HISTORY

Once upon a time there was a confectionery manufacturer who invented the sweetest and sourest treats. Whether grown-ups or children, all loved and still love his sweets. And so he has been producing happily and deliciously for over 80 years.
2021 – hitschies. Snack it your way.
April 2021 marks the brand relaunch: with our new hitschies brand and our brand claim “Snack it your way.” we continue to uphold tradition and innovation. At the same time, we focus on our brand values of uniqueness, individuality and diversity, which determine our actions.
2017 - Philip Hitschler-Beck
In November 2017, Philip Hitschler-Becker, grandson of Walter Hitschler, follows in the footsteps of his grandfather. Having grown up with his brand and products since early childhood, he now continues the tradition of the Cologne-based family business. With the arrival of the fourth Hitschler generation, the family’s enthusiasm for candy and the pioneering spirit of the founders lives on.
2010s - Walter Hitschler
The founder and sole owner of the company, Walter Hitschler, died in July 2010, at age 88. In line with his wishes, the company remains completely family-owned. In 2010, all our products were relaunched with a new design, which had been developed by Walter Hitschler since 2008. In order to make the hitschler brand more easily recognisable and easier to find on supermarket shelves, the blue hitschler wave now marks out all of our products clearly.
2000s - New products & natural ingredients
In the new millenium our main focus is on the development of new products and the continued development of our existing product range. Our new and varied assorted mix of soft candies and bubble gums is a great success for young and old explorers, from the youngest to oldest. Under the sonorous name kids treasure box, this fruity-sweet mix enriches the markets. Another new development, our sweet and sour Party Laces with colouring fruits and plant extracts were enthusiastically received by our laces fans and have their proper place in the sweets shelf.
1990s - Chewing Gum Made in Germany
We launched Jetties on the German market in the 1990s. This is our sugar-free, toothfriendly chewing gum, which is produced exclusively in Germany. They are available in various forms but are most popular in their blister packs, and are widely known across Germany. At the same time, our Hitschies product range was expanded and our best-loved product gained even more fans.
1980s - The invention of Hitschies
Our range was expanded with yet more innovations in the 1980s, too – most notably, our famous Hitschies! Soft fruit chews with a crisp shell and a unique long cylinder shape. Initially known as Fruchtige Häppchen, we soon changed the popular sweets’ name to Hitscihes to make it less of a mouthful for fans of confectionery around the world. Since then, Hitschies, with their crunchy glaze and made exclusively by hitschler, have become one of our best-known and most successful products enjoyed by fans of all ages around the world. We had another major hit with our sherbet-filled Brause Flummis (today: brizzl Ufos) – brightly coloured discs filled with fruit-flavoured sherbet.
1970s - A decade full of innovations

The start of the decade saw the launch of a brand-new fruit-flavoured sweet sensation: hitschler fruit laces! These fruit laces were a hit and are still part of our yearround range today.

Just two years later, one of our best-loved classics was born: Softi strip chews. They are a particular favourite in the Rhine region during carnival season.

In the mid 1970s, hitschler launched another product innovation, which until then had never been seen before in Germany: bacon-shaped foam sweets! These light chews with the delicious vanilla cream flavour were soon a hit with confectionery fans of all ages!

 

1960s - A decade of expansion

News that hitschler sweets are not only high quality but also taste exceptionally good, travelled fast.

So it should come as no surprise that the products soon also found their way into shops in the rest of Europe: driven by Walter Hitschler’s entrepreneurial vision, the company ventured into entirely new markets and, from the 1960s, tasty hitschler products were even enjoyed in Saudi-Arabia.

1950s - hitschler International GmbH

Following the death of Ferdinand Hitschler, Walter Hitschler founded the company hitschler International, which still exists to this day. Inspired by his passion, the focus of the new company was now the sale of sweets in Germany and international.


From this point on, the company continually expanded. The acquisition and subsequent expansion of the ‘first German chewing gum factory’ in the mid 1950s represented the company’s decisive step into the future. From then on, hitschler International was not only a distribution company but also a manufacturing company.

1940s - Ferdinand Hitschler & Son

Walter Hitschler joined his father’s company when he was in his early twenties. The company changed its name to Ferdinand Hitschler & Sohn in 1946.


Walter Hitschler, who had always been passionate about sweets, initiated the ongoing expansion of the company’s sweets assortment: chewing gum and other sweets were now an established part of the company’s range.

1920s - The hitschler company roots
At the end of the 1920s, Ferdinand Hitschler, the father of Walter Hitschler, started trading with tobacco and cachous – small, yummy liquorice sweets which are a speciality from France originally. During the mid-1930s he founded the Cologne-based trading company “Hitschler’s Cachou”. What hardly anyone knows: Walter Hitschlers childhood home in Ölbergstrasse in Cologne was our company seat until our relocation to Aachener Strasse in 2014.