Nölke (company)

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Gebr. Nölke GmbH & Co. KG
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding 1924
Seat Versmold , Germany
management Frank Nölke, managing director of the managing company
Number of employees 246 (2018)
sales € 80.3 million (2018)
Branch Meat products production (formerly) and sales
Website www.frischdienst-union.de

The Gebr. Nölke GmbH & Co. KG is a German company based in Versmold (Westfalen), which today than commercial caterer with target customer operates. For a long time the company was active in the meat industry, well-known brands of the company were Müritzer , Menzefricke and Gutfried . The company introduced poultry sausage to the German market from 1968 . In 2004, the Nölke Group ranked fourth among the 10 largest companies in the poultry industry with annual sales of € 430 million, and in 2008 it was ranked 100th among the largest partners in the food trade. On December 18, 2014, it was announced that the Zur Mühlen Group would take over large parts of the company, subject to approval by the Cartel Office, but in particular with the exception of Frischdienst Union GmbH (FDU). Since 2015, Gebr. Nölke GmbH & Co. KG has therefore only been a holding company without its own production; only Frischdienst Union GmbH with its subsidiaries has been in charge of operational business .

history

The company was founded in 1924 by the four brothers Heinrich, Gustav, Oskar and Otto Nölke.

The company was the first to introduce the poultry sausage product group into the German food market in 1968 . On April 29, 1971, it registered the Gutfried trademark with the German Patent and Trademark Office. The company's brand ambassadors have been TV presenter Johannes B. Kerner and his wife, former national hockey player Britta Becker , for several years .

In 1991 Nölke acquired the former VEB Fleischverarbeitung Waren which had existed since 1977 . After the company initially operated as "Müritzer Fleisch- und Wurstwaren GmbH", it was renamed in 2004 to "Heinrich Nölke GmbH & Co. KG, Waren / Müritz". The company also took over Märkische Truthahnspezialitäten GmbH in Brandenburg and Mutzschen Truthahn GmbH in Saxony .

In 2009 the Federal Cartel Office searched the business premises of Nölke as one of 19 sausage manufacturers in a Germany-wide raid. The authority suspected price fixing on a large scale. According to reports, Nölke is cooperating with the cartel office in these proceedings. In 2014 the Federal Cartel Office imposed a three-digit million fine on 21 sausage companies, including Heinrich Nölke, for illegal price fixing.

In December 2010, the consumer protection organization Foodwatch criticized Nölke Gutfried products . Food Watch said the turkey - Cervelatwurst the company consists almost half pork. In this context, the organization spoke of “brazen consumer deception”, since the relevant information can only be found in the small print on the packaging. Representatives from Nölke disagreed and stated that they knew from the results of their market research that users were looking at the list of ingredients. The pork is listed transparently, so there can be no talk of deception. In March 2011, the company announced that it would change the recipes for its turkey mettwurst and turkey cervelatwurst and, like all other Gutfried brand products, no longer use pork. Nölke justified this step by taking the advice of his customers seriously. The media attributed this to the criticism of the consumer protection organization.

In February 2015, Nölke announced the closure of the Waren, Wusterhausen and Menzefricke plants. The Menzefricke brand was used to market raw sausage products (e.g. beef / pork salami ) in the premium segment.

As a result of the spin-off and sale of the production areas, sales fell from € 216.9 million in 2011 to € 80.3 million in 2018, and the number of employees fell from 1,076 in 2011 to 246 in 2018.

Group structure

Gebr. Nölke GmbH & Co. KG is the holding company of the Nölke Group, which until 2015 consisted of the Nölke and Frischdienst Union divisions. The Nölke division, under the management of Heinrich Nölke GmbH & Co. KG, produces and sells sausage products; it was sold to the Zur Mühlen Group in 2015 ; The Frischdienst Union division under the management of Frischdienst Union GmbH sells products from various manufacturers in wholesale to bulk consumers and specialist shops.

The following subsidiaries belong to the Nölke Group (as of the end of 2018):

  • Gebr. Nölke Geschäftsführungs-GmbH, Versmold (100%)
  • Frischdienst Union GmbH, Versmold (100%)
    • Frischdienst Union Nord-West GmbH, Versmold (100%)
    • Frischdienst Union Mitte-Ost GmbH, Versmold (100%)
    • Frischdienst Union Süd GmbH, Versmold (100%)
    • WKH Food Service GmbH, Schäftlarn

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Consolidated financial statements of Gebr. Nölke GmbH & Co. KG for the 2018 financial year in the Federal Gazette
  2. ↑ a b History - A family company with tradition, noelke.de ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2007 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.noelke.de
  3. ↑ Nölke sold to Zur-Mühlen-Gruppe ( Memento from May 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Gutfried - The direct hit in taste and enjoyment, noelke.de
  5. ↑ Müritzer, noelke.de
  6. ↑ Raid on sausage manufacturers - The meat industry is in trouble: The Cartel Office is investigating on a large scale because of illegal agreements. Large companies are also affected, sueddeutsche.de, August 28, 2009
  7. ↑ Haller Kreisblatt: Antitrust proceedings split meat manufacturers ( Memento from July 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2014/15_07_2014_Wurst.html?nn=3591568
  9. ↑ accusation sham-Food Watch criticized Gutfried turkey sausage, spiegel.de, December 8, 2010
  10. ↑ Gutfried meets customer tastes: Refined recipes for “Puten-Vervelat” and “Turkey-Mettwurst” / Consumers appreciate mutual information and exchange / With Gutfried customers in e-mail
  11. ↑ Poultry sausage manufacturer changes recipes after public criticism - After criticism from consumer advocates, the poultry sausage manufacturer "Gutfried" changed some of its recipes, stern.de, March 2, 2011 ( Memento from September 11, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  12. ↑ Sausage manufacturer Nölke closes other plants - is the Waren transfer company in danger? nordkurier.de, February 27, 2015
  13. ↑ Consolidated financial statements of Gebr. Nölke GmbH & Co. KG for the business year from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 in the Federal Gazette

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 3 ′ 13 ″  N , 8 ° 8 ′ 19 ″  E