Eismann frozen home service

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Eismann Tiefkühl-Heimservice GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1974
Seat Mettmann , Germany
management Management:
Frank Thomas Hoefer, Jörn Veigel
Number of employees 700 ( Group data for Germany, 2012)
sales 240 million euros (group revenue in Germany, including VAT , 2012)
Branch Food trade in direct sales
Website eismann.de

Former Eismann logo (2007 to 2018)
The old Eismann logo

The Iceman frozen-food Service GmbH is a company for the sale of frozen foods based in Mettmann in Dusseldorf .

history

In 1964 the Milchhof-Eiskrem GmbH & Co. KG was founded by the regional milk supply cooperatives from Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Oberhausen, which in 1974 founded the Eismann Tiefkühl-Heimservice GmbH as a subsidiary. In the same year, direct sales of ice cream, cakes and frozen foods began. In 1981, the business was expanded beyond Germany to Switzerland and the Netherlands as well as Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain and Austria. In 1985 Motta Eiskrem GmbH was taken over. In 1995 Eismann was brought into the deep-freeze division of the newly founded Schöller Holding . In 1997, the Scandinavian company Hjem-IS Europa was taken over and the parent company Milchhof-Eiskrem GmbH & Co. KG was renamed Eismann Family GmbH & Co. KG.

Because of the growing range of frozen foods from discounters such as Aldi and Lidl, sales in Eismann's home delivery service fell into a crisis around the turn of the millennium. In 2001, the Swiss Nestlé took over a large part of the Schöller Holding and thus also Eismann. In 2004 Nestlé sold Eismann GmbH again because Eismann was not part of the group's core business and the savings that had been hoped for had not materialized. As a result, the then management of Eismann took over the management of the GmbH with the help of various financial investors.

structure

In nine European countries as well as Brazil there are over 220 sales outlets, 90 of which are in Germany, from which the food ordered is delivered to the end consumer by refrigerated vehicles (small vans). In 2012, the company employed around 4,700 employees and partners ( self-employed traders), of which around 1,100–1200 were self-employed commercial agents and over 700 employees in Germany. In contrast to the competitor Bofrost, the products are sold through independent commercial agents who bring the goods to the consumer. Eismann acts as a batch manufacturer, the products are produced by large manufacturers as part of contract manufacturing, similar to the stationary trade.

Ownership

Eismann's separation from Nestlé in 2004 took place with the support of the financial investor ECM, which Eismann management held 15 percent. In 2008 the managing directors owned 76.5% of the company's shares, while the rest was held by the English investor group Intermediate Capital Group (ICG).

At the end of 2011, ICG sold all of its shares and the management of a large part of the shares in the Dutch private equity investor Gilde Buy Out Partners , which became the majority shareholder.

Family Frost

In 1990 Eismann founded the subsidiary Family Frost for the East German market, which initially remained there after separating from Nestlé and was only reintegrated into the Eismann Group in 2007. In 1992 Family Frost expanded to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Since 1996 Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal and Romania have been added.

Family Frost owned 1,300 sales vehicles and 130 depots. The Eismann subsidiary employed 2500 people across Europe.

Family Frost was integrated into the eismann group and no longer appears as a separate brand in the market.

Market position

According to the company the Eismann Group generated in 2012 sales revenue of around 480 million euros, of which 240 million euros in Germany (each including VAT ). The company is number two in the home service market after market leader Bofrost . According to its own information, Eismann supplies around 2 million households worldwide, over 1 million of them in Germany. Eismann's main target group is families with children and people over 50 years of age.

criticism

The European Association of the Self-Employed in Germany criticized the business model of independent commercial agents in a WDR contribution to the story in October 2011 . A new commercial agent has to pay a contractually agreed amount for taking over the visiting rights of an existing customer base, the so-called purchase agreement. Even during the trial period, the new sales driver acquires new customers for Eismann and leads them to the group. Eismann replied, however, that this new customer acquisition is paid to the sales representative as his income. Since a sales representative does not generate that much turnover through sales at the beginning, according to Eismann, this secures his income so that he receives a basis for positive business development. If the commercial agent leaves the company - intentionally or unintentionally - the visiting rights are e.g. B. passed to another commercial agent. The TV report shows how high employee turnover helps Eismann to achieve a positive result only with the help of this income from the cost agreements. Eismann denies this on the company's website. The high fluctuation of 1,200 employees within three years (2008 to 2010) researched by the WDR was confirmed by an employee of the sales management by quoting a fluctuation of 30 to 35% per year. The company responded to the allegations of the program with statements on its own website. The WDR countered this in March 2012 with an updated version of the contribution.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Imprint on Eismann.de. Retrieved February 17, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e press releases (PDF; 3.6 NB). eismannpresse.eu, accessed on March 19, 2014.
  3. ^ History. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015 ; Retrieved January 3, 2015 . on eismann.de
  4. ↑ a b 25 years of Eismann - ice cold service across Europe in Bulletin of Direct Sales, No. 3/99, October 1999, p. 11. Bulletin of Direct Sales, October 3-99 ( Memento of August 29, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ a b Eismann group independent again . In: Die Welt (dpa), July 20, 2004; accessed January 3, 2015
  6. ↑ Nestlé: Eismann Divestment Agreement Signed on nestle.com (English) Eismann Divestment Agreement Signed. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010 ; Retrieved January 3, 2015 .
  7. ↑ a b Patricia Döhle: Eismann: Through the cold kitchen . In: manager magazin , issue 6/2007; Retrieved January 3, 2015
  8. ↑ Facts and figures on eismann.de Customers rate the service as "very good"! Retrieved January 3, 2015 .
  9. ↑ a b Management Buy-Out at Eismann. In: backwelt.de. April 15, 2007, accessed January 3, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Eismann Management finds a strong shareholder in Gilde to support the targeted growth . eismannpresse.eu, November 29, 2011. Accessed January 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ a b c About Us on family-frost.com (English) Family Frost - From Poland to Portugal ( Memento from May 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ History on family-frost.de Family Frost history ( Memento of 19 May 2007 at the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Eismann boss Hoefer on the big sellers in the range and the fierce competition: Pizza always goes to westline.de Eismann boss Hoefer about the big sellers in the range and the fierce competition: Pizza always works ( memento from February 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Eismann job portal. In: eismannjobs.de. June 26, 2013, archived from the original on January 4, 2015 ; Retrieved January 3, 2015 .
  15. ↑ The purchase agreement and the takeover of existing customers »The eismann story. In: die-eismann-story.de. March 19, 2012, accessed January 3, 2015 .
  16. ^ The Eismann Story , first broadcast October 10, 2011. In: Westdeutscher Rundfunk. December 8, 2014, archived from the original on September 25, 2011 ; Retrieved January 3, 2015 .
  17. ↑ The truth about "The eismann story". In: die-eismann-story.de. March 19, 2012, accessed January 3, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Westdeutscher Rundfunk: The Eismann story: colleague wanted , updated article, first broadcast March 19, 2012. In: wdr.de. December 8, 2014, archived from the original on March 25, 2012 ; Retrieved January 3, 2015 .