Cola Cao

Brand of chocolate drink

Cola Cao is a sugary chocolate drink with vitamins and minerals that originated in Spain and is now produced and marketed in several countries. The brand is owned by the Barcelona based company Idilia Foods (formerly Nutrexpa).

In 1945, José María Ventura and José Ignacio Ferrero, two brothers in law from the Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona, Spain, created a soluble cocoa called Cola Cao. In 1962, they began to broadcast their first advertisements on television, which adapted the radio tune to some cartoons. In 1972, Cola Cao was associated for the first time with the slogan "Olympic food", after becoming a sponsor of the Spanish Olympic team at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games. In the 1980s, "Cola Cao VIT" was produced, an instant and enriched version with vitamins of the classic Cola Cao. It went out of production in the late 1980s. In 1988, in a connection with the 1992 Summer Olympics scheduled for Barcelona Cola Cao began sponsoring the Spanish Olympic Committee through the ADO Program, an alliance that continues until today. Along the same lines and to promote urban sports, the brand installed what are popularly known as "Cola Cao Circuits" in green areas of a large number of Spanish cities, such as Esplugues de Llobregat and Córdoba, among others. In the mid nineties, with the slogan the same flavor of Cola Cao with half the calories, a version of Cola Cao without sugar and with sweeteners called "Cola Cao Low in Calories" was launched, which in the mid 2000s was renamed "Cola Cao Light".

Cola Cao is prepared using sugar, processed cocoa, wheat flour and cola nut, and is enriched with vitamins, Calcium and Phosphorus.

Cola Cao comes in a powder form which is intended to be mixed with milk, In Spain,since the late 80's, Cola Cao has been marketed in association with the Olympic Games and other sporting events.