Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail General Manager Peter Zehnder and Regional Sales Manager for the Middle East Michael Defauw presented Dubai Duty Free COO Ramesh Cidambi with a Special Recognition Award to celebrate 25 years of partner-ship between the two companies.

The award, which features an upscaled version of the confectionery brand’s iconic LINDOR ball, highlights the importance of Dubai Duty Free to the success of LINDT as the number one premium confectionery brand in travel retail. Cidambi was also presented with four miniature models of the Burj Khalifa Tower, handmade from the finest Swiss chocolate by Dubai-based LINDT MAITRE CHOCOLATIER Matthew Muller.

The partnership has seen Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail become the number one confectionery brand at Dubai Duty Free for more than ten years. In December 2019, Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail and Dubai Duty Free closed 2019 with flying colours, selling 21,000 LINDOR Tubes – one of the most popular products within the Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail range – and breaking the previous record by more than 40%. Sales generated from confectionery and food products accounted for 6.5% (US$130.4m) of Dubai Duty Free’s overall annual sales of more than US$2bn in 2019.

Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail is dedicated to bringing the magic of the LINDT brand to life at key travel locations in the Middle East. Supported by the expertise of LINDT MAITRE CHOCOLATIER Matthew Muller and a team of LINDT Brand Am-bassadors at Dubai Duty Free stores, Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail ensures staff at travel retail stores in the region receive extensive training into the finer points of chocolate manufacture and its consumption so they can offer expert advice to the region’s discerning travellers.

Zehnder said; 'We are proud to be celebrating our 25th anniversary with Dubai Duty Free. The Dubai Duty Free team are an excellent partner and a remarkable retailer who is committed to helping Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail achieve its mission of creating more magical moments for passengers in travel retail. Our collaboration with Dubai Duty Free has led to many impressive brand executions over the years. These range from the launch of our LINDT Diamond Edition to, most recently, our LINDT Dubai Edition including the LINDT Dubai Napolitains World Traveller Suitcase and 300g Gold tablet. We are strengthening this partnership in 2020 with the launch of our LINDT Chinese New Year gifting range with Dubai Duty Free, based around an extensive marketing campaign created in partnership with actress and LINDT China Brand Ambassador Xin Zhilei.'

Ramesh Cidambi, COO of Dubai Duty Free, said; 'We sold some 1,620 tonnes of chocolate last year, so there can be no doubt that this category plays an important role in Dubai Duty Free’s product mix. Lindt & Sprüngli is our preferred partner and a very important and popular brand for us in Dubai. We applaud Lindt & Sprüngli Travel Retail for its ongoing innovation in keeping the offer fresh, relevant and often exclu-sive. We very much value our close working relationship and are most grateful to receive this award.'