is a Japanese

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

y based in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It was the first company of the Andersen Institute of Bread and Life group of companies.

History

The original bakery was founded in Hijiyama-Hon-machi,

by Mr. and Mrs. Takaki in August 1948. was established in December 1951. Bread of Takaki began to operate their new bread factory in Senogawa, Aki-gun,

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

in March 1961. In 1962 the bakery was renamed "Takaki Bakery". They opened a restaurant and bakery called "Andersen" in a building bought from Mitsui Bank in Hiroshima in October 1967. The bank building, built in 1925, had been damaged by the atomic bomb blast during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In April 1970 they began to operate a frozen bread factory, and later that year opened another shop called "Aoyama-Andersen" in

Aoyama, Tokyo is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Tokyo, located in the northwest portion of Minato Ward. The area is well known for its international fashion houses, cafes and restaurants. or "North Aoyama" refers to the area on the north side of Ao ...

The business eventually expanded to operate shops throughout the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

. "Hiroshima-Andersen" was visited by Margrethe II of Denmark in April 1981 and by

Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, (Frederik André Henrik Christian; born 26 May 1968) is the heir apparent to the Danish throne. He is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. Early life Crown Prince Freder ...

in November 1987. The company operates a restaurant and bakery in San Mateo,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, opened in 1981, and two bakeries in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, one of which is located in the famous

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli, is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampe ...

Andersen Group

The Andersen Group, formally known as , was officially formed in 2003 as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. In addition to Takaki Bakery, the group operates shops under the names Hiroshima Andersen, Aoyama Andersen, ANDERSEN, M's bakery, and bread & hygge. As of 2006, Andersen Group employed 2,428 persons. The US branch of Andersen Bakery is located in

Hayward, California Hayward () is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda Coun ...

Origin of name and link to Denmark

The "Andersen" in the companies title (Andersen Bakery/Institute of Bread and Life Co., Ltd.) is in reference to

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

. The inspiration for making Danish pastries, and 'European style' bread, came from a study trip to Denmark in 1959, by founder Shunsuke Takaki. Seiichi Takaki, president of Andersen Institute of Bread & Life, has further strengthened ties with Denmark by donating 200 Japanese cherry trees to the municipality of

. The trees were planted in Langelinie park.

References

External links

*
Andersen Group

Andersen Group video profile (English)
{{Authority control Food manufacturers of Japan Companies based in Hiroshima Companies based in Hayward, California Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area