Born in 1924
Toms was founded in 1924 by two business partners, Trojel and Meyer. Their first product was pastilles in an elegant box.
The story
These were hard times in Denmark, and it was almost impossible to procure raw materials for confectionery and chocolate production.
New owners in 1942
Victor B. Strand acquired Toms in 1942. At the time, this otherwise flourishing business was at a bit of a standstill. As Victor B. Strand said with his tongue in his cheek, the factory had “a glittering future behind it.” But things would change!
Victor B. Strand was a man with a great sense of humour and he was also a manufacturing, advertising and marketing genius.
The first commercials in the sports world
It had never been done before, but Toms signed sports sponsorship deals, making Toms visible everywhere in sports clubs and stadiums. 1959 saw the very first Guld Barre race on the Charlottenlund Racing Track. This kicked off an age-long partner race between Toms and a parade of Danish athletes. Today, Toms sponsors the Danish athletes at the Olympics.
A new type of packaging
But Toms came up with more innovations. Even the names, shapes and packaging of the products were unique, modern and far in advance of those of our contemporaries, but always based on charm and humour.
.. and new types of products
It was goodbye to old-fashioned over-packaging and boring products. There was always a new product in the pipeline to reflect current topics of conversation. That was how the Skildpadde came about in 1948.
Toms Kæmpe Skildpadde also got its big break on the cinema screen when it featured in one of the major movies of the time, "The Red Horses", in which the actor, Poul Reichardt was seen enjoying a Skildpadde.
Number 1, Toms Allé in Ballerup
The premises East of Copenhagen quickly became too limited to cope with Toms growing success. The iconic architect, Arne Jacobsen was commissioned to design a brand new factory. The result was a first class factory, the size of 8 soccer fields. Today that very same factory produces 40 tons of chocolate every day. The large crossroads in front of Toms is colloquially referred to as “The Chocolate Crossroads”.
Let’s not forget the “hygge”
Today, “hygge” is not the only feature of Toms Allé. Since 2015, the thriller writer Jan Krabbe has been incorporating spooky stories into the Toms Brand. Stories that fortunately always have ultra-cosy endings.