Kapsreiter (company)

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Kapsreiter company logo

Kapsreiter is a former Austrian company in the brewing and construction industry , which was based in Schärding am Inn . As a holding company, the Kapsreiter Group comprised the three divisions of Kapsreiter Construction , Kapsreiter Beer and Kapsreiter Granite . The family business was one of the most important employers in the region , especially in the period after the Second World War . In addition to their entrepreneurial activities, the Kapsreiter family also played a prominent role in Schärding, culturally and politically. In the first half of the 1980sYears ago, the Kapsreiter group experienced an economic decline and had to file for bankruptcy in 1986 . The construction companies and quarries were eventually sold or closed. The Kapsreiter brewery changed hands several times, but was saved from the bankruptcy estate and existed under a different owner until the end of 2012.

Rise and flowering period

Former headquarters of the Kapsreiter Group on the lower town square in Schärding
Entrance of the company headquarters with company name on the portal

The nucleus of the later Kapsreiter holding was a brewery in Schärding, which was founded in 1590 by Leonard Lachmüller and finally taken over in 1863 by the Bavarian brewer Michael Kapsreiter (1834–1899). It remained in the possession of his family for almost 120 years, who developed the company into a recognized brewing and, above all, construction group. Michael Kapsreiter's successors at the head of the company were August Kapsreiter (1867–1916), Josef Kapsreiter (1895–1931) and Dr. Josef Kapsreiter (1872–1958). Especially in the period after the Second World War, the Kapsreiter Group was one of the most important employers in the region on the lower Inn , alongside companies such as Loher , Hatz , ZF Passau and Schwarzmüller .

Gustav Kapsreiter (1893–1971) and his successors Peter Kapsreiter (1924–1973) and Dr. Gustav Kapsreiter (1922–1980) shaped the fortunes of the family company during this time and also made a name for himself as a politician and cultural worker. Gustav Kapsreiter (1893–1971) was one of the founders of the Association of Austrian Industrialists and was a member of the National Council for the ÖVP from 1945 to 1953 , while his Salzburg-born wife Maria (née Mayr, a niece of Richard and Carl Mayr ) made herself a name as a patron of the arts and campaigned for the preservation of the Schärdinger castle park. All of the people named here were also active in the community of the Innviertel Artists Guild.

Core of Kapsreiter group long remained the brewery at the site Schärding, besides experienced in the heyday of the company after the Second World War, the construction , civil engineering and road construction sector a boost. The building materials needed were in large part from proprietary granite - quarries and gravel works are based in the area around Schärding. A large was fleet of heavy equipment and cranes as well as a precast plant for the manufacture of products made of concrete , cement and sand-lime operated. Companies of the Kapsreiter group were also involved in the construction of the Vienna subway . In addition to planning and executing construction projects on a large and small scale, the Kapsreiter family also always carried out real estate development , so that the group was ultimately one of the largest real estate owners in the city of Schärding.

Divisions and locations

Kapsreiter villa "Monikahaus" in the Schärdinger suburb

The headquarters of the Kapsreiter group was an administration building on the lower town square in Schärding, which was opposite the old water gate and was spatially closely connected to the old Kapsreiter brewery. However, the main building of the brewery division was not located here, but more conveniently located at the opposite end of Schärdinger city center at Linzer Tor, only separated by a narrow street from the brewery of the competing Baumgartner brewery . In the city of Schärding itself, as well as in Salzburg and some other cities, the Kapsreiter group owned extensive real estate. Gustav Kapsreiter (1893–1971) and his family lived mainly in the so-called "Monikahaus", the Kapsreiter villa in the Schärdinger suburb; the family crypt with their graves is located in the Petersfriedhof Salzburg . In Salzburg the family also owns the Rauchbichlerhof . Company founder Michael Kapsreiter and several of his successors are buried in the Schärding city cemetery.

