Leonidas

Leonidas is a registered trademark of the agri-food company Confiserie Leonidas S.A. The Belgian chocolate company was founded in 1913 by Leonidas Kestekides. The company is ISO 9001 and FSSC 22000 certified. As of 2019, the brand has more than 1,030 points of sale (including 450 stores in Belgium and Luxembourg, and 290 in France) in 32 countries, the majority of which are franchises and around 40 are subsidiaries. History Born in 1882 in Nigdi, Anatolia, Turkey, a politically and economically unstable region, Leonidas Georges Kestekides, of Greek heritage, made a living by selling "granitas", a kind of sorbet, and other sweets with his brother, Avraam. In 1900, he decided to move to the United States where he became a confectioner. In 1910, Leonidas participated at the World Fair in Brussels, Belgium, where he won the bronze medal alongside the Greek delegation. While in Brussels, he met Joanna Emelia Teerlinck. Together, they moved to Ghent, where the International Exhibition was held in 1913. There he won the gold medal and opened his first tearoom at 34 Veldstraat. From 1922 onwards, members of Leonidas' family joined him in Belgium to work alongside him. Among them was his brother Dimitrios’ son, Vassilios Kestekides, who they later called Basilio, and whom Leonidas mentored. Leonidas was creative, and Basilio had a good head for business; together they came up with many ideas to expand the company's activities. The business was expanding to scales larger than Ghent. As such, Leonidas left to open the "Pâtisserie Centrale Leonidas" in Brussels, on rue Paul Delvaux, and left the management of the Ghent tearoom to the rest of his family. Basilio joined him.