No one can say for what reasons the colonel from the reserve Velizar Peev, who was predicted a brilliant military career, started producing sweet chocolate "soaps" in Svoge. This happened at the beginning of the 20th century, or more precisely in 1901, and the first consumers of chocolate candies in our country were in a panic, rushing to get rid of the strange melting block in their mouths and swallowing a huge amount of water to neutralize the unfamiliar, slightly bitter taste. In Europe, for more than four centuries, they enjoyed the chocolate drink, which was regularly present at the palace tables, consumed by kings and queens as a medicine against tuberculosis. Hard chocolate was an invention of the Fry and Sons company at the beginning of the 19th century. Bulgarians were not the only ones who did not like chocolate from the first time. Christopher Columbus felt a very unpleasant feeling when he was treated by the Aztecs during his fourth voyage to the Caribbean with the bitter cocoa drink xocoatl, used in their religious ceremonies – probably because it was flavored with vanilla and chili pepper. The cocoa tree, traditionally grown for more than a millennium in the homeland of chocolate – Mexico and in South America, gave the Aztecs cocoa beans, which were used as a medium of exchange – it is interesting that a turkey cost 100 cocoa beans, and a rabbit – only 4… But in general, chocolate quickly took one of the first places in the scale of European pleasures, after missionary monks spread it throughout the continent immediately after the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards in the 16th century, and their leader – the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés uttered the memorable words:
„"Chocolate is a divine drink that strengthens the body's defenses and fights fatigue. One cup of this valuable drink allows any person to go all day without eating.".
The history of chocolate production in Bulgaria is connected with one of the pioneer industrialists in our country – Velizar Peev. Born in 1859 in Chirpan, he studied in Plovdiv and at the Military School in Sofia, from which he graduated with a first officer's rank. He attended the St. Petersburg Military Academy, where he graduated with honors, and was invited to remain in service in the Russian army. Rejecting the offer, Velizar Peev was sent to the Tula Arms Factory, and a year later the Serbo-Bulgarian War broke out, which caused him to be called up to his homeland and sent to the front, heading the Shumen garrison.
Very little came of Velizar Peev being promoted to the rank of general. During a review of the troops, Prince Ferdinand made a rude remark to the commander of the regiment in Sevlievo – Colonel Velizar Peev, who responded with an objection to the insult:
„Your Majesty, don’t forget that you are talking to a Bulgarian officer!”
And he filed for discharge. As a reserve officer, he was an entrepreneur in the construction of the South Bulgarian railway, bridges and roads. But deep down he felt that this was not his place. He decided to completely change the direction of his life and in 1901, in an almost dilapidated house, he opened a confectionery workshop. He began to bake bread and luxury biscuits, to produce Turkish delight, wafers and chocolate. He felt that he lacked the knowledge to do what he dreamed of, so soon after he left for France to learn the secrets of the craft. He became an ordinary worker in the „Savi Jean-Jean” chocolate factories. He was extremely curious and asked about everything, carried a notebook and wrote down everything. This was noticed by those around him, who reported to the director that the Bulgarian was a company spy, sent by a competing intelligence company. Thus, Velizar Peev found himself face to face with the director of the chocolate factory and had to explain that he was already a retired military man, had a small biscuit workshop in Sofia, but had a great desire to produce chocolate in his homeland, because in Bulgaria this pleasure was still completely unknown. Having won the trust of the director, a year later he returned to Bulgaria together with Master Colombo (some called him Columbus), who also became the first technologist for the production of chocolate in Bulgaria. Thus, at the very beginning of the 20th century, Velizar Peev mortgaged his house and opened a small factory on Exarch Joseph Street in the Bulgarian capital, with 10 workers, 3 machines with 5 horsepower of electricity. He began to import cocoa beans from Latin America and the Netherlands. The machines ground the beans into powder, to which they added sugar and milk. The mixture was stirred for 24 hours, because the secret of fine chocolate lay precisely in this. At first, Bulgarians were distrustful of the strange brown „soap bars“ with a slightly bitter taste. Some priests even called it a „disgusting and disgusting devilish creation“, others wrote letters to Velizar Peev to send them „a bottle“ so they could try it. A teacher from the countryside