LWC Michelsen

The headquarters of LWC Michelsen in Hamburg, 1918

Documentation on the appointment of LWC Michelsen as purveyor to the court in 1911

Documentation on the appointment of LWC Michelsen as purveyor to the court, 1912

LWC Michelsen is a traditional Hamburg delicatessen store . It was founded in 1814 by Christian Friedrich Michelsen in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. Today the company is managed by the 7th generation.

Company history

After the end of the French occupation of Hamburg, Christian Friedrich Michelsen (born in Hamburg in 1779) founded a grocery store on October 1, 1814 that traded in basic foodstuffs such as flour. His son Johann Heinrich Michelsen (born 1800) continued a fruit trade under the name Michelsen, which previously belonged to his in-laws. The shop was located in downtown Hamburg at Grosse Bleichen 10. a. Fruits from the Altes Land and the Vierlanden are traded.

When the house fell victim to the so-called Great Fire in 1842 , the grandson, Ludwig Wilhelm Christian Michelsen, rebuilt the company in the same place. Under his name, LWC Michelsen eventually became one of the most renowned delicatessen stores of its time. In 1899 Johannes Carl Peters bought the delicatessen business, took over the management and expanded the business with a large-scale fruit trade inland. On January 12, 1912, LWC Michelsen was officially appointed purveyor to the court by Kaiser Wilhelm II . Kaiser Wilhelm II himself ordered here a. a. his caviar. From 1927 LWC Michelsen was finally continued by Alfred Peters (1903–1987) and Johannes Peters (1907–1993). In the mid-1960s, the two sons Heiko Peters (1941–2015) and Rainer Peters (August 19, 1943) took over the management of the family business. The renowned retail business was successfully expanded into a wholesale company in the following years and moved to the former site of the Edeka headquarters in Billbrook in 1988. The company is based here to this day. The retail store in Große Bleichen fell victim to a fire on May 21, 1995. In 2009 the cousins Jan Erik Peters (June 4, 1973) and Malte Peters (December 5, 1975) joined the family business and in 2013, now in the 7th generation, took over the management. LWC Michelsen is one of the oldest wine merchants in Hamburg and celebrated its bicentenary in 2014.

Corporate structure

The exquisite specialties of the manufacturer and wholesaler, which are still traditionally made according to the old in-house recipes, can be found in upscale specialist and food retailers. Even today, many of the products on offer are carefully handcrafted using only high-quality ingredients. In addition, LWC Michelsen sells well-known and high-quality trademarks. In 2010 LWC Michelsen expanded its business area to include a mail order business, where end consumers can order selected products directly.