Founded in 1800 by Sulpice Debauve, King Louis XVI's pharmacist, the company combines excellent know-how, innovation and a rigorous search for balance between gourmet and health chocolates, the useful and the pleasurable, as indicated by the founder's motto, borrowed from Horace: Utile Dulci!
Pharmacist to the King in 1779, Sulpice Debauve, a doctor's son, focused his research on cocoa. The scientist was aware of Marie-Antoinette's infatuation with chocolate, which reminded the Queen of France of her Viennese childhood. So, to help ease the headaches of the sovereign who complained of the bitterness of her "medicines", he mixed the remedy with cocoa, adding almond milk to soften the taste. The queen, enchanted, named these medallions "Pistoles". Previously consumed as a drink, Sulpice Debauve invented chewable chocolate.