets were also known outside Estonia. Thus, for example, the court of the Russian tsar was a regular customer at the turn of the 20th century.

Recipes and working methods originating from Stude’s confectionery are still held in great esteem in today’s Kalev – up to now the marzipan figures and hand-made candies that were known even in the 19th century are exclusively hand-made.

At the beginning of the 20th century there were other pioneers of the confectionery industry in Tallinn that could be considered as the predecessors of Kalev. Perhaps one of the most renowned predecessors was the Kawe confectionery founded in 1921 by brothers Karl and Kolla Wellner at Müürivahe Street 62. The production of Kawe, the greatest confectionery in Estonia, was well known in Estonia as well as foreign countries. The company exported a significant share of its products to various destinations: The United States of America, England, Tunisia, Morocco, France, India, China, etc.

Out of other big sweets producers of the time, the factories of Ginovker, Brandmann and Klausson should also be mentioned. At the end of the 1930s, Kawe and these three confectioneries employed 75% of all Estonian confectionery workers. Competing with big factories were a number of smaller enterprises: Riola, Endla, Eelis, Efekt and others.

The change in policy in the year 1940 brought along big changes for the confectionery industry. This was the time of nationalisation and company mergers. In 1940, the Riola factory was joined with the Brandmann business and the enterprise was renamed the Karamell Sweet Factory. Later on, Karamell was joined by the marzipan and chocolate candy unit of Georg Stude’s business. Cakes and tarts continued to be made at the Pikk Street building, still known as the Café Maiasmokk.

Soon after that Kawe merged with the sweets factories of Efekt, Eelis, Endla, Soliid and the Ermos syrupfactory situated in Kloodi manor house near Rakvere. The merged enterprise continued to operate under the name Kawe until 1948. On 1 April 1948, the company was renamed Kalev Confectionery Factory. The name was changed for ideological reasons: someone had complained to a minister that the name “Kawe” had once been formed of the former owners’ initials. This, however, was perceived as inappropriate for a Soviet enterprise. Hence, a name competition was quickly held. There were two name propositions: “Punane Kompu” (Red Candy) and “Kalev.” A majority of only one vote determined that the new name would be “Kalev.”

In 1957, a new confectionery named Uus Kalev (New Kalev) was opened at Pärnu Road 139, which merged with Karamell a year later. In 1962, New Kalev and Kalev merged into what is now operating as the Kalev confectionery factory.

Throughout the Soviet period, Kalev produced sweets at full capacity for Estonia as well as almost the whole of the former Soviet Union, also supplying the “uncrowned rulers” of the Kremlin. Kalev’s sweets also found recognition outside the borders of the Soviet Union, bringing home prizes from several international fairs and exhibitions.

In 1991, the state enterprise of Kalev was founded on the basis of the Kalev confectionery factory. In 1995, the privatisation of the state enterprise became possible and a public limited company was founded. Since 1996, the shares of the public limited company Kalev (AS Kalev) have been listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange. Today, AS Kalev is one of the few Estonian food industry enterprises based mainly on Estonian capital. The company earns stable profit and employs more than 500 people.

The year 2003 will be historically important to Kalev: the company will move from Tallinn to a new factory complex in Harjumaa, Rae rural municipality.

The text has been compiled on the basis of Heino Gustavson’s manuscript “AS Kalev. Eelaeg, sünd ja elu” (AS Kalev. History, Foundation and Existence), Tallinn, 1999.

See pictures of historic boxes and chocolates here