Josef Kaiser (entrepreneur)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Josef Kaiser (born October 20, 1862 in Neuenkirchen , Westphalia, † June 17, 1950 in Waldniel ) was a German entrepreneur and founder of Kaiser's Coffee Shop GmbH .

Life

Josef Kaiser grew up in Viersen-Hoser , where his father Hermann Kaiser ran a hand weaving mill and his mother ran a grocery store. The switch to mechanical looms caused the hand weavers' income to decline and prompted Josef Kaiser not to enter his father's profession. From 1877 to 1880, he initially trained with a locksmith and coppersmith, but then took over his parents' grocery store in 1880. He learned to offer and sell goods. He responded to the wishes of his customers, in particular he roasted the green coffee beans himself and achieved a better quality than the housewives who had previously prepared the coffee on the stove at home in the pan. An above-average sense of taste and smell support him. He brought the goods overland by horse and cart and sold them. In 1882, the "steam coffee roasting company from Hermann Kaiser", as the company was called since it was founded in 1880, acquired two roasting drums, which in 1885 were converted to gas engine operation. The first step towards mechanizing coffee processing was taken. In the same year the first employee was accepted into the business and the first branches were opened in Duisburg (Beeckstrasse), Essen (Limbecker Tor) and in Bochum (Bongardstrasse). The basic entrepreneurial idea was born: to market good standard goods in a manageable range at low prices by the shortest route with uniform equipment in the branch network. When the father died in 1890, a capital value of 30,000 marks had already been achieved.

In 1891 Josef Kaiser married the Viersener brewery owner daughter Julie Didden (1870–1942), the brewery owner and farmer August Didden, who introduced Kaiser to malt coffee production. The marriage not only broadened the financial framework of the young entrepreneur, but also provided him with a smart and energetic partner who played a key role in determining the course of his business in the years that followed. Josef Kaiser's willingness to take risks and imagination were often guided by the sober sense of his wife for what was commercially justifiable. The couple had 2 sons and 5 daughters.

From 1894 onwards, extensive industrialization began in the company. The number of employees rose to four. The branches and their own production facilities grew rapidly, the 100th branch was opened in Bamberg in 1897, the 200th followed in 1898, the 400th in 1899 in Regensburg, the 500th appeared in 1900. From 1899 the company was officially called "Kaiser's Coffee- Business GmbH ". In 1905 - for the company's 25th anniversary - an impressive performance record was presented: 2060 employees and workers were employed in 900 branches, branches in Berlin , Heilbronn , Breslau and Basel supported the rapid sale of goods in the extensive distribution network, and their own administrative building in Viersen had been built.

In 1910 Josef Kaiser was awarded the title of Kommerzienrat . When the First World War broke out , 3,810 workers were working in 1,333 shops, whose social situation had been improved by company support and pension funds as well as a separate business savings bank and a "Julie Kaiser Foundation" for women who have recently given birth. In the period of inflation , in 1921 the company donated 1,000 marks to every community with a Kaiser's branch to support the poor and during the Great Depression of 1931/1932 each branch donated 50 pounds of food for 6 or 3 months to be distributed to the poor. In 1931 the "Josef Kaiser Foundation" was created for workers with a share capital of 75,000 Reichsmarks and for employees with a capital of 125,000 Reichsmarks. His intensive participation in the city life of Viersen - Josef Kaiser donated a. a. 130,000 marks for the construction of the festival hall (1913) - the city honored with the honorary citizenship on his 70th birthday (1932). The Clee house in Waldniel had been the family's permanent residence since 1937 . Here Kaiser amassed an important collection of 19th century art. Furthermore, the Kaiser donated the work "Death of St. Joseph" to the parish of St. Anna in his native Neuenkirchen. The Kaiser's “painter's butter breads” to support the artists were famous. Soon after the successful reconstruction after the Second World War , Josef Kaiser died on June 17, 1950 at Haus Clee, leaving his successor as head of the company, his son Walter (1895–1983), a well-ordered economic empire. Josef Kaiser's death note characterizes a defining trait: "Despite the high reputation that he had in the citizenry, he remained the humble person", who occasionally used to say: "Be more than seem."

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kaiser, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuenkirchen , Westphalia
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 1950
Place of death Waldniel