Andreas Pfluger, chief executive of Lindt & Sprungli North America, has announced his retirement at the end of the year. Pfluger has been with the company for a quarter of a century, the last four years of which have been spent overseeing the company’s largest market. Pfluger has not given a reason for his sudden, and unexpected, decision to leave the company, and Lindt says that “other members” of the company’s management group will inherit his responsibilities.
Pfluger joined the company in 1993 as vice president of marketing, after a six-year stint at Unilever. Four years later, he was appointed boss of the company’s Australian business. In 2001, he was given the top position in its French business, where he orchestrated a 40% increase in revenue. In 2005, he was made president and CEO of the Ghiradelli Chocolate Co. (one of Lindt’s biggest divisions), then, after a turn as president and head office at Lindt’s headquarters, he was made CEO of the North American division in 2014.