It all started a long time ago…

1800 Carl Heinrich Knorr is born on May 15, at Meerdorf near Braunschweig, Germany, the son of a schoolteacher. In school, he studies commerce and afterwards he becomes a wholesaler of agricultural produce.

1838

Carl Heinrich Knorr builds a factory in Heilbronn for the purpose of drying and grinding chicory for the coffee trade.

With the spread of industrialization, C. H. Knorr realizes the need for a quickly prepared and nutritious meal among factory workers.
He starts experimenting with drying vegetables and flavourful seasonings. In cooperation with nutritional experts, he develops a preservation process to maintain the natural values of the ingredients and their flavours and also reduce their cooking times. This knowledge is the basis for the development of the dried soups.

1873

The KNORR Company begins packaging and selling soup mixes in food shops. Founder Carl Heinrich Knorr dies in Germany two years later.

1885

The KNORR Company expands internationally with packaging plants in Austria and Switzerland. At this time, the KNORR Company offers an imposing array of products including cereals, vegetables, potato flakes, and an early convenience product - soups in a compressed tablet form weighing about 3 ounces.

1889

The KNORR Company introduces the "Erbswurst", another convenience product. It is seasoned pea soup concentrate packed in a sausage casing, which can be eaten dry or, more likely, added to boiling water to make soup. This product became very popular due to its light weight and easy preparation. By 1900, this product is available in 40 varieties.

1899
C.H. KNORR A.G. becomes a public German company. The net value placed on the firm is 2.5 million marks and the company employed 800 people. During the following years, until World War I, new products are introduced such as the first European sauce mix (1908) and the bouillon cube (1912).

1930
Unilever was created through the merger of the British soapmaker Lever Brothers with the Dutch margarine producer, Margarine Unie. At the time, an international merger was an unusual move. But the owners of the two companies could see that bringing together complimentary businesses with strong global networks would create new opportunities.

Both companies were competing for the same raw materials, both were involved in large-scale marketing of household products and both used similar distribution channels. Between them, they had operations in over 40 countries.

1947
Although the years during World War II were difficult as resources were scarce, the problems started thereafter when demand for KNORR products is immense and quality starts eroding. This leads to near bankruptcy of the company.
At this stage, the company subscribes to a new credo which brings the required turnaround: "Only true efforts in quality and reasonable prices and the development of new innovative products bring long-term success."

1948
One of the first measures of the turnaround is the substitution of the liquid brown seasoning with Glutamate. This eliminates the former factory taste and makes the soup a true competitor to homemade soups.
In addition, cooking times for the products are reduced from 30 to 5-10 minutes and the old cardboard package was replaced with a new hermetically sealed aluminium pouch that protects the product against humidity and other strange taste influences.

1953
AROMAT seasoning mix is introduced to the market, and in the next few years many other new product recipes for soups, sauces and bouillons followed.

By 1957, the flagship KNORR products - bouillons, soups, sauces and entrée mixes - were available in eight countries around the world.

1958
KNORR GmbH becomes a wholly-owned company of CPC International Inc., a predecessor of Bestfoods who belongs to Unilever today.

….and here we are now

2000
Merger between Unilever and Bestfoods. One of the world’s leading foodservice operations emerges with a global presence, strong brands in savoury, dressings, spreads and tea, and access to broad technologies and an experienced sales force.

2001
Start of the global introduction of the UBF Foodsolutions identity for our global foodservice business.

2003
Announcement of our sponsorship of the WACS Global Congress 2004.

2004
Launch of the global UBF Foodsolutions website in March.