Strauss Group
| Strauss Group Ltd.
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Limited |
| ISIN | IL0007460160 |
| founding | 1933 |
| Seat |
Petach Tikva , Israel
|
| management | Ofra Strauss (CEO), Gadi Lesin (President) |
| Number of employees | 15,800 |
| sales | 478 million shekels (111.23 million euros ) (2018) |
| Branch | Food , beverages |
| Website | www.strauss-group.com |
| As of December 31, 2018 | |
Strauss Group Ltd. ( Hebrew שטראוס) formerly Strauss-Elite (Hebrew:שטראוס עלית) is one of the leading food manufacturers in Israel .
history
Story of Strauss
Richard and Hilda Strauss married in Ulm . Their son Michael-Peter was born on May 1, 1934. In April 1936 they emigrated from Germany to Israel, where they arrived in the port of Jaffa on June 18, 1936 . First they lived in the moshav Ramot HaShavim , then in Be'er Tuvia and in Naharija . Richard Strauss worked as a taxi driver, and from April 1937 they also grew vegetables in their own garden, which they sold and had two dairy cows in a stable. In 1938 Hilda Strauss began to make whipped cream from leftover milk, to which she added strawberries that she had picked in a nearby field. They later expanded their range to include cheese, which is easier to sell. All manufacturing processes they were suitable self-taught with the help of scientific journals and books. They sold these products in northern Israel. The British High Commissioner awarded the Strauss family the first prize for their dairy products in 1938. In 1939 they sold the cowshed and built the Strauss Nahariya dairy. The logo on the packaging of their products showed a bouquet .
During the Israeli War of Independence (1947-49) they continued to produce, albeit with greatly simplified means. In 1949 Hilda Strauss began making ice cream privately . The image of a bouquet on the packaging of their products has also been replaced by that of the water tower. After 1952, the company received money from the so-called reparation agreement between Germany and Israel. This means that technical equipment was purchased in Germany.
In 1956 Michael Strauss, the son of Hilda and Richard, who had studied in Switzerland and Germany, joined the company. Now he and his father Richard managed the company as a couple. This is a turning point in the company's history, which was also reflected in the increased range. In 1959, however, Strauss ran into financial difficulties. As a last resort, they asked Pinchas Sapir , the then Minister of Commerce and Industry of Israel, for help, who then granted a loan that helped them overcome the financial hardship. At that time they had a total of 120 employees. With the money they could also start producing ice cream. The Acre ice cream factory was completed in 1962. They also introduced the croissant-shaped ice cream cone in Israel under the name Tilon .
After Strauss began producing cream cheese in 1962 , the recipe for which Michael Strauss had brought from Switzerland, the French cheese manufacturer Gervais sued Strauss. Richard Strauss then went to France to set things right and was licensed by Gervais. Five years later, in 1969, Danone and Strauss signed a contract that allowed Strauss to access Danone's knowledge of dairy products, in return for which Strauss marketed their products in Israel. In 1972 Strauss opened a new confectionery factory. Richard Strauss died in 1975, after which his son Michael took over the management of the company. Hilda Strauss died in Germany in 1985.
With the takeover of the ice cream manufacturer Whitman Ice Cream , Strauss took over the second largest company in this category and further consolidated its market position. The board of directors also decided that all subsidiaries are responsible for marketing their products themselves.
In 1982 Danone terminated the partnership that had existed since the 1960s due to the Arab boycott of the products. Strauss was allowed to continue to use the name Danone , as far as it was written in Hebrew .
Hilda Strauss, who founded the company together with her husband Richard, who had died nine years earlier, died in 1985. In the same year, their children converted their house into a memorial.
In 1991, Strauss bought the Mi Vami company and used it to sell hummus . In 1995 Strauss entered into a partnership with Unilever , the then world market leader in the production of ice cream. Unilever initially bought 50% of the shares in Strauss Ice Cream, later increasing the stake until it completely bought Strauss Ice Cream in 2014. Unilever is still allowed to use the Strauss brand name and logo afterwards. In 1996 Danone entered into a partnership again with Strauss. With the aim of also controlling the milk market, they entered into a partnership with Kibbutz Yotvata and acquired 50% of the shares in the Yotvata dairy in the kibbutz of the same name . In 2000, Strauss opened a new dairy in Achihud , which was a lot more modern than the old one.
