Never take sweets from a strange looking man on a TV advert

Nobody can be unaware of those apparently ubiquitous creepy TV ads where an adult , father / grandad offers a smiling, happy, healthy child (usually male) a Werthers original toffee.

Father Klaus died last April making Axel the sole owner of candy company Storck GmbH, which makes Werther's Original, Merci, Riesen, Toffifee and nimm2. He is the fourth generation of Oberwellands to run the now estimated $1.5 billion (sales) group. The company established the Stork Foundation in 1992 to preserve the endangered stork population in Germany.

August Storck KG is a privately owned company and the second largest confectionary manufacturer in Germany. Founded by Great Grandfather August Storck Oberwelland in 1903 and passed on through Hugo and handed onto Klaus, the company was inherited by 40 year old Axel 2 years ago. Based in Berlin Germany the company operates globally with 4,500 employees operating from 5 plants - Berlin, Halle/Westphalia and Ohrdruf/Thuringia, Germany; Winchester, UK; Skanderborg, Denmark.

With worldwide sales of US$ 1.5 Bn they have a solid home base with a 30% share in sugar confectionery volume and a 25% sugar confectionery share in sales there, coupled with a 15% share in chocolate specialty sales the company is famous for it's Werther's Original toffees, Merci,Riesen,Toffifee and nimm2 brands.

August Storck-Oberwelland openned his small candy workshop in the town of Werther, Westfalia, Germany, called Werther's Sugar Confectionery Factory but it was 6 years later that he began producing Werther's caramel cream candy, Later re-branded in 1998 as Wethers Echte (genuine) but now known worldwide as Werthers Original - now also sugar free !

It was 25 years later that Storck 1 Pfennig reisen hit the market - the first one to be sold individually wrapped. Later re-branded in 1998 as Wethers Echte (genuine) but as Werthers Original

In 1981 they took over the German Dickmann company and its brands and 7 years later , bendick's of Mayfair and their Winchester factory.

nimm2 - literally "take two" Storck’s nimm2 soft, a vitamin-filled fruit chewy. In today’s “health and wellness” era, when companies large and small are looking to address consumer nutritional needs, Storck had long ago (1962) developed a healthier children’s candy called nimm2.

The name, which translated from German literally means ‘take 2,” is a recently developed brand which is promoted to provide children with 2 sweets that provide a daily dose of essential vitamins.

This is a development from a chewing gum launched in , a vitamin-filled fruit gum.

Their latest brand is however a luxury chocolate, Pavot (poppy) launched to mark their centenary and now well up in the premium league in a land of chocolate lovers.

Axel hovers around 350th in Forbes Billionaires list from satisfying the craving for toffee.