Chupa Chups lollipop inventor dead
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Spanish artist Salvador Dali created the product logo.
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MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Enric Bernat Fontlladosa, creator of Spain's world-famous Chupa Chups lollipop, has died, the company said Monday. He was 80.
He died December 27 at home in Barcelona, in northeastern Spain, said Miguel Otero, spokesman of Chupa Chups, which produces the flower-shaped candy on a plastic stick.
A third-generation candy maker, Bernat took over an ailing Spanish confectioner and axed most of its 200 products to focus on producing a single line of quality lollipops. The first Chupa Chups went on sale in 1958 with a product logo by Spanish artist Salvador Dali, a friend of Bernat.
"I looked at candy and I was surprised that there was no candy made for children, when they are the main consumers of candy. It did not fit well in their mouths, it got their hands dirty and caused problems for their mothers. This is why I had the idea of putting it on a stick," said Bernat.
The name Chupa Chups is from the Spanish verb "chupar," which means to lick or suck a lollipop.
Within five years, Chupa Chups lollipops were on sale at some 300,000 outlets around Spain. The company instructed shopkeepers to place the lollipops as close to the cash register as possible -- a break from the traditional policy of keeping candy in glass jars behind counters, far from little fingers.
During the 1980s, Chupa Chups launched an international expansion drive.
Now, 90 percent of its sales are abroad. The company makes 4 billion lollipops a year and sells more than 50 flavors tailored to tastes in 170 countries from Spain to China and the United States. It has factories in five nations and employees some 1,700 people.
Bernat is survived by his wife, Nuria Serra, three sons and two daughters. He was to be buried Monday.
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