Theo Scholler

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The grave of Theo Schöller and his wife Friedl in the Johannisfriedhof (Nuremberg) .

Theo Schöller (born June 18, 1917 in Nuremberg ; † June 23, 2004 there ) was a German entrepreneur . In 1937, Theo Schöller and his brother Karl began manufacturing packaged ice cream in Nuremberg .

Life

Beginnings

The idea to produce ice cream arose in 1935 in a Berlin vaudeville theater . The young Theo Scholler, son of a Nuremberg office furniture manufacturers , who for the older of his brother Karl and his company, founded in cinema advertising was traveling to contracts to acquire , experienced, was served as a handy ice cream on a stick. A short time later, at a car race, he observed that the handy treat was selling very well. The decision to found the company was made. Together with his brother, he made the first “Steckles ice cream” by hand on their parents' property.

From 1936 he produced Jopa ice cream under license. The taste of the post-war generation met his creation of a rectangular milk ice cream in the flavors strawberry , vanilla and chocolate as well as a round water ice cream with lemon flavor . The workforce, which has grown to 25, produced up to 15,000 popsicles every day.

Ascent

logo

From these beginnings in the 1950s after the expansion of the production of frozen food, the Schöllerkonzern, which later became the second largest German ice cream manufacturer. Since ice cream was originally just a summer product, Schöller also began producing Nuremberg gingerbread in 1957 in order to keep his employees busy all year round. So he initially acquired the Scheidacker gingerbread factory from Fürth. In addition, he took over the Nuremberg gingerbread factories Haeberlein & Metzger in 1976 and the Seim brothers in 1985 and the Aachen printen and gingerbread manufacturer Kinkartz KG from Würselen in 1991 . In the meantime, from 1982 onwards, Schöller expanded this division to include the production of frozen baked goods.

The ice products Schöller led in 1960 the frozen food brand "Schoeller" one, produced from the mid-1970s addition " Mövenpick " ice cream, and also cooperated with the company Jacobs Suchard . Theo Schöller is considered one of the symbolic figures of the German economic miracle in the Nuremberg region , as are Max Grundig and Gustav Schickedanz .

Partner and sales

Nestlé-Schöller logo

At the end of the 1980s, Schöller sold 49% of its shares to Südzucker AG in Mannheim , whereby in 1995 both partners merged their ice cream, frozen food and baked goods divisions into the newly founded Schöller-Holding GmbH & Co KG , of which Theo Schöller became chairman of the supervisory board. As part of a reorganization of this company, the baked goods division was initially given up in 1998 and sold to the Lambertz Group in Aachen . Finally, in 2002, the Swiss Nestlé group acquired the remaining divisions of the Schöller Holding.

In October 2016, R&R Ice Cream merged with Nestlé's ice cream division (including Schöller) to form the new joint venture Froneri Ltd. and changed its name to Froneri Ice Cream Deutschland GmbH in 2017 .

The last remaining plant of the former ice cream empire Schöller in the northern part of Nuremberg was closed at the turn of the year 2017/18 due to outdated technology.

End of life

Theo Schöller died at the age of 87 on June 23, 2004 in Nuremberg. His grave is in the Johannisfriedhof (Nuremberg) .

Patronage

Even before leaving the company, Schöller and his second wife Friedl (1924–2014) were active as patrons and donated large amounts for medicine , science , social and cultural issues.

Those receiving support included the Nuremberg Opera, the Conservatory, the Erlangen University Library, the cardiac surgery department in the Nuremberg South Clinic and the Center for Geriatric Medicine in the Nuremberg North Clinic. Schöller also helped with the restoration of architectural monuments in the Franconian metropolis with donations. He also donated the chair for technology and innovation management at the Technical University of Munich . He was also the Austrian honorary consul .

Honors

• In Nuremberg, a secondary school near the company he founded is named in his honor.
• He is an honorary doctor of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg for his services to teaching and research.
• 1983: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany
• In 1995 he received the citizen medal of the city of Nuremberg .
• 1997 Great Cross of Merit of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit
• Schöller has been an honorary citizen of the city of Nuremberg since 1997.
• On the Norisring race track in Nuremberg, a track element was christened “Schöller-S”.
• 2002: Honorary citizen of the Technical University of Munich

literature

• Richard Winkler:  Schöller, Theo. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 372 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Gregor Schöllgen : The Ice King . Theo Schöller - A German Entrepreneur 1917–2004. CH Beck, 2008, ISBN 3-406-57760-1 ( full text in the Google book search).

Web links

• Claus W. Schäfer: Schöller In: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (June 10, 2013)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Gregor Schöllgen : The Ice King. The rise and fall of a German entrepreneurial legend: Theo Schöller was born 100 years ago. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 4, 2017, p. 18.
2. ↑ History of Haeberlein & Metzger
3. ↑ History of the Seim brothers
4. ↑ http://www.nordbayern.de/region/nuernberg/eiskrem-aus-hat-ausektiven-auf-nurnbergs-norden-1.6890652
5. ^ Theo and Friedl Schöller Foundation . Nuremberg Clinic. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
6. ^ Wolfgang A. Herrmann (Ed.): Technical University of Munich. The history of a science company . Volume 2, Metropol, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-938690-34-5 , p. 992.