Pfanni

Pfanni Tower in Cloppenburg (2002)

The Pfanni GmbH & Co. OHG is a German food manufacturer based in Stavenhagen, which specializes in the manufacturing of kitchen ready potato products. It is a subsidiary of the Unilever Germany Group since 1993.

History

The company was founded on September 2, 1949 by Werner Eckart in Munich. Whose father, John Eckart, had been producing preserves since 1868.

In the year 1964, Pfanni had a turnover of more that DM50 million, which by 1965 increased to DM80 million. Pfanni employed by that time 1,300 workers and processed 150,000 tonnes of potatoes each year.[1]

Pfanni was sold in 1993 to CPC Germany,[2] later renamed CPC Bestfoods. Knorr also belongs to Bestfoods. In 2000, this group of companies was taken over by Unilever, which offers Pfanni branded potato products such as raspeball, dumpling dough, mashed potato, TV dinner and gnocchi. The dumpling varieties also includes bread dumplings.[3]

In 1996 a "theme park" was founded on the former site of the Pfanni company located behind Munich’s Ost station, after the company moved to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; called Kunstpark (Ost), which since 2003 as Kultfabrik[4] is offering events mainly for the younger crowd. In the same year the Potato Museum opened up on the former factory grounds. The museum is financed by the Otto Eckart Foundation. Honorary Consul Otto Eckart,[5] the son of the founder, was CEO and owner until the sale of CPC. He is now the executive director of the foundation that bears his name.

The current corporate headquarters from Pfanni is Stravenhagen.[6] An additional factory is located in Cloppenburg (Lower Saxony). The plant in Cloppenburg was acquired from the Wersing food company and its production moved to Addrup, a district of Essen, Lower Saxony.[7]

In the Cloppenburg district of Emstekerfeld, a 76-meter tower stands in memory of Pfanni. The tower was built in 1963 and is a part of the then newly built factory of Spreda Nahrungsmittelwerke AG. Spreda AG stopped production in 1965.[8] Later Pfanni took over the premises; the "Spreda Spray Tower" built for the drying process, was renamed the "Pfanni Tower" and was made a symbol of the city.[9]

Literature

Eckart, Otto (2012). Pfanni – Mein Leben (in German). Munich: August Dreesbach Verlag. ISBN 978-3-940061-82-9. 

References

  1. ↑ "Knödel vom Konsul" (in German). DER SPIEGEL. 18 April 1966. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Manager und Märkte" (in German). ZEIT ONLINE. 13 August 1993. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Registernummer: 707342" (in German). Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "// anders als man denkt" (in German). Kultfabrik. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Der Stifter" (in German). Stiftung Otto Eckart. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  6. ↑ "Standorte" (in German). Unilever Deutschland. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Rüdiger Ziegler (28 June 2002). "Unilever konzentriert Pfanniproduktion / Frischepackprodukte künftig bei Wernsing Feinkost / Teilproduktion bleibt in der Region" (in German). Unilever Deutschland. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  8. ↑ "Pulver und Brei" (in German). DER SPIEGEL. 14 April 1965. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  9. ↑ "Geschichte" (in German). Stadt Cloppenburg. Retrieved 21 May 2015.

External links

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