Villosa
Villosa is a manufacturer of confectionery that has been part of Katjes Fassin GmbH & Co. KG since 2000 . In 1896 Hagen founded producer of cough drops , among other than the manufacturer of Hustelinchen , Crunchy coins , Sallos and Villosamintjes become known.
Company history
The sugar goods factory Gebr. Becker was founded on October 1st, 1896 by the brothers August and Wilhelm Becker from Brake in Hagen-Eckesey . Wilhelm Becker, a trained baker , and the businessman August Becker took over the equipment of a sugar bakery in 1896 and set up a small factory in a residential building in Hagen-Eckesey. The Becker brothers and three employees began making simple sweets . The distribution of the goods was organized by August Becker.
As a first product, the company made a red candy with a filling of rose hip jam . It was given the brand name Villosa , derived from the botanical name of the apple rose (Rosa villosa), which forms the edible rose hips .
As early as 1900, the production capacities were no longer sufficient and production was relocated to a factory in Hagen-Boelerheide . The plants were modernized, the workforce and the customer base increased. From 1903 the company introduced the addition to the company name Villosa-Werk Gebr. Becker , based on the company's main product . In the same year, company co-owner Wilhelm Becker died after an illness. His widow decided to cash out her company shares, which temporarily brought the company into economic difficulties. In 1907 the manufacturing facilities were again moved to a newly built factory in Hagen-Eckesey, Schillerstraße 20.
During the First World War , the expansion of the company started in 1913 was completed, but production could not be maintained due to a lack of raw materials - especially sugar . As the company owner was called up to the front in addition to many factory workers , his wife Selma Becker temporarily managed the business. Due to the lack of sugar, custard powder was produced as an alternative .
August Becker was called back from the front by the city of Hagen in 1917 to save a large batch of turnip jam from spoilage. Then he took over the honorary management of the food office in Hagen to deal with the food shortage until 1921 , whereby he continued to rely on his wife and his long-term employees to manage his own company.
After overcoming the inflationary period , August Becker began modernizing the production facilities. In 1925 the cough drop Hustelinchen was launched . During the Second World War , confectionery production had to be stopped several times and switched to substitute products - such as synthetic honey or, later, switches made of Bakelite .
On February 28, 1945, the Villosa plant , the production facilities and the stocks of raw materials were almost completely destroyed by a bomb attack and the subsequent fires. The machines relocated to Thuringia were also lost in the war.
After the end of the war, the factory and the damaged machines were initially repaired under the direction of August Becker. In addition to rebuilding his company, August Becker also devoted himself to building up the South Westphalian Chamber of Commerce and Industry , the Chamber of Commerce's college of commerce and the confectionery industry association, on whose governing bodies he was active for a long time.
After the rationing of food confectionery production started on a large scale again. The two sons Kurt and Ernst-August Becker, who had also studied confectionery production in Switzerland , France , Finland , England and America during their training , became part of the management team in 1948 . In 1950, production could be expanded in a newly constructed part of the building. In the following years, many production steps were automated and the existing machines were supplemented with new production and fully automatic packaging units.
In the 1970s the company was producing 7 million candies a day. Main products at this time were the brands Hustelinchen and Knuspermünzen . In the early 1970s, Villosa developed the yoghets , the first yoghurt candies for the German market.
Also in the 1980s, the main sales of the company with candies was the brand Hustelinchen achieved. At the end of the 1990s, the production site in Hagen was given up and a residential park ( Villosa-Karee ) was built on the former factory site and a social department store was set up by the non-profit Werkhof GmbH.
On February 16, 2000 the Villosa brand was taken over by Katjes Fassin GmbH and Villosa Vertriebsges. mbH in Emmerich am Rhein founded . The well-known Villosa brands Sallos and Hustelinchen continued to be produced in different flavors even after the brand takeover . The production of sweets Hustelinchen and liquorice sweets of Sallos product line takes place since 2006 in the glass Katjes factory in Potsdam .
Products (selection)
The production range was constantly expanding and in the 1950s it comprised up to 150 different products. The company's best-known brands included:
- Hustelinchen (registered as patent 1981)
- Sallos (registered as patent 1985)
- Yoghets (registered as patent 2010)
- Villosamintjes (registered as a patent in 1931, patent expired in 2002)
- Villosa Bavarian Block Malt ( Patent canceled 1981)
- Villosa breast malt sugar
- Crispy coins (made 1973 to 2001)
- Euka-Hustol
- Eukamellen (registered as patent 1986)
- Knotweed lozenges
- Extra strong Erotol (1983 to 1994)
- Villosa Capry fruits (vitaminized drops, introduced in 1959)
- Villosa lemons
- Villosa pineapple
- Villosa anise fennel
- Villosa jelly fruits
- Villosa chocolate mint
- Villosa toffee
- Villosa cream caramels
literature
- Villosa . In: Ernst Schlensker: Consistency in Change: Development of a Landscape; People and cities between Sieg and Lippe . Landesdienst-Verlag, 1973, p. 221ff.
- Villosa-Werk Gebr. Becker: VILLOSA (branded sweets) 1896 - 1956. The Villosa-Werk its foundation and development. Dedicated to the friends of the house on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the senior boss August Becker and the 60th anniversary of the company. Hagen i. Westphalia, anniversary publication Hagen 1956, 48 p.
- Villosa (Ed.): Villosa brand sweets - our future began in 1896. Anniversary publication, Hagen 1971, 13 pp.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Villosa (ed.): Villosa brand sweets - our future began in 1896 . Jubilee publication, Hagen 1971, p. 7.
- ↑ Deutsche Milchhandels- und Feinkost Zeitung, Volume 93, 1971, p. 66.
- ↑ The Werkhof. Werkhof Hagen, accessed on January 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Katjes company portrait - The liquorice. (No longer available online.) In: Brands of the Century. Deutsche Standards EDITIONEN GmbH, December 18, 2012, archived from the original on February 2, 2014 ; accessed on January 17, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Katharina Wiechers: In 100 meters to the liquorice candy. Potsdam Latest News, August 23, 2014, accessed January 17, 2016 .
