Maarud AS is a
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
manufacturer of
snack foods.
Structure
Their most well known product are various
potato chip
A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or ap ...
s, branded as "Maarud Potetgull" (lit. 'potato gold'), but the company also produces other foods such as
tortilla chip
A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...
s,
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...
s, and
popcorn. The company also has branches in Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states under the names "Estrella" and "Taffel" (in
Lithuania).
The Norwegian branch has the main office in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...
and production facilities are at
Disenå
Disenå is a village in Sør-Odal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The main part of the village is located south of the river Glomma, about southwest of the village of Skarnes. The Kongsvingerbanen railway line passes through the villa ...
in
Sør-Odal
Sør-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skarnes. Other villages in Sør-Odal include Disenå and Sander.
The ...
. The Swedish company has the main office in
Stockholm and production facilities at
Angered. The Baltic division has production facilities in
Kaunas,
Lithuania.
The company has 201 employees.
History
The company traces back to 1928, when
Thomas Stang
Thomas Stang (27 November 1897 – 5 January 1982) was a Norwegian forester and businessperson. He is known as founder of the company Maarud, and also as husband of actress Wenche Foss.
Personal life
He was born in Kristiania as a son of landowne ...
of the Maarud farm at Disenå started selling farm products. Production of potato chips under the brand name "potetgull" started in 1936, after Stang had visited the United States.
Around 1950, Maarud purchased industrial equipment for larger scale chip production, and the company enjoyed progress in the 1960s, helped by the advent of television. In the 1970s, Maarud became the largest snack food producer in Scandinavia.
Thomas Stang's son
Ole A. Stang, Jr. took over the company in 1960. The company was sold to
Freia in 1983, and to
Kraft Foods
The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015.
A merger with Heinz, arran ...
in 1992.
After operating as a daughter company of Kraft for several years, the company merged with Kraft and Freia in 2002, becoming Kraft Foods Norge.
Under Kraft, Maarud had trouble maintaining their position in the market. In the tough competition against
KiMs, Maarud's share of the Norwegian potato chip market fell from 50% in 2001, to 33% in 2008, although the increase in consumption of snack foods meant that production at Maarud remained stable.
In 2008, Kraft sold the company to the Norwegian
private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including lev ...
Herkules Capital.
The sale was welcomed by both local and national politicians in Norway, as well as the employees of Maarud.
In 2014, Herkules sold Estrella Maarud to the
Intersnack Group,
which combines various international brands of salted snacks.
See also
*
List of brand name snack foods
This is a list of brand name snack foods. A snack or snack food is a portion of food often smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fr ...
References
External links
MaarudNorwegian company website
EstrellaSwedish company website
Estrella BalticsLithuanian company website
Brand name snack foods
Food and drink companies of Norway
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