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This privately-owned firm was founded in 1891 to manufacture and market baking powder of proprietary formulation. It subsequently diversified into other products aimed at the home market - powder for dessert sauces, gelatin, pancake mix, ice cream powder, and other dessert specialties in different flavors; condensed soups; condensed milk; and meat extracts. In 1908 August Oetker established his first foreign subsidiary in Vienna, Austria, which also became a success. During the Great War the firm expanded its business by concentrating on the manufacture of rations for the Imperial Army. It survived the postwar financial turmoil and resumed its international expansion. In 1920 the firm produced about 300 million packages with the "Dr. Oetker" brand name on them, and new subsidiaries sprang up abroad, extending the company's reach to The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Nordmark, and Italy.

The firm was swift in adapting to new techniques in food processing and preservation. It had begun the manufacture of processed cheese for inclusion in military rations during the Great War, using the patents of Walter Gerber of Thun, Switzerland. In 1932 it licensed quick-frozen food technology from the General Foods Corporation of the United States, introducing frozen vegetables and fish to the German market. Diversification was also a major element of the firm’s growth. It acquired interests in several factories for the production of margarine and other fats, and founded deep sea fishing and whaling subsidiaries to expand its resource base. In 1934 it acquired a substantial share in the great Hamburg-South America Line.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Chemische Fabrik Budenheim KG, Budenheim (food additives)
Deutsche Margarine- und Speisefett-Fabriken AG, Bremen (margarine and fats)
Erste Deutsche Walfang-Gesellschaft, Hamburg (whaling)
Hochseefischerei Nordstern AG, Bremen (high seas fishing)
Könecke Fleischwarenfabrik AG, Bremen (meat processing)
Margarinewerk Ostfriesland AG, Emden (margarine and fats)
Vereinigten Margarinewerke Nürnberg AG, Nürnberg (margarine and fats)
Wilhelm Weber AG, Pfungstadt (condensed milk products)


Affiliates of the firm include:

Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschiffahrts AG, Hamburg (deep-sea shipping)

In 1868 the brothers Heinrich and Johannes Brüggen established their first grain mill in Neumünster, where buckwheat was processed. By 1886 the success of the firm had prompted them to establish a second processing plant in Lübeck, where buckwheat imported from Poland and Russia was processed; continued success led to the construction of a second facility in Lübeck, a facility for the milling of oats. The firm marketed their rolled oats in convenient half-kilo paper bags, aimed at the retail rather than the wholesale market. In 1910 the firm began to produce and market Müsli, a prepared breakfast cereal, according to the process of Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner. The firm has since concentrated on the manufacture and marketing of breakfast cereals for sale under its own brand or under the private-labels of major retailers.

This enterprise came into existence in 1926 through the voluntary amalgamation of the five of the largest beet sugar refineries in southern Germany - Zuckerfabrik Frankenthal, Zuckerfabrik Heilbronn AG, Badische Gesellschaft für Zuckerfabrikation, Zuckerfabrik Offstein and Zuckerfabrik Stuttgart AG. The concern rapidly took its place as one of the leading refiners and marketers of beet sugar in Europe, holding some fifty percent of the domestic market and strong positions in central and east European markets.

Following the incorporation of the Austrian provinces into the Reich the concern moved to take a strong position in the Austrian sugar refining industry. It acquired sugar refineries in Tulln, Leopoldsdorf and Hohenau, and, in a step of diversification the concern also acquired starch factories in Aschach and Gmünd. In 1936 the firm established a fruit processing plant at Gleisdorf in the Austrian provinces, and further expanded this element of the product line through erection of further facilities at Kröllendorf in Austria, and Bingen and Konstanz in the old Reich.

In 1935 the firm acquired a one-fifth interest in Krajowa SpóBka Cukrowa SpóBka Akcyjna, the largest sugar refiner in Poland.

The roots of the Kampffmeyer wholesale grain milling enterprise can be traced to medieval times, but its true history does not begin until the middle of the Nineteenth Century, when adaptation of the steam engine (in place of wind or water power) and the introduction of steel roller mills in place of grindstones made grain milling on a industrial scale possible. The Kampffmeyer concern quickly adopted these new technologies and developed the collection and distribution networks that would sustain its large mill and storage facilities.

Emil Kampffmeyer established his first steam-powered flour-milling facility in Potsdam in 1883, which were followed by other mills at Jarmen and Pritzwalk. Others were founded in northwest German and the Rhineland, to sustain the growing industrial regions. The firm operates on an international scale in the purchase and selling of wheat and other grains. It markets its products under the traditional brand-names "Aurora", "Gloria", "Diamant" und "Rosenmehl".