The next change in management at Strauss took place in 2001: Ofra Strauss, Michael Strauss' daughter, was handed over management. In addition, Erez Vigodman, who was also CEO at Elite, has been appointed as the new CEO.
Due to the growing market for fresh vegetables, Strauss acquired a 51% majority stake in ANP, a manufacturer of fresh vegetables, in 2003; five years later, Strauss acquired the remaining shares in the company.
History of elite
In 1933 Eliyahu Fromenchenko, a Russian Jew, founded a chocolate and confectionery factory in Ramat Gan called Elite together with Eliyahu Kopilov, David Ettinger, Yaacov Arens, David Mosevics, Aharon Nissa, Yosef Segal and Gershon Freil . In 1940 Elite took over the Priman factory, which sold canned jams and vegetables, mostly to British Army soldiers stationed nearby. Elite founded a plantation in Safed in 1948 to produce sesame confectionery such as tahini and halva . In 1956, Elite took over the CD confectionery factory in Nazareth, which was to become the company's showpiece. The takeover increased the company's production capacity considerably. With the production of instant coffee from 1958, Elite ventured into a new business area. Elite coffee soon became quite popular in Israel.
After Eliyahu Fromchenko's death in 1962, Abba Fromchenko, who was responsible for production, and Mark Mosevics, who was responsible for public relations, took over the company. Elite soon became the leader in coffee and confectionery production in Israel. After long competition with the confectionery manufacturer Lieber , Elite took it over in 1970, which gave them an almost monopoly position in the Israeli confectionery market . In the same year, Elite began sponsoring the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team. This partnership lasted 35 years (until the merger with Strauss). In 1976, Elite founded the Magadim brand , which is intended for particularly strongly Orthodox Jews and is therefore completely kosher .
After running the company for 19 years, Abba Fromchenko handed over the post of General Manager to David Mosevics and Avi Pelossof in 1981. Another upheaval occurred three years later: David Federman began buying up all of the company's shares. When he owned 23% of the shares, he began to rally with the founding families about their shares. Since they tried to obtain the most favorable terms for them when selling, they lost the company.
In 1991, Elite began selling coffee in Poland as well, selling coffee outside of Israel for the first time. They later also opened a coffee plantation in the city of Poznań . The following year they signed an agreement with PepsiCo that allowed them to market their products in Israel. The production facility required for this was opened in Sderot . In 1996, Elite opened the R&G coffee plantation in Romania. They now sold their coffee all over Eastern Europe. A year later, PepsiCo Drito-Lay partnered with Elite to acquire a 50% stake in Elite Foods , Elite's salty snack subsidiary , for $ 6.7 million .
In 1998 Elite expanded its coffee market in Eastern Europe and Russia and built new plantations in Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey. In 2000, Elite acquired two manufacturers of biscuits and cakes: Kfar Saba Biscuit Factory and De La Paix pastries . They also acquired the Brazilian coffee maker Três Corações, one of the largest coffee companies in Brazil, which has a market share of over 40% there.
One year later, the next big takeover took place with the chocolate manufacturer Max Brenner . They also entered into a partnership with the Italian coffee company Lavazza , which is represented in over 70 countries worldwide. Elite marketed Lavazza's products in Israel and a few other countries where it is already active. The following year the company bought Yad Mordechai, an Israeli producer of honey , jams and olive oil .
Fusion of Elite and Strauss and the time after
As early as 1996, an agreement was signed between the Federman family and the Strauss family investment company, according to which Strauss received 15% of the voting rights and 7.8% of the capital. A year later, after they argued several times over how to run the company, Strauss acquired all of the remaining shares in David Federman, thereby holding a majority of the votes in the company. The merger was completed in 2004 under the direction of Ofra Strauss and Erez Vigodman. The new company, which initially called itself Straus-Elite , but from 2007 only Strauss , was now the second largest food manufacturer in Israel. Strauss Ice Cream does not belong to the Strauss Group, but has remained privately owned. 51% of the company is owned by Unilever and 49% is owned by the Strauss family.
