The Knorr brand of soups began with German culinary inventor, Carl Heinrich Theodor Knorr, who built a factory in Heilbronn, Germany in 1838 in order to dry chicory and make various types of flours.
The Knorrs eventually came to believe that convenience foods were the wave of the future
He then started investigating how to dry barley without affecting its flavor and its nutrients and ended up extending such researches to other vegetables and ingredients, which brought about the launch of the first powdered soup.
They introduced their first packaged soup mix in 1873. They soon expanded into bouillon cubes and other soup concentrates.
Demand for powdered or pre-prepared liquid soups – both then a novelty was so strong that in 1885 his son Carl decided to set up a packing center for the export trade.
The products were hit in Germany and were soon exported to other European nations as well.
In 1907, Switzerland set up its own factory to manufacture the foods. It was not until 1949 that the company launched the world’s first packet soup - the chicken noodle recipe that soon became known around the world.
Knorr soup mixes were introduced to America in 1958 when the company became part of the Corn Products Company, which later evolved into Bestfoods.
In 2000, Bestfoods was taken by Unilever for $20.3 billion. Today Knorr is Unilever’s largest brand by sales, a great part of which can be attributed to the strong brand marketing that was pursued by its early Swiss management.
History of Knorr