The firm’s present facilities include:

Ellmühle – Köln-Deutz; erected 1928 – annual processing capacity 165,000 tonnes.
Hildebrandmühlen – Frankfurt am Main; erected in 1922 – annual processing capacity 150,000 tonnes
Schüttmühle – Berlin; erected in 1937; annual processing capacity 165,000 tonnes
Wesermühlen – Hameln; erected in 1912 – annual processing capacity 180,000 tonnes

The Hannover-based bakery firm of Bahlsen was established in 1889 by Hermann Bahlsen as the Hannoversche Cakesfabrik. While training in Great Britain Bahlsen had learned to bake biscuits in the English style and established his factory to manufacture and market them in Germany. In 1892 the firm introduced its famous butter-biscuits (Buttergeschmack) marketed under the brand-name of Leibniz, which was followed by other baked products such as Zwieback and ration biscuits for the Imperial Army.

In the period following the Great War the firm pioneered the marketing of its products in smaller-sized containers for individual consumption, and expanded its products by introducing chocolate and biscuit snack bars. At present the firm’s factory complex in Hannover employs more than 1,400 workers, and its products are exported across Europe.

This enterprise emerged in the wake of the Great War through the fusion of two long-established firms in the trade in oils and fats. The firm of Hubbe dated from 1839, when the founder, Gustav Hubbe, entered the business of selling colonial wares in the city of Magdeburg. From these beginnings it had grown into a major importer of oils for the manufacture of soap and allied products – in addition to the original oil mill in Magdeburg a second and larger factory was erected in Berlin in 1875, producing palm kernel, cocoa and sesame oils; the firm also built a varnish factory in Berlin. The firm of Farenholtz was of even greater antiquity - Johann Christian Farenholtz opened two oil mills in the vicinity of Goslar in 1763. In 1889 the firm had relocated to Magdeburg where new facilities for the processing of both domestic and imported oil-bearing plants were constructed.

The two firms merged in 1919 in the face of the financial situation prevailing in the immediate postwar period, and to compete against foreign competition. The firm produces not only edible oils and their derivatives (soap, margarine, etc.) but also technical oils for varnishes, glycerin and industrial applications. The principal factory is located at Madgeburg-Sudenburg, which had an area of 275,000 square meters. Branch factories are also maintained in Berlin, and agencies were established in Hamburg and Vienna for the procurement of raw materials and the sale of finished products. The firm presently employs more than 1,200 workers.

In 1857 Peter Eckes of Nieder-Olm, in Rheinhessen, founded a distillery for the production of brandies and liqueurs, building on his already-established position as a local produced of grapes and Rhenish wines. His heirs continued to expand the distilling business as well as acquiring more vineyards to supply their growing needs. In the early 1900s the firm expanded its production from a reliance on grapes to include other fruits, and developed a line of non-alcoholic fruit juices. In 1922, in the wake of the Great War, the firm switched its marketing strategy from wholesale to retail, selling its product under its own brand name. By 1932 it had become one of the nation’s leading producers and marketers of fruit beverages while retaining its traditional production of fine wines and brandies.

This firm is one of the nation’s fastest-growing confectionary companies, most notable for pursuing non-chocolate confections. Founded in 1920 in Bonn by Hans Riegel, inventor of the gummibär fruit candy, the firm now manufactures a wide variety of boiled sweets, fruit gums and licorice products in addition to the well-known bear. The firm has established an international presence, partnering with local entrepreneurs to manufacture Haribo products adapted to the local market. Such subsidiaries include Haribo Lakrids A/S Kopenhagen, founded in 1935 and Bonera Industrie en Handelsmaatschappij NV, founded in 1938. Its products are sold across Europe and are widely exported around the globe.

This concern was founded in 1857 by Gustav Adolf Ramdohr to trade in grain and cereals; by 1868 it had grown to be one of the largest such concerns in Germany and a major factor in the international grain market. The headquarters of the firm was, and remains, located in the Saxon city of Aschersleben, at the centre of the railway network in eastern Germany, where the firm maintains a large complex of sidings and granaries. The firm was quite active in the Great War in providing rations for the German Army. Following the return of peace the firm embarked on a programme of expansion, acquiring firms trading in fertilizer, prepared meats and provisions, and several wholesale bakeries, becoming one of Germany’s first firms to market breakfast cereals, bread and cakes on a national level. The firm has retained its links to the military, being closely involved in the manufacture of field rations for the Heer and the Luftwaffe.

This concern, one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the country, was established 1930 by Adam Pickel und Georg Bachmann as Bayerische Markenbutter-Verkaufsgenossenschaft; the present title was adopted in 1936. The cooperative quickly brought under its umbrella most of the dairies operating in the state of Bavaria – at the close of 1930, forty-five dairies had joined; by 1936 the number had risen to over one hundred. That same year it amalgamated with the Bayerischen Molkereiverband Kempten. The cooperative processes and sells milk, cheese and butter on a national scale. Production and processing facilities are located in Lindenberg in Allgäu, Nürnberg, Fürth, Regensburg, Amberg, Kemnath and Bayreuth

The company was founded in 1927 by Georg Summer and Robert Reich in Goßholz in Lindenberg to undertake the manufacture of cheese on a commercial scale. Four years later the firm moved the to Heimenkirch im Allgäu, where its factory is today. It manufactures and markets several styles of cheeses under the names “Hochland” and “Grünländer”.

