Famous, worshiped, loved, desired. The Manon we know and love today is a one of a kind. But how did it come about? The Manon originally consisted of nougatine and a walnut enveloped in a layer of sugar. Yanni Kesdekoglou, one of Leonidas’s family members, changed the recipe.

Yanni created a world first with this new recipe. He had the genius idea of replacing the melted sugar with white chocolate. At that time, nowhere else in the world were pralines being made with white chocolate. The walnut was then replaced by a hazelnut because you can toast it. This made it easier to store them for longer. Finally, he replaced the nougatine with the well-known buttercream. This new recipe transformed the Manon into the praline that we love so much.

Until 1983 the price of Leonidas pralines was capped by the Belgian government – just like bread and milk prices. This is because Leonidas chocolates were considered a basic need.