We have been there for 111 years – wherever passion is felt, tasted, lived and valued. Wherever enjoyment is the goal. Wherever people yearn for comfort, security, and reliability.
For 111 years we have been enhancing people’s enjoyment of coffee.
We started with the world’s first coffee filter in 1908. Today, our family
business is a multinational group with a wide variety of products, competencies,
markets and people.
For 111 years we have been building bridges between progress and tradition. With solid
foundations that bear us, and a vision that drives us forward. We are proud of our
achievements and curious about the future. Celebrate with us – and discover Melitta!
Facts, figures and information: Melitta will be publishing its Annual Report for 2018 in early July. The Annual Report provides informative and entertaining insights into the Melitta Group and presents the strategy of the individual operating divisions and their brands.
The department store Shibuya Modi in Tokyo, Japan, features a very special café: at the Henn
na Café, customers of the shopping center can enjoy freshly brewed filter coffee and
delicious coffee specialties – prepared and served by a robot.
As soon as the customer has entered the desired beverage at a special terminal, Sawyer the
robot gets to work preparing the coffee.
If the customer chooses an americano, café latte, cappuccino, café mocha, matcha latte
or cocoa, Sawyer simply places the cup under the outlet of the Melitta®
Cafina® XT4, selects the chosen coffee specialty, and places the filled
cup on the counter.
Filter coffee is more of a challenge for Sawyer: for this, he places a cup in the
pour-over station, pours ground coffee into the filter, and starts the brewing process.
After serving the filled cup, Sawyer cleans the filter and starts preparing the next
order.
Sawyer the robot and the Henn na Café are attracting plenty of attention at the shopping
mall west of Tokyo. If the pilot project proves successful, the café’s owner, the travel
group H.I.S., plans to open further Henn na Cafés. By the way: the name Henn na Café
already indicates its rather unusual nature. Translated from the Japanese, “Henn na
Café” means “strange café”.
Germany’s most popular beverage is coffee – ahead of even mineral water or beer. But why
is this? A special exhibition of Deutsches Museum in Munich entitled “Cosmos Coffee”
will be providing answers to this question.
With its scientific background and interactive displays, the exhibition explains the
chemical and technical processes of coffee preparation.
Melitta Bentz and her original coffee filter will also feature. Visitors will learn
about the biological principles of coffee and the effects of coffee cultivation on
culture, society and the environment.
A new member of the family in our anniversary year: Karl Karlo®, a brand for
power snacks,
now belongs to the Melitta Group. With its innovative and sustainable products, Karl
Karlo®
is an excellent fit for Melitta’s strategic alignment.
The high-quality Energy Balls are 100 percent vegan and also contain 100 percent premium
bio
ingredients, as well as superfoods. Energy-driving carbohydrates, valuable fats,
proteins
and caffeine from the coffee bean ensure a balanced mix of nutrients.
The Energy Balls contain neither refined sugar nor any other additives.
It all began with a simple but ingenious idea: Melitta Bentz developed the first coffee
filter with paper using a brass can and blotting paper from her son's school exercise
book and revolutionised the enjoyment of coffee worldwide. From this idea an
international group of companies developed that today stands for much more than just the
enjoyment of coffee.
To mark its 111th anniversary, the Melitta Group presents extensive press material to
tell something of the company story. In addition to information on topics such as
innovations, sports sponsoring, sustainability and employer branding, our Chief
Corporate Management talks about the company's history and comments on the philosophy
and the future of the Melitta Group.
Over the past 110 years, the Melitta Group has repeatedly played a pioneering role in the further refinement of coffee enjoyment and the use of household products. Play video
Our new Buzzworthy Coffee in North America consists of a special blend of coffee beans that have a naturally high caffeine content and have been carefully roasted. Whether for a lively start to the day, for a good afternoon flow or for an extra concentration boost in between: Available since January 2019, this blend combines unique taste with a full charge of energy. The result of 111 years of coffee perfection
111 years of Melitta® also means: 111 years of taking responsibility for society, for our employees, for the environment and, of course, for our products.
Sustainability is firmly anchored in Melitta’s corporate values. We are convinced that business success is only sustainable if economic, ecological and social objectives can be reconciled with each other. Not least for this reason, we believe it is our responsibility to help find solutions for global challenges. We have therefore developed a Group-wide sustainability strategy based on the four pillars: Product and Supply Chain Responsibility, Environmental Responsibility, Social Responsibility and Responsibility for Employees. Our key areas of activity are to be found within the respective pillars.
to Sustainability
Where diversity lives. Where everything is possible - exciting stories about the company: enjoyment, tradition, sustainability and much more... 111 years Melitta.
Minden is our home and we feel deeply rooted in the East Westphalia region. It will therefore come as a surprise to some that our birthplace is actually Dresden: this is where in 1908 Melitta Bentz invented the method of filtering coffee with paper and founded a small business to produce the so-called original coffee filter – thus laying the foundation for today’s Melitta Group.
The small Dresden-based company expanded rapidly in its first 21 years.
Production capacities were soon exhausted. More and more people were
employed, more and more products were manufactured.
In 1929, Melitta Bentz and her husband made a historic decision: during a
trip from Dresden to Aachen, they stopped off in Minden and noticed a
former chocolate factory that offered ideal conditions for the company’s
future expansion. The fact that the city of Minden also offered them
attractive tax breaks helped seal the decision to relocate the business.
Without further ado, the complete inventory of machines and materials were
loaded into railway wagons and rebuilt in Minden.
The company “Melitta Bentz” was entered in the commercial register of the city
of Minden on March 28, 1929. Our 111th birthday is therefore just one reason
for us to celebrate. We are just as proud of the second reason: our close
ties with Minden and East Westphalia will be 90 years old in 2019.
Melitta North America and Melitta Professional Coffee Solutions USA will strengthen our
approach to our respective markets by aligning our efforts and products to form coffee
solutions that meet the needs of our customers in NA.
In recent years, Melitta North America's B2B business has grown strongly - an area in
which
Melitta Professional Coffee Solutions has also experienced significant growth with it’s
innovative products.
Joint development of the market and coordinated support for major customers is a primary
focus for the future.
A lot has happened over the past 111 years – but one thing has remained: our commitment
to
creating special moments in our everyday lives. Our products still focus on enjoyment,
comfort, trust and security – whether at home, on the road or in the café.
Here are some of the milestones in our eventful company history.
Over the past 111 years, our innovations have created numerous
new markets and set standards. Our latest coups: ffeel® and
wkup®.
ffeel® is the first natural refreshment that combines the invigorating
effect of cold brew coffee with the fresh taste of superfruits. wkup®,
on the other hand, is a coffee shot – a concentrated hit of caffeine
to wake and invigorate tired bodies. Both products are aimed in
particular at a younger audience and expand our range of trendy and
pioneering products. ffeel® and wkup®
received the German Innovation Award in 2018 for their outstanding
innovative character.
100 trees for every year of company history: to celebrate our 111th anniversary, we’re planting a forest in Tanzania together with the social business initiative Treedom. The 11,100 trees in total will be planted by local small farmers in agroforestry systems; and anyone who wants to win a sponsorship for a tree, can take part in an online game.
Tanzania has been an important coffee growing region for us for many years now. Our anniversary campaign aims to make a contribution to the ecological balance in this region.
As our company’s decisions have always been guided by considerations spanning more than just the current generation of owners, sustainability has a special significance for us. For many years now, we have therefore been supporting regions in which we do business and where our efforts can achieve targeted ecological and social improvements.
