Mælkeriet Enigheden, usually referred to simply as Enigheden, was a cooperative dairy products company based 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 ...

. The existed from 1897 to 1996 and was from 1906 based at Lygten 39–41 in

Nordvest Nordvest ( lit.: Northwest, short form of Copenhagen North West) or The North West Block is an area in Denmark's Copenhagen municipality. It is located in the southwestern part of the Bispebjerg district. Although there are no clear borders nor a ...

. The Baroque Revival style main building from 1923 is now owned by C. W. Obel and the Lundbeck Foundation through a jointly owned investment company.

History

Mælkeriet Enigheden evolved from a

labour dispute A labor dispute is a disagreement between an employer and employees regarding the terms of employment. This could include disputes regarding conditions of employment, fringe benefits, hours of work, tenure, and wages to be negotiated during ...

Københavns Mælkeforsyning Københavns Mælkeforsyning was a Danish dairy products company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. History Kjøbenhavns Mælkeforsyning was founded as a milk processing and distribution company in 1878 by Gunni Busck and Erhard Frederiksen. Busck was ...

in 1896. A call for better wages and working conditions from the company's wagoners was rejected by

Gunni Busck Gunni Busck (9 June 1840 – 20 March 1920) was a Danish businessman. He was a founder of the Scandinavian Preserved Butter Company and Københavns Mælkeforsyning. He was the paternal uncle of bookdealer Arnold Busck. Early life and education ...

, prompting them to contact Arbejdsmændenes fagforening (from 1897: Dansk Arbejdsmands Forbund). The trade union's leader, Michael Christian Lyngsie, arranged a meeting at Gimle on 16 November 1896. All the wagoners who attended the meeting ended up joining the labour union. Gunni Busck reacted by initiating a

lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage **Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, lock ...

and recruiting people from farms in the vicinity of Copenhagen to do their work. At another meeting, held at Gammel Kro in

Smallegade Smallegade ( lit. "Narrow Street") is a busy shopping street in the central part of Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from the Town Hall Square in the east to Fasanvej in the west, along the north side of Frederiksberg Town Hall and F ...

on 20 November 1896, some of the wagoners presented the idea of establishing their own dairy distribution company. The idea won the support of Lyngsie and Mælkeriet Enigheden was established as a limited company (''

aktieselskab ''Aktieselskab'' (; Abbreviation, abbr.: A/S, or a/s, Unicode ; literally meaning: "stock company") is the Denmark, Danish name for a stock-based corporation. An ''aktieselskab'' may be either publicly traded or private. Liability The sharehold ...

'' on 29 December 1906. The initial capital was raised through the sale of shares of DKK which were to be reapid by 25

øre Øre (plural ''øre'', ) is the centesimal subdivision of the Danish and Norwegian krones. The Faroese division is called the ''oyra'', but is equal in value to the Danish coin. Before their discontinuation, the corresponding divisions of the Swe ...

per week. The new enterprise tried to purchase uniforms for the wagoners in

Holger Petersen Holger Petersen, (born 23 November 1949) is a Canadian businessman, record producer and radio broadcaster. He founded the independent roots music record label Stony Plain Records in 1975 with partner Alvin Jahns. The label was sold to True Nor ...

's clothing store on

Købmagergade Købmagergade is a pedestrian shopping street in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark. It connects Amagertorv on Strøget to Nørreport station, although the last section, north of Kultorvet, is part of Frederiksborggade, which continues on the othe ...

but he refused to do business with socialists and a contract was instead closed with Seifert in Tegnegade. Workware for the other employees was sown by some of the wives of the wagoners. Frederik Ludwig Georg Duus from Kastrup Glasværk was initially also reluctant to do business with the new company but he was ultimately convinced by a down payment of DKK 3,000 to deliver the necessary milk bottles. 20 wagons were also acquired and 30 horses were acquired from a horse trader in

Holbæk Holbæk () is a town in Denmark and the seat of Holbæk municipality with a population of 29,608 (1 January 2022). The company was initially based in rented premises at the corner of

Falkoner Allé Falkoner Alle ( lit. "Falconer Avenue") is one of the main streets of Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from Frederiksberg Town Hall Square in the south to Ågade on the border with Nørrebro in the north, linking Allégade with Jagtv ...

and Grundtvigsvej. They soon proved too small but the company could not afford to move to larger ones. This problem was in 1898 solved by Lyngsie by entering into a 10-year partnership with Det Danske Mælke Compagnie, a newly established company with plenty of capital but still only a small customer base. As part of the agreement Mælkeriet Enigheden moved its operations to Det Danske Mælke Compagnie's site on Solbjergvej. Mælkeriet Enigheden grew steadily over the next few years, increasing its revenues from DKK 600,000 in 1898 to DKK 1.7 millions in 1911. The number of wagons and horses had at the same time increased from 20 wagons and 22 horses in 1898 to 49 wagons and 82 horses in 1911. By 1906, the company had therefore once again run out of space. It therefore relocated to rented premises in the former Dohlmann's Glue Factory on Alexandravej in the Outer Nørrebro area. The building, which stood on a one-hectare (2.5-acre) site, had its own waterworks. The property was later purchased by the company for DKK 207,000. In the 1920s, Mælkeriet Enigheden developed into one of the largest processors and distributors on the Danish market. In 1921, the company purchased the estate Lautrupgaard at

Ballerup Ballerup is a Danish town, seat of the Ballerup Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. There are approximately 25 schools in Ballerup Municipality. Ballerup has its own educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of ...

Måløv Måløv is a suburb within Ballerup Municipality, closely attached to Smørumnedre approx. 20 km. west of Copenhagen, in the Capital region, with a population of 8,787 (2022). The suburb is made up by single-family houses and a housing projec ...

. The estate covered approximately of farmland. It also acquired a number of smaller dairy products companies. The position as managing director of the company was in the 1940s taken over by Viggo Eigtved. In the 1950s and 1960s, as refrigerators became more common, the need for direct delivery of fresh milk to consumers disappeared. Enigheden adapted to the new market situation by instead delivering milk to grocery shops. The Danish dairy market was consolidated up through the 1960s as may smaller cooperative dairy companies merged into larger players. Mejeriselskabet Danmark (later MD Foods) was established in 1970. It acquired Det Danske Mælke Compagnie in 1975 and Enigheden was acquired in 1996.

Buildings

A new main building was in 1923 built to a Baroque Revival style design by Heinrich Hansen. The complex was adapted for use as offices in 2009. It was in 2018 acquired by C. W. Obel and the Lundbeck Foundation through the company Obel-LFI Ejendomme.

References

{{reflist

External links

Source
Dairy products companies of Denmark Former cooperatives of Denmark Food and drink companies based in Copenhagen Danish companies established in 1897 1996 disestablishments in Denmark Labour movement in Denmark

History

Buildings

Further reading

References

External links