AS Kalev (2006–2012 Kalev Chocolate Factory AS) is an Estonian confectionery company. The company traces its origins back two hundred years, the business that preceded the Maiasmokk café was founded in 1806, and is now owned by Kalev. The Kalev company is the countries largest producer of sweets and a part of the industrial conglomerate Orkla Group. Kalev is based in Põrguvälja near Jüri, Rae Parish, Harju County. History Roots and foundational developments (19th century) The birth of the Estonian confectionery industry dates back to 1806, when pastry cook Lorenz Caviezel (:de) opened a confectionery business in Tallinn at Pikk Street, where Café Maiasmokk (Sweet Tooth) is located since 1864. In 1864, the business, which had changed hands many times, came into the possession of Georg Johann Stude. After ten years of operation, Stude decided to expand the business: he bought a neighbouring house and in place of these two houses constructed a new and more solid building, which is still there. Out of Stude's production, marzipan figures and hand-made chocolate candies were in especially high demand. Stude's sweets sequentially became known outside Estonia. Thus, for example, the court of the Russian tsar was a regular customer at the turn of the 20th century. Recipes and working methods originating from Stude's confectionery are still held in great esteem in today's Kalev – to this day the marzipan figures are hand-made candies. Predecessors and birth of an industry (Early 20th century) At the beginning of the 20th century, there were other pioneers of the confectionery industry in Tallinn that could be considered the predecessors of Kalev. Perhaps one of the most renowned was Kawe confectionery, founded in 1921 by brothers Karl and Kolla Wellner at Müürivahe Street, 62. Kawe's products, the then greatest confectionery in Estonia, were well known in Estonia and abroad, and the company exported a significant share of its output to destinations such as the United States, England, Tunisia, Morocco, France, India and China. Of other big sweet producers of the time, the factories of Ginovker, Brandmann and Klausson should also be mentioned. At the end of the 1930s, Kawe and these three confectioneries employed 75% of all Estonian confectionery workers. Competing with big factories were a number of smaller enterprises: Riola, Endla, Eelis, Efekt and others. Mergers and Kave branding (Soviet era) The change in policy in 1940 brought along big changes for the confectionery industry. This