Early this past August, Godiva Chocolatier's parent company Campbell Soup Co. announced that Godiva is kind of the odd one out in light of the rest of Campbell Soup's products, and they are therefore looking into parting ways with the brand, possibly by selling it. Too sweet and glitzy to fit in with V8 and SpaghettiOs, apparently. The Campbell Soup Company has owned Godiva for around 40 years. The original company was a wholesale chocolate outfit that started up in Belgium in the 1920s and then morphed into a retail shop around 1940, and was at that point named after the legendary Lady Godiva, who rode around naked on a horse to help out some peasants sometime during the 11th century. In the mid 1960s, the company was partially acquired by Pepperidge Farms, and was owned wholly by Campbell shortly thereafter.

So who's going to be the big buyer? Hersheys? Mars? As much as another lux brand seems right up Hershey's alley, yesterday I heard that Switzerland's Lindt & Spruengli wants first dibs.

And here's one more 'fact' about Godiva that I just can't resist:

"When pronounced "G'dai, Va!" the name may be mistaken for an Australian greeting to a person named Va." (Courtesy of Wikipedia.)