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Out of date: With many of its products, the Krüger Group looks like a relic from the 1970s.
Attempts to remove dust from the range have so far had little success.
Photo:
Philotheus Nisch for manager magazin
It appears that Marc Krüger (41), 25 percent owner and 50 percent boss of the Krüger Group in Bergisch Gladbach, has everything a modern family entrepreneur needs for happiness these days: He comes from a legendary entrepreneur and is dashing Self-confidence blessed.
Just in time for the 50th anniversary of his company this summer, he cleaned everything up: new logo, new canteen at headquarters, stylish employee newspaper with a dynamic title ("Up!"), New company brochure ("Shaping the future of good taste"), new image film .
Its industry, food, is also considered crisis-proof.
And the metropolis of Cologne is only a sprint away by Porsche on the A4.
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Photo: manager magazin
But if you take a closer look, you will discover a rather bitter reality behind the sugary self-image.
The group turnover shown in the Federal Gazette has been oscillating around 1.6 billion euros for years.
Growth?
Nothing.
And that although Kruger bought what the cash register gave.
Because sales in the core business are crumbling.
On top of that, Marc Krüger and his co-boss Guido Colsman (53) have been managing more past each other than with each other for years.
Colsman represents the second owner of the Krüger Group, the 151-year-old Rhenish sugar-and-snack dynasty Pfeifer & Langen (P&L), one of the toughest and most secretive domestic entrepreneurial families and just like the Krügers among the 500 richest Germans (see box) .
Big brother: The billion-dollar sweets of the Pfeifers and Langens
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The 100 or so shareholders of Pfeifer & Langen (P&L) form one of the most secretive and successful local entrepreneurial groups.
With sugar, potato chips, chocolate and coffee, the Rhenish clan makes around 4.5 billion euros in sales a year.
One mainstay: the 50 percent share in the Krüger Group.
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The family owes its sweet and salty kingdom to its ancestors Emil Pfeifer (1806 to 1889) and Eugen Langen (1833 to 1895).
The two industrialized sugar boiling from beets from 1871 onwards.
As early as 1913, the clan was one of the richest families in the empire.
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Today the group rests on three pillars.
In the core business with sugar under brands such as Diamant or Kölner Zucker, the clan benefited from EU guaranteed prices for a long time.
The end of the sugar regime in 2017 reduced sales significantly: in 2019 it was still 800 million euros, in 2016 it was 1.1 billion euros.
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The Intersnack Group is P & L's largest division.
Snack brands such as Chio, Funnyfrisch, Ültje or Pom-Bär recently brought the family a turnover of 2.8 billion euros.
Because the unhealthy stuff threatens to go out of fashion, P&L started in 2019 with the development of a new division around natural food from the trend plants chia and quinoa.
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With their numerous takeovers, the dynasts always make sure that sooner or later they alone will be in charge.
Only at Krüger are they content with 50 percent - so far.
The Krüger Group is a little like its most prominent advertising medium, the actor Sky du Mont (74).
He praises the liqueur pralines in TV spots Noble drops from the Trumpf corporate brand: The gray hair is still perfect, but the overall patina is unmistakable.
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