Émile Gerbeaud was born in Carouge, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland on 22 February 1854 into a Roman Catholic merchant, confectioner family.

During his younger years he was trained in the family business and later worked in several confectioneries in Germany, England and France.

He gained reputation for the Hungarian confectionery industry and won the gold medal for his products on the World Fairs in 1898 and 1900.

In 1948 the communist regime deprived the heirs, the five daughters of Emil Gerbeaud, of the shares of the company and they confiscated it.

[3] He married Esther Ramseyer (1853 – 7 February 1940),[4] the daughter of a Swiss Calvinist chocolatefabric owner and confectioner from Saint-Imier, Canton of Bern, Switzerland.