Müller (company)

Müller
Industry Food
Headquarters Fischach, Bavaria, Germany
Key people
 Theo Müller (owner)
Dirk Barnard
Frank Richter
Werner Stegmüller[1]
Products Dairy
Revenue EUR 6 billion [2]
Number of employees
 27,500
Subsidiaries Müller Milk & Ingredients
Website www.muellergroup.com/en/homepage/

Müller (formally Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller) is a multinational producer of dairy products, with a headquarters in Fischach in the German state of Bavaria. Müller has a turnover of about €6 billion. It is one of the best selling yogurt brands in the United Kingdom,[3] and had 21,000 employees worldwide in 2015[4] and more than 27,000 in 2017.

History

In 1971, Theo Müller took over the Müller company that was founded in 1896 by his grandfather in Aretsried, Bavaria.[4] Theo Müller is the sole owner.

Structure

The group includes a number of companies operating under the Müller name, including the original Molkerei Alois Müller GmbH & Co. KG and Müller Dairy (U.K.). It is best known for its range of yogurts, including the trademark 'Müller Corner' and 'fresh milk based drinks'

In Germany, beside the group headquarters in Fischach which also houses the Molkerei Alois Müller production plant, the group also operates significant production sites in Freising (Molkerei Weihenstephan), Leppersdorf (Sachsenmilch and Käserei Loose), Market Drayton (Müller Dairy (U.K.)), and Prague (Mlékárna Pragolaktos).

In addition to the companies operating under the Müller name, the group wholly or partly owns the Molkerei Weihenstephan, Sachsenmilch and Käserei Loose dairy companies in Germany, the Mlékárna Pragolaktos dairy in the Czech Republic, and Müller Milk & Ingredients in the United Kingdom.[5] A number of ancillary marketing and transport companies are also owned.

Through a joint venture with PepsiCo's Quaker Foods division, Müller entered the market in the United States in August 2012. The company's plant in the United States opened in Batavia, New York, in 2013, and was the distribution hub for the United States.[6] However, the company announced in December 2015 that it would close the plant.[7]

Products

Müller produces a substantial number of popular yogurt brands, including Müllerlight, Müllerice, Yogz and Müller Corner.

Muller FrütUp (German: "Froop") is a vanilla yogurt with a fruit mousse on top. The most popular flavors include lemon, raspberry, and peach passion fruit, which is also shown on their commercial. Each year they have an exotic "fruit of the year" flavor.

  • Müller Corner (German: Joghurt mit der Ecke, lit. Yogurt with the Corner), launched in the 1980s, is a range of yogurts.[8] There are three main varieties: Fruit, Healthy Balance and Crunch!. Within each of these divisions, a number of flavours are produced, for instance Fruit Corners are available in Blackberry & Raspberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach & Apricot, Raspberry and Strawberry flavours. The name "corner" is in reference to the design of the product. In many of the varieties, the yogurt is plain and unflavoured. It comes with an attached portion of 'flavour', fruit compote for example, to add to the plain yogurt.
  • Müllerice (German: Müller Milchreis), launched in 1980, is a creamy rice pudding based snack usually containing an additional flavoured sauce, such as apple, raspberry or caramel. Müllerice is sold in a plastic pot, and can be eaten cold or heated in a microwave oven. It is marketed as being a healthy, filling and energy providing snack. Only available in Germany until 1989, it was introduced to the United Kingdom and is now widely available
  • Müllerlight is a brand of low fat yogurt.[9] Popular flavours include strawberry, toffee and apricot. Müller Light contains gelatine to enable the product to gel, but as a result, the yogurt is not suitable for vegetarians; Müller reports that they are looking for a vegetarian alternative to gelatine.[10]
  • Müller Little Stars are aimed at young children and marketed as being made of very few ingredients and being 100% natural.
  • Müller Vitality is a range of probiotic yogurts and yogurt drinks.
  • Müller Amore is a luxury yogurt range containing Greek honey.
  • Wiseman Müller Wiseman Dairies products including Black and White and Fresh 'n' Lo

Advertising

In May 2005, Müller launched a television advertising campaign in the United Kingdom. Featuring "Ain't Got No, I Got Life" by Nina Simone, it focused on people dancing and smiling whilst eating Müller yogurts. In May 2007, Müller introduced new television advertisements with the slogan "lick the lid of life".

In 2008, Müller released a new advert featuring their Shropshire based factory, still using the Nina Simone song, and emphasising the closeness of supply from the surrounding area of its factory in Market Drayton; "24 hours from farm to yogurt". In October 2011, Müller launched a new slogan, "Wünderful Stuff". This was backed by a new advertising campaign involving people being turned into various cartoon characters, which first aired on 8 October on ITV1, during that night's edition of The X Factor.

Müller was the main shirt sponsor for English football club Aston Villa as part of a two year deal from 1993 until 1995, during which time they won the Football League Cup. The sponsorship ended when the club accepted a sponsorship offer from AST Research. Since 2013, the American singer Nicole Scherzinger has appeared in Müller adverts.

References

  1. ↑ "Imprint". 4 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "Portrait". 4 June 2018.
  3. ↑ "Ronald Kers new CEO of the Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller". Muller Group. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Theo Mueller". Forbes. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Kollewe, Julia (16 January 2012). "Germany's Müller group to take over Robert Wiseman Dairies". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Astley, Mark. Müller Quaker Dairy breaks ground on first US yogurt plant, Daily Reporter, 8 August 2012, Retrieved 20 September 2012
  7. ↑ "New owner emerges for huge Batavia yogurt plant". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  8. ↑ http://www.muller.co.uk/tasteLife/products/corner/
  9. ↑ http://www.muller.co.uk/tasteLife/products/mullerlight/
  10. ↑ "Müller - Faqs".
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