asked if the chocolate could be eaten with the „shiny paper“ and sought instructions for its consumption… „I dug a geran with a needle“ – Velizar Peev later shared with his relatives. As happened to every industrialist in Bulgaria after the Liberation. There was no tradition to follow, to measure themselves against the other who was doing the same, nor did people have a household culture and knowledge of what this new miracle was. "Velizar Peev - bread, biscuits..." - this was written on a converted cart that moved around the city and advertised its production. The people themselves, consuming the chocolate pleasure, were a living moving advertisement. Evgeniya Bozhilova (Nikolay Khaitov's wife), who was 16 years old at the time, remembers the wooden boxes with "Diplomat" chocolate. The Bulgarian entrepreneur paid special attention to the packaging. Some of the candies were wrapped with national flags of all countries stamped on paper - whoever managed to collect all the flags received a kilogram of chocolate for free. The puddings and powdered cakes were a hit in the production. Either way, more and more people tried the chocolate candies and a mass demand began. The word about the sweet pleasure spread to the most remote corners of Bulgaria, although the people there had no idea what this miracle was. Velizar Peev undertook an expansion of the factory and in place of the old one he built a 4-story building with an area of 2000 sq. m and modern equipment. 250 workers produced chocolates, biscuits, cocoa, cakes and powdered pudding. In 1908, Velizar Peev created another association, the purpose of which was the production of cement in Bulgaria. Until then, there was no such plant in our country and the needs for cement were met by imports. This is the well-known Zlatna Panega plant, built by the waters of the Panega River. With his participation (mainly with capital), a building was built and equipment imported from abroad for the needs of production. However, the chocolate industry occupied most of his time and love. The most important task before him was to fight against all the distrust and rejection, not only among the population, banking and business circles, but also among his own family. This battle brought him a lot of stress, effort and shook his health.
„"The banking circles look with distrust at his enterprise. Even his closest people doubt the success of his work. The competition of his production, coming from abroad, is almost invincible. Domestic consumption is weak. He goes abroad every year to study the chocolate industry and does not hesitate to exchange his colonel's uniform for a worker's blouse and to make friends with ordinary workers. His factory is small; it needs machines, comfortable premises, raw materials, facilities, etc., etc. The little old house was sold to meet the growing needs of the establishment and production. Velizar Peev spends his time among his workers, feeds on cheese and bread for years and patiently waits for the success of his young work; he waits stoically at his position for the outcome of the battle in the field of industry, meets the blows - and finally wins. But all this is also at the expense of his health, which is quite shaky, and which It is still being repaired with difficulty." (Almanac of Bulgarian Industries from 1926)
The ambition of the first Bulgarian chocolate maker was to make Bulgarian sweet „soaps“ as popular as in Switzerland. For his products, he received extremely prestigious awards – at international fairs in Bern, Paris, Vienna. He deservedly gained the reputation of the best Bulgarian chocolate maker, despite the competition – and others started similar production, sensing the empty market niche. Thanks to this, Velizar Peev became the court supplier of chocolate products for the royal palace, creating a special „Royal“ chocolate box in a luxurious wooden box. The old quarrels with Prince Ferdinand were forgotten, and Bulgarian chocolates were now offered at diplomatic receptions. Diplomats kept asking whether the candies were Italian, French or Austrian. „Bulgarian!“ – the prince replied, not without pride. Thus, Velizar Peev earned the nickname „King of Chocolate“ – he produced 2/3 of the chocolate products in Bulgaria. In the 1920s, a new black covered car with advertising signs of his company was driving through the streets of the capital, replacing the old cart. Interest in the product increased. The factory could no longer meet the increased demand. A new place and space were needed for the "king of chocolate" to unleash his power. Quite successfully, his sons - Velizar and Boyan - were also involved in all his affairs, with whom he did not talk about work at home, but on business matters he kept up an extensive correspondence with them, full of instructions and advice. In one of his first business letters to his first-born son, his namesake, whom he advised on how to treat workers, Velizar Peev wrote the following:
„"Help them because they are also human and need good manners.".
