Made in Düsseldorf goes global
Thinking of Düsseldorf brands like Löwensenf, Teekanne, Henkel and many others come to mind: long standing brands made in Düsseldorf, which have made a name for themselves across the world. The city by the Rhine owes its vast international recognition and economic success to them in particular.
Every year more than 12,000 tonnes of raw material are being turned into about three billion teabags in the largest of the Teekanne plants, located in Düsseldorf. Worldwide almost eight billion bags are being produced – which averages around one cup of tea for every person on earth. If they were lined up next to each other this would result in a sort of teabag-snake measuring 1.8 million kilometres, which would make it to the moon and back, twice.
“The founding fathers served international markets from very early on,” says Jesper Petersen, Head of Marketing/PR at Teekanne. The first international sales office was founded in Bologna in the 1890s. Today the tea made in Düsseldorf is available everywhere from Chile to Japan and in more than 50 countries worldwide. Teekanne is market leader in Germany and also in other countries such as Austria, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. However, more ‘exotic’ markets have also been conquered, says Petersen: “Some years back our former managing director was very pleased to find Teekanne tea in the wedding suite on Aruba. Likewise it is possible to come across our tea when you book the ‘right’ safari lodge in Namibia.” For the coming years, the plan is to expand further, he reveals: “In the 1880s we brought fine Chinese tea to Europe. Now we are working on bringing our herbal and fruit tea to China. So it all comes full circle.”
Tea from Teekanne – nowadays known and loved in more than 50 countries.
Producing for the world market: the Henkel plant in Düsseldorf.
Another traditional company has the most fans in Germany: Löwensenf. However, for more than 20 years the well-known brand made in Düsseldorf has been exported to around 20 countries and is, amongst others, available in Belgium, the Netherlands or Spain. But the ‘hot one’ from Düsseldorf has also found enthusiasts in the further flung corners of the earth; for example the US, Hong Kong, Mexico, Argentina, Chile or Peru.
“Our Löwensenf is a true traditional product and therefore is still being produced at Kieshecker Weg,” explains the person in charge, Carina Wanner, Head of National Marketing at Develey Senf & Feinkost GmbH, which Löwensenf belongs to since 2001. However, this has had an unexpected impact on the product with regards to export: “Due to innate natural processes and the occasionally long time in transit, the mustard loses some of its ‘bite’, bit by bit – despite being vacuum-packed in glass and transported in darkened boxes. By the time Löwensenf arrives in the export countries further afield, it is no longer as hot as we know it to be in Germany. Yet, despite this, we have already had one complaint for the Löwensenf being ‘too hot’.”
Löwensenf is available in Chile, Peru, Hong Kong – and of course in the Düsseldorf Senfladen (Mustard Shop).
The Tonies from Düsseldorf have been conquering children's rooms across the world since 2016.
The foundation for another Düsseldorf success story was laid 135 years ago, when the first Henkel sales representative travelled to Vienna. Today, there is no doubt of just how significant the strategy of international expansion is for Henkel: the traditional company employs more than 52,000 staff, with only 15 per cent of those working in Germany. Henkel products are being manufactured in 184 plants across 56 countries and are being sold on all continents of the world. Just Persil by itself is available in more than 60 countries – and more recently, for example, also in Mexico and South Korea. Henkel established its first production plant in Switzerland in 1913, a number of other locations across Europe followed. With Henkel’s first subsidiary company located in South Africa, the intercontinental expansion took place in 1951. Until 1960 the company branched into Brazil, Japan and the US, which today is the biggest market for Persil, Schauma etc. Further important markets are Germany, China and Russia. The largest production plants are situated in Kentucky and in Düsseldorf, places for research and development are situated everywhere in the world.
Henkel products are being
manufactured across 56
countries and are being sold on all
continents of the world.
There is also a more recent brand made in Düsseldorf that has embarked on a worldwide victory march: the popular audiobook characters ‘Tonies’ and the accompanying ‘Tonieboxes’. As recent as 2016 the founders Patrick Faßbender and Marcus Stahl launched their innovative audio system for children in Germany and Austria – and that with overwhelming success: around half a million boxes sold in the first couple of years and a massive rush on the audio character figures proved the two entrepreneurs were on the right track. This is how the Tonies conquered Great Britain and Ireland in the summer of 2018 – and since September of this year they are also available in the US. However, there are still plenty of Tonies on their way to children of this world waiting with open arms – next year it will be “Bonjour La France”. •
More export hits made in Düsseldorf:
Electrics for public transport and rolled oats
As early as 1951 the Düsseldorf based company Kiepe supplied the electrics for 700 trolley buses in Buenos Aires – the biggest contract in the history of the company to date. It was also the entry point into the world of international business. The electric systems made by Kiepe Electric are in use on busses and trams everywhere – from Italy to San Francisco.
Rolled oats from the Rhine area are much sought after, too. The Fortin millwork plant, situated at Düsseldorf Hafen, supplies muesli and cereal producers, large bakeries and food retailers in 60 countries with their products. Fortin-Flocken are especially popular in France, Italy, Spain, the Middle East, China and
Africa.
Words: Maria Leipold
Pictures: PR, ÖPNV-Elektrik: Klaus P. Canavan, istock