Brandt (company)

Brandt
legal form	GmbH & Co. KG
founding	1912
Seat	Enneper Str. 152 ; 58135 Hagen , Germany
management	Carl-Heinz Brandt, Christoph Brandt, Christopher Ferkinghoff
Number of employees	896 (2017)
sales	192 million euros (2017)
Branch	Groceries, bakeries
Website	www.brandt-zwieback.de
	Status: 2017

Brandt zwieback-Schokoladen GmbH + Co. KG , based in Hagen, is a rusk manufacturer.

history

On October 21, 1912, the 26-year-old master baker and confectioner Carl Brandt (1886–1965) and his brother Fritz Brandt (1893–1957) founded the Märkische rusk and biscuit factory C. & F. Brandt GmbH in Haspe , today part of the city from Hagen . In 1929 rusk production was mechanized, and the first in-house developed and patented rusk cutting machine was used by the Brandt company. Eight years later, 25 years after it was founded, the company already had 700 employees.

In 1940 Brandt acquired the company "Zugspitze" Keks- und Schokoladenfabrik AG in Landshut . In 1956 the company's founder, Carl Brandt, was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, for his services to the German food industry . When Carl Brandt died in 1965, his wife, Betty Brandt, who was 20 years his junior, took over the management.

In 1975 Brandt took over the majority stake in Pauly Zwiebackfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Friedrichsdorf and Wenkbach , a part of the community of Weimar (Lahn) . After Betty Brandt's death in 1984, Carl-Jürgen Brandt (1946–2017), the adoptive son of the company founder, became the company's sole partner. In 1988 Brandt took over the chocolate company Gieselmann & Wille in Herford , and in the same year the pastry specialist Gottena with production facilities in Schneverdingen and Uelzen . In 1990 Brandt entered into a sales cooperation with the Neukircher rusk factory in Saxony .

The turnover of the Brandt Group rose this year for the first time over 500 million marks (around 252 million euros). In 1995 Brandt sold its biscuit division (Brandt and Gottena) to Bahlsen KG in Hanover. Today only one Brandt biscuit product is offered, “Brandt Hobbits” from Bahlsen.

In 1996 a cooperation with the Finnish crispbread manufacturer Vaasamills Ltd. began. In 1997 the Brandt group of companies presented itself with 1,800 employees and an annual turnover of 260 million marks (131 million euros). Burger Knäcke GmbH + Co. KG has been part of the Brandt Group since May 2001 .

Since the summer of 2007 there has only been one single logo for the entire Brandt Group. It shows an orange rectangle from which the “Brandt child” rises up in the middle. The lettering “Brandt” can be seen in the lower part. The bottom edge of the rectangle is blue. The old Brandt logos were gradually abolished.

On July 15, 2014, Brandt took over Schoko-Dragee GmbH in Rhede, founded in 1985 (Corifeo brand).

On March 27, 2017 it was reported that Brandt had bought the trademark rights to the Austrian market leader Feldbacher rusk from the Austrian branch of competitor Bahlsen . According to the company owner at the time, Carl-Jürgen Brandt and his son Christoph, the market in Germany is saturated; However, the aim is to increase the export quota from 10 to 20% in the next 10 years; Traditionally, much more rusks are eaten in southern Europe than in Germany and markets such as Spain, Portugal and Greece are of interest to Brandt.

Since September 2019, the Brandt company and its administration are back at their old location on Enneper Str. In the Westerbauer district of Hagen. Part of the former factory site had previously been converted into a specialist retail center, where other companies have or will find a location, including an Aldi store and a branch of the drugstore chain dm .

subsidiary company

Brandt Backwaren Vertriebs GmbH, Hagen
Brandt Schokoladen GmbH + Co. KG, Hagen
Brandt Schokoladen Verwaltungs GmbH, Hagen
Brandt GmbH, Hagen
C + B ImmoRent GmbH, Landshut
Brandt Zwieback GmbH + Co. KG, Ohrdruf
Brandt GmbH, Ohrdruf
Schoko Beteiligungs / Dragee GmbH, Rhede
Burger Verwaltungs GmbH, Burg
Burger Knäcke GmbH + Co. KG, Burg
Carl Brandt Inc., Fairfield / CT, USA
good food GmbH, Landshut
Sweet Food GmbH, Hagen

Relocation of production to Thuringia

The planning of the top management around Carl-Jürgen Brandt to give up the location in Hagen-Haspe and to build a new one led to some fierce controversies in Hagen and throughout the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state of Thuringia made the Brandt company an offer to take over part of the construction costs for a new plant in Ohrdruf . The city of Hagen tried to fight against the withdrawal of production with particularly cheap space and subsidies from the state budget of North Rhine-Westphalia and the EU. These efforts were unsuccessful.

In Hagen, the tax-subsidized move made almost 500 employees unemployed. The then Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Wolfgang Clement , called this move, including the subsidy measures, a “waste of economic resources”.

In 2002, the company's 90th anniversary, Brandt inaugurated its new rusk plant in Ohrdruf. The last rusk in Hagen rolled off the production line on December 5, 2003. The entire production from the main plant in Hagen was relocated to Ohrdruf, only the administration remained in Hagen. In 2006 it moved to Kölner Strasse. Of the 500 employees, only four moved to Ohrdruf.