In 2005, Strauss entered the North American grocery market by gaining a 51% majority stake in American salad maker Sabra . In addition, they took over MK Poland , the fifth largest coffee manufacturer in Poland, and thus obtained a coffee market share of around 18% and thus became the second largest coffee manufacturer in Poland. In Brazil, the partnership with Santa Clara , in which each of the parties involved owned 50% of the company property and 50% of the voting rights, also made them the second largest coffee maker in the country. In 2008, Strauss entered into a 50/50 partnership with PepsiCo for the development and marketing of chilled dips - especially for hummus and eggplant dips - in North America. Also in 2008, Strauss bought the coffee brands of the Russian company Cosant Enterprises Ltd., which is active in the CIS countries, and entered into a partnership with the Italian company DonCafé for investments in the coffee market in the former Yugoslav countries of Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. This year they also entered into a partnership with the investment company Texas Pacific Group , which means that they now have a 25.1% stake in Strauss. In 2010 Strauss opened what it claims to be the largest hummus plantation in the world in Virginia. In 2011 Strauss Water, a subsidiary of the Strauss Group, entered into an alliance with the Chinese household electronics manufacturer Haier for the sale of water under the name Haier Strauss Water in China. They also partnered with the Virgin Group , a UK blending company, to distribute water in the UK.
They also expanded their collaboration with PepsiCo by founding a company that produces chips and dips, each with half of the stake. From 2013, Strauss was also represented in Mexico and Australia under the Obela food brand . They also opened their first coffee processing facility in Germany that year.
Company data
In 2018, Strauss had 15,600 employees in 20 countries and 27 production sites worldwide and had a turnover of 478 million NIS (around 111 million euros ). The company is also listed on the TA-25 index . The Strauss Group was the sixth largest coffee roaster in the world in 2018, even ahead of Lavazza or Segafredo.
Corporate structure
Strauss Group itself is 64.68% family-owned, other shareholders are Danone , TPG , PepsiCo , São Miguel , Haier , Virgin , Yotvata and Yad Mordechai .
The Strauss brands are:
- Strauss Israel
- Straus of coffee
- Max Brenner
- PepsiCo-Strauss Fresh Dips & Spreads International (50% PepsiCo )
- Strauss Water
criticism
Strauss was often criticized , especially by the anti-trust authorities in Israel. In 2013 the authority took action against the very high prices for honey by international standards. The Strauss Group, which sells 65% of the honey there with the Yad Mordechai brand, is heavily involved in this. In 2003 it took action against Elite because of its monopoly position in chocolate and black coffee. Because of the prices of chocolate, the authority took action against the Strauss Group again in 2012.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Company data on bloomberg.com, accessed on May 16, 2019
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Ari Shavit : My promised land - triumph and tragedy of Israel . 1st edition. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-570-10226-8 , pp. 465–476 (original edition by Spiegel & Grau, New York 2013).
- ↑ a b c History of the Strauss Group. on its own website, accessed on February 24, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Company information . Strauss-Group.com, accessed on February 28, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Coffee Barometer 2018. (PDF) hivos.org, p. 20 , accessed on May 16, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Partner of the Strauss Group. Strauss-Group.com, accessed on February 25, 2016 (English).
- ^ Corporate structure of the Strauss Group. Strauss-Group.com, accessed on February 25, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Is the honey cartel pollinating the seeds of Israel's next social justice protest? Haaretz.com, September 10, 2013, accessed on February 27, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Elite is a monopoly in the fields of instant coffee and black coffee. ynet , August 27, 2003, accessed February 27, 2016 (Hebrew).
- ↑ Elite is a monopoly in the field of chocolate. ynet, December 24, 2003, accessed February 27, 2016 (Hebrew).
- ↑ Israeli chocolate-maker accused of dominance abuse. globalcompetitionreview.com, February 28, 2012, accessed February 27, 2016 .