This firm, located in the city of Erfurt in Thüringen, traces its origins to a noodle-making workshop founded in 1793 by Johann Peter Belling, who prospered making noodles for the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1860 the firm came under the direction of Ferdinand North, who organised it as J. P. Belling's Uwe und Compagnie and oversaw its modernisation. Under North’s leaderships the firm became one of the largest noodle and pasta making factories in central Germany. In 1904 the firm was organised as a joint stock company and its scope enlarged to the national market. In 1924 it acquired the shares of the Novetta Teigwarenfabrik of Berlin.

In 1902 the Detmold entrepreneur Franz Hartmann joined with famous naturopath Friedrich Eduard Bilz to develop and market a carbonated natural fruit drink made from tropical fruits combined with the product of local fruit trees. It was believed that the mineral salts contained in the fruit and the fruit acids were beneficial to health, and the first products were market as "Bilz-Brause", a lemon-flavored non-alcoholic beverage. Thanks to a large-scale advertising campaign developed the first international non-alcoholic beverage brand European origin.

Soon there were also imitators; to prevent this development, a catchy and protectable trademark for the the firms products was sought; thus arone the name Sinalco (from Latin sine alcohole, without alcohol), which was protected in 1907. In the same year Sinalco become a global brand, establishing a large export market in South America and the Middle East. The present corporate style was adopted in 1937. The firm presently has subsidiary production and bottling plants in Switzerland, Iberia, Hungary, Poland and Turkey, often in concert with local partners. Its products are sold in more than fifty nations around the globe.

The concern came into being in August 1941 through the merger of two of Erfurts largest malt houses  Fritz Wolff Malzwerke and Malzfabriken J. Eisenberg & Etgersleben. The Wolff firm had been formed by Johann Georg Wolff in 1864, and was one of the largest such firms in Germany; the Eisenberg and Etgersleben malt houses had been joined together in 1918. With three facilities operating in the vicinity of Erfurt the concern had an annual capacity in excess of 500,000 centner, lifting it to the leadership of the industry.

This firm, located in the town of Schmalkalden in western Thuringia, was founded in 1927 to carry on the business of Willi Viebahn and his sister Anna Reim, who since 1893 had undertaken the manufacture of confectionaries. The new factory employs more than three hundred and fifty workers who produce a wide variety of sweets, but the firm is principally known for production of nougat and marzipan bars  a market that the firm dominates.

Founded in 1883 by Friedrich Heine, initially under the name Heine und Compagnie, this firm is one of the nations largest manufacturers of ready-made meals, sausages, meat and soup. It was the first company to offer sausages in tin cans, first marketed in 1896. The firm prospered in the years before the Great War, and during the conflict it produced many of the iron rations issued to the Imperial Army. It was converted into a joint stock company in 1929. Sausages such as bockwurst in tins and jars remain the focus of the firms product line, but in 1943 it acquired the shares of the Rügenwalder Wurst und Fleischwaren-Werk of Berlin, adding to its line of tinned meat products.

This firm is the oldest producing chocolate factory in Germany. Its origins date back to the founding of a gingerbread bakery in 1804. In that year Friedrich August Miethe established a workshop producing confections, cocoa and chocolate which were marketed under the name Mignon. In 1851 the manufactory was taken up by the partnership of Friedrich David und Söhne, which continued until 1933, when the firm was converted to a joint-stock company under the current style. The staff of more than six hundred workers produce a wide variety of candies and confections, of which the "Original Halloren Kugel" is perhaps the best known. Other products manufactured include chocolate bars, marzipan and sugared jellies.

The company was founded in 1835 in Grabow by Johann Balogun Habib as a bakery, which made pretzels, wafers and gingerbread. In 1902 Gustav Ritter took charge of the factory, expanding its sales territory and initiating exports of candies and other confections to Eastern Europe and Russia. In the wake of the Great War the factory expanded its manufacturing base, opening works in Arnstadt, Prichsenstadt, Kühren Burkartshain and Herten, in addition to its head office in Grabow. It presently employs more than 1,400 workers at its five plants, making it one of the larger firms in the confectionary field.

This concern, one of the largest sugar producers in Europe, was created in 1934 through the amalgamation of the Braunschweiger Zuckerverbund Nord, the Zucker-Aktiengesellschaft Uelzen-Braunschweig, the Union-Zucker Südhannover GmbH and the Nordharzer Zucker AG. Within Germany itself the firm operates five major refining centres, at Clauen, Klein Wanzleben, Nordstemmen, Schladen and Uelzen. Through local subsidiaries it also operates refineries at Arlöv, Säkylä and Porkkala in Nordmark. The firm employs more than five thousand workers at its plants in Germany and more than a thousand in its facilities in Nordmark.