page_title: Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
section_title: 1900-present
hierarchical_section_title: Ghirardelli Chocolate Company / History / 1900-present
caption_attribution_description: English: Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, California, USA Français&#160;: Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, Californie, États-Unis
context_page_description: The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is a United States division of Swiss confectioner Lindt & Sprüngli. The company was founded by and is named after Italian chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli, who, after working in South America, moved to California. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was incorporated in 1852, and is the third-oldest chocolate company in the United States, after Baker's Chocolate and Whitman's.
context_section_description: By 1900, Ghirardelli's company was selling only chocolate and mustard, having sold its coffee and spices businesses. Further expansion over the years into different buildings allowed the company to expand into new markets and grow financially. In 1965, San Francisco declared Ghirardelli Square (where many of the Ghirardelli buildings were constructed) an official city landmark. Two years later, production facilities moved to San Leandro, California (37.711°N 122.145°W).
  Since the 1960s Ghirardelli has also moved to focus on a restaurant division by selling ice cream sundaes complete with their famous hot fudge chocolate sauce. In one of their earliest menus from the 1960s they featured five "Nob Hill Sundaes" all named after different landmarks, historical aspects, or local figures from San Francisco (Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Banana Split, Strike it Rich, The Rock, and the Emperor Norton). As of 2019 they now feature over 15 different ice cream sundaes. 
  In 1963, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was bought by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company, maker of Rice-A-Roni. Later, in 1986, Quaker Oats bought Golden Grain, and thus Ghirardelli. In 1992, Quaker Oats sold the Ghirardelli Chocolate division to a private investment group. John J. Anton, from that group, became the president and CEO of the newly independent Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. Lindt and Sprüngli, from Switzerland, acquired Ghirardelli Chocolate Company in 1998 as a wholly owned subsidiary of its holding company.
caption: Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop, San Francisco
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