Findus (company)
Findus was a frozen food company founded in Sweden in 1945 , which Nestlé acquired in 1962 . After (naming rights) sales, several companies in the frozen food sector in Europe now operate under this name, Nestlé's business is limited to Switzerland.
Company history
Findus
The Findus brand ( F rukt Indus tri) developed from a small company. In 1892 the Norwegian businessman Johann Throne-Holst took over the Freia chocolate factory in Oslo . Business in Norway was excellent and in 1916 the Marabou chocolate factory was founded in Sweden . The name Marabou was chosen because the product name Freia was already protected in Sweden and could not be used, also was the Marabu be seen on the Freia logo. The entrepreneur's eldest son, Henning Throne-Holst, and from 1947 Lars Anderfelt successfully expanded Marabou into the largest chocolate factory in Sweden.
The outbreak of World War II severely restricted chocolate production. In order to survive economically, new business areas had to be developed. Therefore Marabou expanded the business to the preservation of food and acquired in the southern Swedish town of Bjuv a canning factory for fruit and vegetables . In addition to the existing range of canned foods, Marabou also used new preservation techniques . Under the name Findus, the first attempts were made to preserve fruit and vegetables using the rapid freezing process. In the autumn of 1945 the first shops in Stockholm offered frozen Findus groceries. Since there was still no modern canning industry in Sweden, Findus not only closed a gap, but also built a new, important branch in the Swedish economy.
Until then, Sweden concentrated exclusively on freezing berries, fruit and vegetables. A significant advance in 1949 was the introduction of frozen fish fillets without skin or bones. Production was relocated to Hammerfest , Norway . Freia and Marabou founded a factory there for the production of frozen fish. In order to streamline packaging, a cooperation was entered into with the Danish company Jalco in Frederikshavn in 1953, which packaged the fish specialties for Findus. In 1961, Marabou and Freia took over this company. Since then, Findus products have been manufactured in three Scandinavian countries . Findus International AB was founded in 1959 to promote the expansion of the Findus brand into other European countries .
Frisco
The Swiss canning company Bernhard & Co. was founded in 1886 on today's Industriestrasse in Rorschach . In 1916, the Rorschach canning factory became its successor company and sold canned food under the "Coro" brand. After a federal court ruling on the first trademark lawsuit in favor of the HERO canning factory in Lenzburg , the new “Roco” brand had to be sold from 1926 onwards.
In 1942, as Frisco AG , the company launched the first frozen products with a range of 18 types of vegetables, eleven types of fruit and four other products on the Swiss market under the brand name "Frisco". In 1944, the Rorschach AG canning factory took over all the shares in Frisco Kühlobst und Gemüse AG .
Merger and further division of the company
In 1958, Birds Eye AG took over the distribution of Findus fish products and specialties for the Swiss market. The Findus International AB and the Birds Eye AG were the 1962 or 1964 Nestlé Alimentana SA acquired. Nestlé merged the two companies to form the subsidiary Findus AG . The "Birds Eye Plätzli" was invented as early as 1953 under the name Birds Eye AG and launched on the Swiss market. This product later became a hit with the Findus brand.
Over time, Nestlé limited itself to business in Switzerland, while other companies in other countries now operate under the Findus name.
Italy
To sell the Findus brand in the Italian market, Nestlé founded a joint venture with the British-Dutch Unilever group in 1963 ; In 1985 Unilever took over the entire Nestlé share.
In 2010, Permira bought Unilever's Italian Findus business.
Switzerland
In 1971 the Roco subsidiary Frisco AG merged with the Nestlé subsidiary Findus AG, with Roco and Nestlé each holding 50 percent. The new joint company was called Frisco-Findus AG . The first lasagna and cannelloni were introduced under the Findus brand . Next came spinach in 1976 and the first potato products. After Nestlé acquired the majority of shares in Roco in 1980, Roco Conserven AG also merged in 1982 to form Frisco-Findus AG . In 1991 the shares of Frisco-Findus AG went completely to Nestlé.
The Swiss branch was integrated into the Nestlé Group in 1999 with around 800 employees. In 2009, as a division of Nestlé, it generated sales of 363 million Swiss francs, making it, alongside Migros and Coop, one of the leading companies for the production and sale of ice cream and frozen products in Switzerland.
The company now offers the range of frozen products such as aperitifs and snacks, main dishes, fish and meat, potato products, fruits and vegetables.
rest of Europe
In 1998 Nestlé announced that it would sell its products in the UK under the name Crosse & Blackwell .
When Nestlé International sold Findus Findus in seven European countries to the Scandinavian investor group EQT in 1999 , the plan with the name change in the United Kingdom was superfluous. The British part was sold by EQT in 2005 to Geir Frantzen, a former manager of Findus International AB .
In addition, business in Spain , Germany and Australia was terminated from 2004.
In 2006 EQT sold Findus to the financial investor CapVest and founded the Foodvest holding for Findus and Young's Seafood . In 2008 Lion Capital bought Foodvest and renamed it Findus Group the following year . In 2011 the Findus Group's activities were decentralized into the three regional areas of Northern Europe, United Kingdom and Southern Europe. In 2012 TriPointe Capital Partners took part as a further investor ; its co-founder Dale F. Morrison , formerly CEO of the Campbell Soup Company and McCain Foods , has been appointed as the new chairman of the Findus Group.
Horse meat scandal 2013
At the beginning of February 2013 it became known that, among other things, lasagna products from the British Findus Group had been made with up to 100 percent horse meat without corresponding labeling . The company recalled the products . The responsible authorities assume criminal activities at a supplier of the French supplier. The French branch of the Findus Group announced that it would file charges against unknown persons for “fraud”. The French company Spanghero , which supplied the meat to the French company Comigel , which processed it at its subsidiary Tavola in Capellen / Luxembourg and delivered it to Findus, said that it had been deceived by a supplier in Romania . The Swedish Findus AB also recalled ready-made lasagne dishes.
Trivia
The tomcat Findus from Sven Nordqvist 's children's books is said to have got his name because he was brought into the house as a tomcat in a box with the imprint «Findus green peas». The old Petersson, with whom he lived from then on, greeted his new roommate with the words: "Hello Findus green peas".
literature
- Jean Heer: Nestlé - one hundred and twenty-five years from 1886 to 1991 ; published by Nestlé AG, Vevey 1991
- Keizer Beat: From Frisco Kühlobst und Gemüse AG to Frisco-Findus AG ; E. Löpfe Benz AG, Rorschach 1992
- KW Gullers: The Findus Saga. A practical example of international cooperation ; Findus International, Chatel St. Denis, 1961
Web links
- Findus website
- Nestlé Switzerland website
- Frisco website
- Albert Pfiffner: Frisco Findus. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1] History of Iglo with reference to the purchase of Findus by Permira (Eng.)
- ^ Findus brand to merge into C&B in Marketing Magazine on July 23, 1998, accessed February 12, 2013
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Information on the history from the point of view of the Findus Group
- ^ Rainer Leurs, David Böcking: Horse meat in Great Britain: Scandal company also delivered to Germany ; Spiegel-Online, February 8, 2013
- ↑ Findus announces lawsuit in the horse meat scandal ; welt.de, February 9, 2013
- ^ Sven Nordqvist: How Findus came to Pettson . Oetinger, Hamburg 2002; ISBN 3-7891-6916-1