Kapsreiter beer mat (early 1980s )
Company logo of the Kapsreiter Group, 1984
Sign with company logo in the former Kapsreiter quarry in Gopperding (Photo February 2011)
Sign of the former Kapsreiter quarry in Gopperding (Photo February 2011)
Advertisement by Kapsreiter with a list of companies and holdings (as of 1985)
Company logo of the former Kapsreiter Group on a silo in the Haas industrial park in Brunnwies near Schärding (photo May 2010)

Kapsreiter beer

Brewery and production of lemonades, last organized (1985) in Kapsreiter Brau GmbH with locations in:

  • Schärding, city center on the lower town square
  • Schärding, suburb at the Linzer Tor

plus the Kapsreiter Bräustüberl as its own restaurant in Schärding

Kapsreiter granite

Quarries for the extraction of building materials, preferably granite. Most recently (1985) organized in Kapsreiter Granitwerke GmbH with locations in:

Kapsreiter construction

Building construction , civil engineering and road construction , as well as precast plant for the manufacture of products made of concrete , cement and sand-lime brick , as well as vehicle fleets , material stores and construction depots . Most recently (1985) organized into the following sub-companies with locations in:

Decline and bust

After the death of Dr. Gustav Kapsreiter 1980, the long flourishing companies of the Kapsreiter group soon came under economic pressure. With the entry of the real estate agent Johann Haas, the group was initially saved from closure, but he was unable to raise the urgently needed investments. In 1986 Kapsreiter Bau GmbH finally filed for bankruptcy with liabilities amounting to 550 million schillings (40 million euros ), ultimately settling them . After the bankruptcy, the Kapsreiter group was broken up, the profitable companies and the real estate were sold and the unprofitable companies were quickly closed. The area around Schärding was severely affected by the associated loss of jobs in construction companies and quarries. Kapsreiter-West-Bau GmbH and its construction companies were largely taken over by the Alpine Group in 1986 . The construction sites of Kapsreiter-Süd-Ost-Bau GmbH were taken over and handled by Stuag Straßen und Tiefbau AG . Some of the Kapsreiter quarries were briefly continued by the Schärdinger granite works, but they were soon closed. In Schärding, the properties of the former company management on Untere Stadtplatz and the former Kapsreiter building yard at the warehouse area in Brunnwies remained in the possession of the real estate agent Haas, who finally converted the area of ​​the building yard into an industrial park . The name of Kapsreiter Bau- und HandelsgesmbH , which was taken over by Haas , was changed to "Haas Holding GmbH" in 2005, the company's headquarters are in Brunnenthal .

Of the other companies in the former Kapsreiter Group, only the brewery was largely retained in its old form. Haas sold it in 1986 to the Ottakringer Brewery , which soon repositioned its acquisition. While the Kapsreiter brewery had long been known for its "cheap construction site beer", which was initially primarily supplied to the employees of the construction and granite divisions of the Kapsreiter Group, the company's products were now marketed in the high-priced market segment by the new owners. The Ottakringer Brewery Kapsreiter opened an established sales network and access to the markets in Vienna and Eastern Austria, and from 1987 the Kapsreiter Landbier was introduced across Austria as a new brand. In this context, the brewery's public appearance also changed fundamentally. As a result of a reorganization of the Ottakringer brewery and its holdings, the Kapsreiter brewery passed into the possession of the former Ottakringer brewery board member Gustav Harmer in 1995 . In the period that followed, the brewery was 100% owned by the Harmer family via the "Harmer-Holding", who also hold the majority in the Grieskirchen brewery . The new owners tried several times to sell both breweries to other owners, but ultimately failed to do so. On December 31, 2012, the brewery location Schärding was finally given up by the Harmer family, the remaining workforce was reduced and the production and distribution of Kapsreiter beer in Schärding was discontinued.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Josef Lehner: Kapsreiter Bau crashes after Eumig - a country “at the disaster mark”. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, November 28, 2011, accessed October 24, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Advertisement of the Kapsreiter group from 1985 (see illustration [File: Kapsreiter advertisement 1985.jpg]) with a list of the companies and holdings
  3. ↑ Insolvent Alpine Bau struggles for the future. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten , June 20, 2013, accessed on October 24, 2017 .
  4. ↑ FirmenAbc - Haas Holding , accessed October 24, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b Kapsreiter in Schärding closes (ooe.orf.at), accessed on September 3, 2012
  6. ↑ Grieskirchner and Kapsreiter before sale (www.derstandard.at, January 26, 2011), accessed on April 11, 2013
  7. ↑ Kapsreiter retten brewery (www.mein Bezirk.at), accessed on April 11, 2013