Zentis is a German

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and entertai ...

and

confectionery Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

manufacturer. It supplies finished products to customers and also to companies, especially dairy product industries, for which it is the market leader in Europe. Fruit preparations, jams and sweet creams are produced at the production sites at the company

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

Marzipan Marzipan is a confectionery, confection consisting primarily of sugar, honey, and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into Confectionery, sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzi ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

and cereal specialties are manufactured in Eilendorf. Zentis also has manufacturing subsidiaries in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, which produce fruit preparations for the dairy,

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

and baked goods in particular, as well as

. In 2012, Zentis acquired the company Sweet Ovations LLC and with it two more production plants in the U.S. In 2019, as one of the largest fruit processing companies in Europe, the group employed an average of 2,137 employees and achieved a turnover of approximately 670 million euros, of which almost three quarters were fruit preparations for the dairy industry (e. g.

yoghurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bact ...

quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

or drinks).

History

Years of foundation and first business successes

The company was established by Franz Zentis on 20 June 1893 in

as a trading company. Real breakthrough came in 1900, with the production of ''FAMOS'', a

made from dried

apricots An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

. The name FAMOS stands for "''Feinste Aprikosen Marmelade Ohne Sirup''" or Finest Apricot Jam Without Syrup. Local bakeries used this as a filling for their pastries. In the 1960s, Zentis entered the dairy industry and developed fruit preparations with

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

and

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

for yogurts, quarks and drinks. In the mid-60s, Zentis developed warm flavours for the dairy industry. In the 1970s, sweet nut spreads, such as Nusspli, were added. In addition, the packaging was changed to plastic. In 1998, Zentis was the first company to invent chocolate chips that do not dissolve in yoghurt. This is how stracciatella yoghurt was created for the first time.

Expansion and internationalisation

Zentis expanded into Poland in 1997, into Hungary in 2000 and Russia in 2003. More factories followed in the U.S. in 2007 and 2012. In 2011, Zentis began producing savory vegetable preparations for dairy products and baked goods. The preparations are produced in Poland. Within a short time of entering the market, Zentis was already one of the market leaders.

Awards

2017 and 2018, Zentis was awarded the Bundesehrenpreis (Federal Award of Honour) by the federal ministry for nutrition and agriculture. The price honors continuous quality control, and striving for the highest possible standards of quality. Zentis was the first fruit processing company to receive this award.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

is among the company's patrons; every December near Christmas, a German banker from Bavaria, a Munich native named

Thaddaeus Joseph Kuehnel Jude ( grc-gre, Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου translit. Ioúdas Iakóbou) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Thaddeus ( grc-gre, Θαδδαῖος; cop, ⲑⲁⲇⲇⲉⲟⲥ; ...

, hand-delivers sweets from the company to the Vatican, along with Bavarian sausages from the Pope's favourite restaurant, Franziskaner, and special mustard.

Production sites

Europe

(Germany) **production of fruit preparations, jams and sweet creams as well the production of confectionery (857 employees). * Eilendorf (Germany) **production of marzipan, chocolate and cereal specialties (175 employees). * Zelków (Poland) **production of fruit preparations for the dairy, ice-cream and bakery industries. *

Drégelypalánk Drégelypalánk is a village in Nógrád County, Hungary. It was first recorded in 1274 and was created as a merger of two settlements named Drégely and Palánk. The river Ipoly flows past the Börzsöny hills here. The village features a primar ...

(Hungary) **production of fruit preparations for the dairy, ice-cream and bakery industries.

U.S.

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

(Indiana) **production of fruit preparations for the dairy, ice-cream and bakery industries. *

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(Pennsylvania) **production of fruit preparations for the dairy, ice-cream and bakery industries.

Russia

* Khimki near

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

product development In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) covers the complete process of bringing a new product to market, renewing an existing product or introducing a product in a new market. A central aspect of NPD is product design, along wi ...

and distribution of fruit preparations for the Eastern European market and sells fruit preparations for the dairy, ice-cream, bakery and confectionery industries in Moscow and Raos.

Products

Zentis produces fruit preparations for the dairy industry, for the non-dairy industry (e.g. bakery and confectionery industry), Sweet spreads (gourmet jams, jellies and sweet cream spreads for retailers and large-scale consumers) as well as Confectionery products (

marzipan Marzipan is a confectionery, confection consisting primarily of sugar, honey, and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into Confectionery, sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzi ...

, chocolate and cereal specialities for retailers and industry). Brands for the end consumer are ''75% Frucht, 50 % weniger Zucker'' (fruit spreads), ''Original Aachener Pflümli, Original Aachener Pflümli Zimt'' (plum jam), ''Nusspli, Belmandel'' (sweet creams),''Traditional seasonal marzipan, MyCorn cereal snack.'' The ''50 % weniger Zucker'' spread made by Zentis is awarded the Product of the Year 2020.

Engagement

Every Thursday, Zentis provides free admission to the Ludwig Forum (museum) near the company headquarters.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.zentis.de/en/ Food and drink companies established in 1893 Manufacturing companies based in Aachen 1893 establishments in Germany