ASTIR was established as a small handicraft facility in 1933.

In 1954, Constantinos and Louis Constantinidis, sons of the founder Andreas Constantinidis, began the construction of new installations on Tsakalof st. Tavros in Athens, where the factory is still sheltered today.

In 1956 the company moved to the new installations and the new era of ASTIR began.

In 1993 the third generation of owners, Anastasios Constantinidis and Panagiotis Aslanidis continued the growth of the factory’s premises and doubled its surface by connecting the old building with a neighboring building. The new installations provided sufficient in-house storage facilities and more room for production growth was now available.

In 2003 ASTIR’s legal form changed from private to public.

The company is still family owned but thinks, grows and evolves as a multinational firm.

ASTIR chocolate manufacturing plant is a modern unit that combines technologically advanced machinery with traditional recipes and classic production procedures. Classic products are being produced with the same method they were produced when they were first introduced in the Greek market some decades ago. But on the same plant new modern and original products and production procedures are being developed.

Two major practices are employed to assure the high quality of ASTIR’s products.

An 8 stage quality control process which includes weight and taste control, foreign object and metal detection and wrapping, packing and labeling control is applied on all products.

A careful selection of raw materials (and suppliers). For example ASTIR uses only GMO free Soya Lecithin and all the different types of milk that are being used are from large European factories with valid quality certificates (free of mad cow disease or any other syndrome).

Finally, it is important to state that ASTIR produces chocolate from the beginning, from the processing of cocoa beans and not from outsourced cocoamass. This way ASTIR has complete control over the quality of the chocolate produced and can assure the standard and high quality of all its products.

* Market Research made by AC NIELSEN for Easter 2003.