Symrise Celebrates Century of Beverage Compounds from Braunschweig, Germany

Since 1911 the facility has been supplying flavorings and raw materials to the beverage industry – operated by Haarmann & Reimer since 1969 and as a Symrise AG facility from 2003.

4/5/2011 --- Today marks a 100th anniversary: Mr Düning and Mr Krausse founded Düning & Krausse Essenzenfabrik (essences factory) in Braunschweig, Germany in 1911. Since then, it has been supplying flavorings and raw materials to the beverage industry – operated by Haarmann & Reimer since 1969 and as a Symrise AG facility from 2003. The factory forms an integral part of the Symrise family. In recent years alone, the company has invested several million euros in the site. Also, the site agreement of the Symrise group, running until 2016, applies to the Braunschweig employees.

One hundred years of history leave their mark on a company. After its successful start on April 5, 1911, with flavorings and raw materials for the beverage industry, the Braunschweig facility was forced to interrupt production after three decades of business success. The scarcity of raw materials resulting from World War II necessitated a temporary halt in production in 1942. And things got even worse.

The company buildings were completely destroyed. After 1945, rebuilding started and the company grew steadily. This led to a move to Hansestrasse 33, an industrial area. Here, the company set up a modern operation with capacity for growth. The Haarmann & Reimer corporation from Holzminden recognized the value of the Braunschweig company and acquired all its shares in 1969. In 1994 the parent company integrated the plant, which was now called Haarmann & Reimer Werk Deka Braunschweig. When Haarmann & Reimer merged with Dragoco in 2003 to form Symrise, the Braunschweig facility was of course included. Nowadays, many of the original products – such as limousine wood extract and "Feldwebel Schulze" (seargant Schulze) liquor essence – sound rather strange and old-fashioned.

The product portfolio today includes fruit juice concentrates and compounds for the beverage industry. Symrise has invested several million euros in the facility in recent years to ensure that its products will continue to delight the taste buds of consumers. To improve competitiveness further, the company installed a CIP (cleaning in place) system and a control module for the electronic production control and monitoring system. Capacity for liquid chocolate concentrate was expanded to meet the growing demand for hot beverages dispensed by machines.

Symrise employs approximately 100 people in its Braunschweig facility. Frank von Keutz, Vice President of the business unit Beverages at Symrise, says of the anniversary: "Braunschweig looks back on a long tradition in the field of concentrates and compounds for the beverage industry. Today and in the future, the facility forms an essential pillar of our beverages business and an important part of the growth strategy. This of course means that we will continue to invest. This will allow Symrise to react flexibly to customer needs and to use the expertise of the facility's employees to provide customers and consumers with popular and new beverage creations in the years to come. We believe that the market for beverages will continue to develop dynamically, and we are well positioned to meet this challenge."