Fifty Years and Counting for apetito group; Founder Karl Dusterberg Marks Anniversary
– Reported by Ted Shoemaker

Karl Düsterberg, founder of apetito.

One of apetito’s earliest ads introduced a new concept to German consumers.

He got the idea when reading about frozen TV dinners in a copy of Life magazine, an American publication that had somehow found its way to Germany in 1958.

Karl Düsterberg, 41-years-old at the time, a wholesaler of fruits and vegetables at Rheine, asked himself: why not process the food items he was selling? And so, in April of 1958, he founded apetito AG, today Germany’s leading caterer to the foodservice sector. This is the company’s golden jubilee year.

With ten fellow workers he started producing four different ready meals, frozen in aluminum trays. Düsterberg first sought to sell to private households, but soon found that his best customers were foodservice operators.

It was slow going at first. This was new territory in Germany. There was relatively little experience in the cooking and freezing of food, and in discerning the desires of customers. The public was initially skeptical, but an advertising campaign in 1960 put the firm on the road to success.

Milestones included the development, in 1969, of the first meals specifically for children, and the introduction in 1971, in cooperation with the Red Cross, of Germany’s first “Meals on Wheels” program. In 1989 the company began to internationalize, with a foreign subsidiary in the Netherlands. Other foreign subsidiaries followed in the UK (1991), France (1994) and Canada (2007).

In 2003 apetito went into retail stores for the first time with its own brand. Television spots were inaugurated in 2006. In November of last year apetito acquired Costa Meeresspezialitäten GmbH & Co. KG of Emden, which had previously belonged to the Oetker-Gruppe, greatly expanding its capacity for serving the retail sector with fish and seafood.

Karl Düsterberg is, among a select group of successful pioneers of the industry, a recipient of Quick Frozen Foods International’s Golden Crystal Lifetime Achievement Award. He eventually handed the reins of the firm over to his son, Wolfgang, who managed it until 2007.

Then, in another change of generation, leadership was turned over to Andres Ruff, and for the first time apetito’s management was out of the family hands. However, Wolfgang and his brother Michael Düsterberg are keeping their eyes on things as members of the supervisory board. Founder Karl, still around at 91, is honorary chairman of the supervisory board.

The apetito group today generates annual revenues of more than EUR 600 million, and has nearly 7,400 employees. More than 1.3 million persons a day dine on its products, in nurseries, schools, company canteens, hospitals and senior homes, or as customers of the Meals on Wheels program.

16% Increase in 2007

In 2007, the apetito group rang up total sales of EUR 604 million, a year-on-year increase of 16%. Profit for the year rose by nine percent, from EUR 21.1 million to 23.1 million.

“The past financial year has been the most successful we have ever had in 50 years of history,” said CEO Ruff during the company’s annual press conference held recently.

Domestic market sales were up 13% after several years of stagnation. Contract catering sales advanced eight percent to EUR 121 million. The group’s international subsidiaries in Europe and Canada also showed positive results, with turnover increasing to EUR 207 million, or 34% of total sales.

Increased sales in existing operations were bolstered by revenues from recently acquired companies. In addition to Costa Meeresspezialaitaten, apetito purchased two other firms during the past year: Bonfait BV, a Dutch manufacturer of chilled food, and Private Recipes Ltd., of Canada.

“We are heading for growth on an international scale and have a number of initiatives and projects on the agenda, in existing fields of business as well as in new markets,” Ruff declared. “From our entering the chilled ready meals market, for example, we are expecting considerable business stimulus.”

Dramatic price increases for raw material inputs, however, present an enormous challenge to the company, added Ruff.