Guylian Chocolate

The History of Guylian Chocolate

Guylian is a Belgian chocolate company that is known around the world as the creator of the original chocolate Seashells. The company was created in 1958 by a young chocolatier Guy and his wife Liliane. They combined their names, love and passion for chocolate to create Guy-Lian. Each day, Guylian produces up to 75 tonnes of delicious chocolates in a production area measuring 27.000 square meters.

Sint-Niklaas, Belgium | 1958

1958

Chocolate from Passion

In Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, Guy Foubert was born in 1938 who grew to become a passionate Belgian chocolatier, but it is not his story alone. Guylian’s chocolate story comes from love. When Guy married his true love, Liliane, in 1958, the couple merge their passion for life’s sweetest pleasures, love and chocolate by combining their first names into Chocolaterie Guy-Lian. The couple would create fine confections on a smaller scale in the beginning, but as time progressed their creativity & chocolatiering took them to a level they could not have even imagined.

1967

Chocolate Seashells: Origin Story

Less than a decade had gone by since Guy & Liliane fell in love and followed their passion of sweet confections; after a relaxing holiday on the Belgian coast, the two came up with the idea of creating a souvenir in chocolate….the story of the “chocolate seafood” begins here:

Liliane spearheaded the design through marbling white, milk and dark chocolate in eleven unique chocolate molds, while Guy dedicated his attention to the hazelnut praline filling. The flavors and process practiced today is true to their origin, and this newly-created chocolate became an instant hit in its souvenir style of production. The holiday-feeling of fine and unique chocolates resurfaces with every bite of Guylian, available year-round.

1985

Guylian Chocolate Seashells Production Line-min

The Production Line

After much research & development, their souvenir idea became a staple product under the Guylian name. The next step was to ramp up production to meet the active demand of which was growing & growing. From 1985-1987 Guy and Liliane had constructed a full-on production line to produce the chocolate seashells in much greater volume. The factory was built in Sink-Niklaas, Belgium, which Guylian still uses to this day in producing their chocolates.

Also included is video content displaying how the seashells have been produced:

1992

Opus Launches | A Symphony of Flavor

Guylian’s chocolate seashells continued to grow in popularity and was the staple product of the chocolate brand, but their creativity began to exceed their traditional chocolate seashells and Guylian pursued producing additional chocolate confections.

Enter their Opus range: an assortment of chocolates based on the most famous operas, each with its own flavor and character. The pralines and truffles have a range of available flavors brought to you in an assorted selection box with each chocolate named after a famous opera.

1996

Expanding Production

After great initial success of Guylian’s Opus line, they continued to pursue new and creative initiatives, including their La Trufflina Truffles and assortment boxes. Due to the increased demand and additional products in their production line, Guylian expanded their production line to accomodate for their growing success.

Guylian Chocolate La Trufflina Launch-min

2006

Guylian Launches Temptations

Expanding upon their coveted chocolate seashells, Guylian launched their Chocolate Temptations Line. Guylian took their classic chocolate seashorse mold and added five additional flavors which totals six individually wrapped chocolate flavors in the classic seahorse format.

Guylian Chocolate Temptations Launch-min

To keep up with the growing consumer demand of classic chocolate bars, Guylian again expanded their production site in Sint-Niklaas with a new production line for chocolate bars. The bars are 100g total, but come with 4 portions of individually wrapped 25g chocolates – this ensures you can always enjoy an extremely tasty chocolate experience.

2017

Further Expansion

Guylian continued their pursuit of additional chocolates in multiple formats: They began expanding further by offering their “Master’s Selection” Line, which is a range of mini pralines, confections and chocolates with carefully curated flavor inclusions. Whether it be a pineapple caramel, coffee caradamom or hazelnut praline, all are sure treats in their collection.

2022

An Ambitious Relaunch

Guylian rebrands and relaunches their branding – a new packaging style for all products that references their past & present, of which is also 100% recyclable. Along with this new look, Guylian has made the switch to 100% Fairtrade certified cocoa for all their chocolate products.

Their story continues today, with new flavors and chocolates being produced annually. Explore Guylian chocolates below and check back in regularly for new chocolate creations coming in the pipeline.