The son also had a military rank – captain 1st rank. After graduating from the Bulgarian military school, he continued his education at the St. Petersburg Naval Academy and advanced even faster than his father in his military career. Because of this, many saw in him the future admiral and commander of the Bulgarian naval forces. At the request of his father, the son left the naval service in Dedeagach and took on a large part of the work of managing the factory. So Velizar Jr. set off to the outskirts of Sofia to look for a place for the new factory. The place had to meet three conditions at once – to be close to the capital, to have water resources to drive the turbines, and a nearby railway line to quickly reach the production to the capital and other cities of the country. When he climbed a shady slope near the Iskar Gorge near Svoge, a wonderful view opened before his eyes – this determined the location of the new factory. In 1922, its construction began. So the son took over and built an extremely modern, European and promising factory with a closed cycle and its own hydroelectric power plant, from which even the city station drew electricity for free. Buildings were also built for auxiliary production of starch and glucose, urea, oils, acetone and tar. The huge boilers in which the chocolate was churned, about 170 machines and 32 electric motors were purchased from Germany ("AEG"), Italy (the "Marelli" machines) and Austria. The Sofia factory, which produced chocolate and candies mainly on special orders, also moved there. Over 400 people worked in the new factory, mainly from the surrounding villages and Svoge, as well as many Sofia residents who traveled by train to the factory every day. In 1924, it was transformed into a joint-stock company with a share capital of 6,600,000 leva. The third Velizar Peev, the grandson, appeared in the world, who years later was sent by his father to study engineering in Germany in order to be prepared to take over the leadership of the family business. After the death of Velizar Peev Sr. in 1927, the son continued to run the factory until the new government came to power in 1944, when life turned upside down. The factory in Svoge was nationalized in 1947, and the Peev family was disgracefully expelled, without the right to any compensation. They were threatened with execution if they refused to obey. Commandants were placed on all sides of the factory, who guarded the buildings and made sure that orders were followed. Velizar Peev-grandson, despite his German diploma as a mechanical engineer, the Knight's Order "For Bravery" received for his participation in the second phase of the war, and the family's long-term strategy, could not manage the factory bequeathed by his grandfather and father for even a single day... The assets of the chocolate factory in Svoge amounted to 154 million leva.
The family's life went on like everyone else's - they received coupons for essential products, stood in lines for bread, but most importantly - laughter never stopped in their home. They loved to joke in a friendly atmosphere and respond with anecdotes to all challenges. The iron machine of the new regime, the outright theft justified by state decrees, the sense of injustice and the collapse of a dream tamed for decades, could not melt their vitality and sense of humor. This usually happens to people who know how to self-discipline and self-build. No one took care of them, nor bequeathed them an inheritance. The iron spirit turned out to be stronger than the iron machine... For the next 50 years, the factory in Svoge worked with the same Italian "Marelli" machines and German "AEG" machines, purchased by Velizar Peev Sr., and its products sold extremely well in the country and abroad. It was renamed "Republic" and existed under that name until 1993, when it became the property of a foreign company.
Author: Margarita Drumeva for "World" magazine“,
Issue 7/2016 with the topic "On the Spiritual and the Soul/Bulgarian Inspirations by Margarita Drumeva".
Original post – History of chocolate: Sweet "soap bars" from Svoge and Velizar Peev - the founder of the domestic chocolate industry
Inspired by the movie "“The first Bulgarian chocolate”" on NovaTV
More information on the topic:
History of the first chocolate factory in Bulgaria
Velizar Peev – The King of Bulgarian Chocolate (podcast)
The Art of Business: Avram Chalyovski – The King of Chocolate